Brushes and palette knives for watercolor, acrylic and oil

Brushes and palette knives to match your paint

Brushes and palette knives carry the paint onto your surface. A good brush picks up paint evenly, releases it in a controlled way and keeps its shape. Here you'll find artist brushes in many shapes and sizes, brush sets as well as painting knives and palette knives for impasto techniques.

Which brush suits which technique

For watercolor you need soft, absorbent brushes made of natural hair or soft synthetic hair that hold plenty of water and form a fine point. Acrylic calls for durable synthetic brushes that are easy to wash out. For oil, use stiffer bristle brushes for bold application and soft brushes for glazes and details.

Round brushes are all-rounders for lines and details, and flat brushes are for areas and edges. Filbert brushes combine both and paint soft transitions, while angle brushes help with corners and narrow lines. Size is given as a number, but actual dimensions vary by manufacturer. Use painting knives and palette knives with an offset handle for thick layers of paint, textures and mixing on the palette.

• Round, flat, angle and filbert brushes
• Natural and synthetic hair for every type of paint
• Brush sets for getting started
• Painting knives and palette knives for texture work and mixed media

Tip: Wash brushes right after painting, especially with acrylics, and dry them lying flat or with the bristles pointing down. If they stand tip-down in the water jar, they quickly lose their shape.