Help with decoy work...paint brushes

frank middleton

frank middleton

Active member
I've been carving for about a year and the paint is beginning to come around. I've been trying to learn from a few different books. Lemaster"s Decoys, Bruce Burke's Game Bird Carving and Keith Mueller's most recent The Art in Making Decoys and what I can find here. Nobody seems to endorse brands of paint brushes. I would like any information on decent values on quality brushes. Mostly sable fans and kolinski fine line and rounds. Any help with brands and suppliers and what I should expect to pay. I have bought many brushes and have tinkered with paint consistency and things are looking up. I feel that some help on the brush learning curve could help. Also I have been using Winsor Newton series 1. Don't know if that information could be telling. Should I move to a different grade of paint for easier blending? Thanks for the help.
Frank Middleton
 
Frank,

The brush's that Keith recomended to me are made by Schaff and are available at Artbrush.com. I use these and Raphael brush's. A little pricey but well worth the investment.
 
I've taken a few classes from Keith and he highly recommends Scharff brushes although he doesn't mention them by name in his book. Also, if you are going to be painting with oils be sure to use high-quality paints. Grumbacher Pre-Tested paints is a good place to start and them move upscale to Old Holland as you gain experience.

Go here for Scharff brushes www.artbrush.com
 
What in particular are you getting there? Red sable is what he recommends. I'm looking for something to help blending and also something for more detail work. The kolinsky series 3000 fine line? What about the fan blenders. I did not see them in the red sable section. Where are you getting those? Thanks for your help. Frank
 
Here's what Keith recommends for his classes, at a minimum, and preferably more sizes of each series if your pocketbook can take the hit.

Series 407 sizes 3 and 5
Series 150 sizes 6 and 8
Series 3000 sizes 1 and 3

For blending he does a lot of it with a Series 380 size 2.

One of his rules of thumb--"the softer the brush the softer the blend"--so he's always looking for the softest fan brush he can find. Get the 380 size 2 and then you will have something to compare to when looking at other fan blenders.

Most of the brushes he shows on page 16, upper right corner, of his book are Scharff brushes.
 
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Thanks for the help. John that was the specific information that I needed. I actually bought all the brushes you mention that are suggested by Keith except bought the size 4 in the fan blender. I'll update my order and hopefully that will help with some of the blending and control issues I'm experiencing. My goal for this year is 50 birds.I'm at 18 now. I spend about 8-12 hrs per bird. Time is coming down and quality is creeping up. I guessing Keith's workshops were very helpful, I've had his book open quite a bit while painting.


Frank
 
Frank, eventually, you will speed up your time on task as you discover what REALLY is unnecessary for gunning decoys!
Use what brushes fit you--I use anything from very small fans up to two inch house painting brushes for sealing---Fans, rounds, and liners are what you can adapt to your needs.
 
Frank, I have found fan blenders from time to time at art stores that are large and soft. My favorite was discontinued by Winsor Newton but it was a beauty. Know that when Keith is blending, its a light touch. Like sweeping the dust off of a butterflys wings. (he never actually said that). Of course if you just want to slap paint on a decoy and call it good...
 
Steve, I'm trying to do a bit better than slapping it on. Once the lineal blend is done. How long a stroke and in what direction is the fan pulled. And do you clean after each pull? if so how? I'm planning on painting this afternoon. I have a pair of mallards in grissaile(sp). I got my scharff brushes and was a little surprised at the stiffness of the fans which are syn sable. The rounds and fine point look great. Thanks, Frank
 
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