ARTIST PAINT BRUSHES

A Decorative Painter's Guide

By Cheryl Poulin

Have you ever wondered why one paintbrush seems to glide across your surface while another leaves you fighting to get the stroke you want? Before you blame your technique, take a closer look at your brush. It’s probably not be the right one for the job!

Knowing how to choose the right artist paint brushes can save you money, time, and a mountain of frustration. As decorative painters, we need a mix of shapes and sizes in our kits. And the right brush can make a technique much easier to manage.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to upgrade your current brushes, understanding a little more about brushes will help you make the right choices.

Why Synthetic Paint Brushes for Decorative Painting Rule the Studio

If you paint with bottled acrylics such as DecoArt Americana and Jo Sonja, synthetic brushes are the practical choice for everyday painting.

Synthetic paint brushes for decorative painting are made from manufactured fibres, usually nylon, polyester, or a combination of the two. You may also see the name Taklon on brush packaging.

Decoding Taklon Colors and Stiffness

You'll notice that Taklon brush hairs come in different colors. While color can sometimes give you a clue about the type of fibre, it isn't a reliable guide to how a brush will perform. That depends on the manufacturer and the way the brush is made.

• Black Taklon: Often used for softer brushes that work well for certain blending and glazing techniques.
• Gold Taklon: Commonly found in general-purpose decorative painting brushes, with varying degrees of spring and stiffness.
• White Taklon: Can be found in firmer brushes suited to strokes and techniques that benefit from a little more stiffness.

When choosing a brush, pay attention to how the bristles feel, how well they return to shape, and how they perform with your paint. Those qualities matter more than color alone.

So, what makes synthetic brushes a good choice?

Quality synthetic brushes are durable, easy to clean, and available in the shapes and sizes we use for decorative painting. A good brush will also have enough spring to help it return to its original shape after a stroke.

That spring is important when you're painting a curved stroke, floating colour, or trying to maintain a nice, crisp chisel edge.

• Pure Synthetic Hairs: These are durable, absorbent, and have excellent "spring" (the ability to snap back into shape). They maintain a crisp chisel edge with minimal care and perform beautifully on wood, tin, glass, and clay pots.
• Synthetic Blends: These combine natural hair with synthetic filaments. This mix gives you the superior water-holding capacity of natural hair alongside the rugged durability of a synthetic. They are highly versatile and very budget-friendly.

Why Avoid Natural Hair for Everyday Acrylics? (With One Exception!)

Natural-hair brushes are made from animal hair like sable, squirrel, goat, and hog bristle. While a prized sable brush is beautiful for watercolours, acrylic paint can be incredibly harsh on delicate natural hair. The quick-drying nature of acrylics can ruin expensive, soft animal hairs, so it’s best to avoid them for your everyday decorative work.

There is one great exception, though: hog bristle! Unlike soft hairs, hog bristles are incredibly tough and can take a serious pounding. Because they’re stiff and rugged, they’re actually fantastic to have in your kit for dry-brushing techniques and creating rustic textures with your acrylics. Just leave the expensive sable brushes for the watercolour artists!

Finding the Best Acrylic Paint Brushes for Your Techniques

There is no single "perfect" brush. Modern synthetics come in an incredible variety of shapes designed for specific decorative techniques. They include flats and filberts to specialty script liners and stipplers. To see a complete breakdown of how each unique shape works, check out my comprehensive guide to all the different types of paint brushes and their purposes.

Ultimately, finding the best acrylic paint brushes for your stash depends entirely on the technique or surface you’re working with:

• For Smooth Stroke Control: A firm, springy synthetic brush will give you excellent control for precise strokes or smooth curlicues.
• For Floating and Blending: A slightly softer synthetic blend is just what you need to hold enough water to release colour smoothly.
• For Textured Surfaces & Special Effects: If you’re crafting on rough ceramics, fabric, or heavily textured wood, a stiff synthetic bristle brush allows you to scrub paint into porous surfaces or create beautiful dry-brush textures.
• For Basecoating & Varnishing: While not meant for detail work or fine tole strokes, inexpensive foam paint brushes are perfect for smoothly covering large background areas.

A Word About Cheap Craft Brushes

Those multi-packs of inexpensive brushes can be tempting, especially when you're just starting out. But most aren't well suited to decorative painting. They tend to lose their shape, shed hairs into your wet paint, or lack the spring you need for controlled strokes.

You don't have to buy the most expensive brushes on the shelf. Start with a few good-quality brushes that suit the techniques you want to learn and add to your collection as you need them.

Anatomy of a Paint Brush

You already know what a paintbrush looks like, but taking a quick peek at how they’re made can actually help you shop smarter! Plus, once you know the names of the different parts, it’s much easier to follow along with pattern packets and class demonstrations.

1. The Handle: Usually made of lacquered wood or plastic. Decorative painters generally prefer short-handled brushes because we work close to our surfaces and often hold our brushes near the ferrule for better control. Long-handled brushes can feel awkward when you're working on smaller projects. And nobody wants to poke themselves in the eye with a paintbrush handle!
2. The Ferrule: Secures the hairs and connects them to the handle. A Flat brush features a ferrule that has been crimped flat at the top, while a Round brush uses a perfectly circular ferrule.
3. The Hair/Bristles: The working end of the brush that holds and applies your paint.

Demystifying Decorative Painting Brush Sizes

You’ll notice that some brushes are labeled by standard widths (like 1/4" or 1/2") while others are given size numbers (such as #2, #6, or #12).

It’s important to know that decorative painting brush sizes are not uniform across different brands. A #10 flat brush from one manufacturer might be slightly wider or narrower than a #10 from another. Instead of worrying about exact millimetre conversions, use the numbers as a relative guide within the same brand: within many brush ranges, higher numbers generally indicate larger brushes and a lower number generally means a smaller brush.

Caring For and Protecting Your Investment

Quality artist brushes are an investment in your creative journey. Because acrylic paint dries so fast, letting it harden near the ferrule can split your bristles and ruin your favorite tools. With proper care, a good synthetic brush can last for years. Be sure to visit my dedicated page on cleaning paint brushes for a step-by-step routine on how to safely wash, reshape, and store your brushes so they keep a razor-sharp chisel edge and tapered points!

Let's Put Those Brushes to Work!

The right tools are helpful, but knowing what to do with them is where the fun really begins! If you’d like step-by-step help putting your brushes to work, come join me inside the Earmark Creative Studio membership. You’ll find beginner painting projects, clear demonstrations, and opportunities to learn new techniques while building your confidence at the easel. Enjoy live lessons and pre-recorded ones to work at your own pace. Look for ads on my page to join the wait list!

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AUTHOR BIO

Cheryl Poulin, CPC, has been helping decorative painters of all levels grow their acrylic painting skills since 1993. She has taught thousands of students, published 50+ instructional packets and videos, and helped revive interest in the decorative art form with a beginner painting program using her step-by-step Earmark Studio Method.

Cheryl’s work has appeared in publications such as: The Decorative Painter, PaintWorks, and Tole World. Cheryl provides your-decorative-painting-resource.com as a free resource. She’s happiest when she sees her students succeed. Cheryl relaxes with a brush in hand, painting, doodling, and creating.

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