ILLUSTRATING SOME TYPICAL BRUSH STROKES MADE WITH FOUR CLASSES OF BRUSH

Class A, round; Class B, flat; Class C, full flat brush with rounded corners; Class D, filbert shape.]

It will perhaps be as well to illustrate a few of the different brush strokes, and say something about the different qualities of each.  These are only given as typical examples of the innumerable ways a brush may be used as an aid to very elementary students; every artist will, of course, develop ways of his own.

The touch will of necessity depend in the first instance upon the shape of the brush, and these shapes are innumerable.  But there are two classes into which they can roughly be divided, flat and round.  The round brushes usually sold, which we will call Class A, have rather a sharp point, and this, although helpful in certain circumstances, is against their general usefulness.  But a round brush with a round point is also made, and this is much more convenient for mass drawing.  Where there is a sharp point the central hairs are much longer, and consequently when the brush is drawn along and pressed so that all the hairs are touching the canvas, the pressure in the centre, where the long hairs are situated, is different from that at the sides.  This has the effect of giving a touch that is not equal in quality all across, and the variety thus given is difficult to manipulate.  I should therefore advise the student to try the blunt-ended round brushes first, as they give a much more even touch, and one much more suited to painting in planes of tone.

The most extreme flat brushes (Class B) are thin and rather short, with sharp square ends, and have been very popular with students.  They can be relied upon to give a perfectly flat, even tone, but with a rather hard sharp edge at the sides, and also at the commencement of the touch.  In fact, they make touches like little square bricks.  But as the variety that can be got out of them is limited, and the amount of paint they can carry so small that only short strokes can be made, they are not the best brush for general use.  They are at times, when great refinement and delicacy are wanted, very useful, but are, on the whole, poor tools for the draughtsman in paint.  Some variety can be got by using one or other of their sharp corners, by which means the smallest possible touch can be made to begin with, which can be increased in size as more pressure is brought to bear, until the whole surface of the brush is brought into play.  They are also often used to paint across the form, a manner illustrated in the second touch, columns 1 and 2 of the illustration on page 114 [Transcribers Note:  Plate XXVI].

A more useful brush (Class C) partakes of the qualities of both flat and round.  It is made with much more hair than the last, is longer, and has a square top with rounded corners.  This brush carries plenty of paint, will lay an even tone, and, from the fact that the corners are rounded and the pressure consequently lessened at the sides, does not leave so hard an edge on either side of your stroke.