I can't help but hear Janet Jackson's "Control" in my head whenever I start to talk to my students about brush control, types and usage. They are always worried about how to stay within the lines and how to really use their brushes! And they are always a little apprehensive about starting to paint. A big portion of their student fee goes to buying a quality set of brushes for our students. For most of my students they have never seen these types of brushes. They are use to the watercolor mop brushes since working with acrylic isn't in our elementary curriculum. The set is a 12 piece set of Golden Taklon brushes from Hobby Lobby that they will use all year and hopefully into their advanced classes as well. It is a great inexpensive set that contains 5 types of brushes in different sizes; 4 rounds, 5 flats, a fan, a filbert and an angle. They come in a cool plastic tube that doubles as a brush stand and water cup. I personally love these brushes myself and usually pick them when I paint and I have a pretty pricey collection of brushes that I can use. It takes a little while for them to learn how to manage the paint. We discuss how to not overload, how to mix, clean and store and what the brushes do individually. We start off by drawing the individual brush types then we paint a variety of brush strokes with each one. This year their favorite brush was the angle and the filbert. We then spend a little time learning to create hard edges and just basically staying inside the lines before learning to blend with them.
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