Here’s my paintbrush quick list. What prompted this post? Pat, one of the members of our Master Oil Painting art community, contacted us Saturday with this email “I am going to ask for Rosemary brushes for Christmas.  Which types and sizes would you recommend? I know you like the 279 Series.”

My first thought was “paintbrushes – what a fantastic Christmas gift idea!”

My second thought was (actually, Kristie suggested it before I even finished reading the email) “I need to simplify my brush list and send it out to everyone because we get this request all the time.”

So, instead of telling you all of the brushes I own and use occasionally, I thought I would give you a list of the brushes that are on my brush holder right now and that I use consistently.

If you want an explanation of why I use certain types of brushes like Flats instead of Brights read section 2 of the blog post ‘5 Oil Painting Tips for Beginners’.

If you want to learn what I discovered from my experiment with different brands of brushes look at ‘The Ultimate Paintbrush Experiment’.

Want to see a more complete list of all of the art supplies I use go to ‘Art Supply List – Updated’.

Paintbrushes I use Most of the Time

Here is a photo of the oil paint brushes I have used for the last 3 paintings I've worked on. Most are from Rosemary & Co brushes

Here is a photo of the oil paintbrushes I have used for the last 3 paintings I’ve worked on – most are from Rosemary & Co

Here’s a list of what’s on my paintbrush holder right now. These are the paintbrushes I use most often:

  1. Rosemary & Co Classic Long Flat – sizes 8, 10 & 12 (a 6 is a go-to as well)
  2. Rosemary Classic Egbert – sizes 0, 2, 4, 6 (there are 2 each of sizes 2 & 6)
  3. Rosemary Series 279 Long Flat – sizes 4, 6
  4. Rosemary Series 274 Short Flat – sizes 3, 5
  5. Rosemary Series 278 Long Filbert – size 1
  6. Rosemary Series 272 Round – size 4
  7. Utrecht Series 233 White Nylon Sable – size 2 (this is my signature brush and I’ve been using the same exact brush for 25 years. The link I use is not for the Utrecht brush since I can no longer find it – it is for the Robert SimmonsWhite Sable Brush size 0 which is the closest I could find. If you want a Rosemary you might try the Shiraz Pointed Round or the Ivory Pointed Round size 0, 1, or 2)
  8. Utrecht Series 207F – size 6 (these are tough to find as individual brushes, so I no longer recommend them)

Conclusion

A photo of the oil painting River Walk 30x40 inch by Bill Inman

River Walk 30×40 inch oil painting by Bill Inman finished this month with the paintbrushes listed

That’s it – that’s the quick list of the paintbrushes I used for the 3 paintings I recently worked on.

It’s important to keep in mind that my brush list varies from time to time. What I’ve listed though is what I’ve been using consistently for the past year or two.

I hope that helps. And Pat, I hope you have a fantastic Christmas this year. I especially pray that you and each of our members has a magical year of painting and plenty of joy-filled days ahead.

Happy painting