Question for Steve Sanford

bob Petritsch

Active member
Have been studying some of your tutorials for painting divers. I am impressed with the smoothness of your paint lines. I restless coat with sifted sawdust and the best I can do looks like I'm painting with a rake.
I have been using cheap "chip" brushes and some smaller round brushes. I am considering lining the edge with a finer brush then filling in with the chip brush.
Any secrets would be appreciated. I lightly sanded the second restless coat to make it smoother but maybe I should have sanded more. Some of your close-up showed a rough surface but the paint lines were straight and smooth.
 
Bob~

Here are the brushes I use on most of my gunners:

Brushes_zpswsvrwdna.jpg


From top to bottom:

1) 1.5 inch Chip Brush. I use this for priming birds and for large areas of color. As they get older and a bit shop-worn, they become useful for stippling, too.

2) 3/4-inch Angle Shader. I paint 90 percent of the birds with this brush. It can cover large areas but also allows for a nice crisp edge when I want it.

3) 3/4-inch Flat. These coarse bristles allow for stippling and also for softening lines where two color patches meet. On the Hens, I use this for the barring on the sides.

4) 3/8-inch Angle Shader. I use this for smaller patches like the bill or speculum. Easy to keep a crisp edge.

5) #5 Round. Only for small areas like bill details, eyes, feather edges.

6) # 3 Round. For the smallest jobs: iris and feather edges in the speculum.

I am notoriously careless with my brushes - so each costs no more than a couple of dollars.

Hope this helps!

SJS

 
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