My good brushes are getting jealous of the cheap ones

I bought a pack of those super cheap synthetic brushes at Michael's a few months ago, like $8 for a dozen, just to beat up on for texture work and practice pieces. And now I reach for them almost every time over the nice ones my husband got me for Christmas. They're not even good brushes. The ferrule is wobbly and one of them is already shedding.

But they're the exact right stiffness for how I actually paint, and I'm not scared to mess them up. That's the thing. The nice ones sit in the jar and I keep talking myself out of using them because what if I ruin them. Meanwhile the $8 ones are doing all the real work.

I think I need to just give the good ones to a purpose. Use them on a piece I actually care about and stop treating them like they're museum pieces. Anyone else have brushes they are weirdly protective of and never use? Or am I just hoarding nice art supplies like everybody does.

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Mateo Serrano·2h

ugh i feel this so hard. i have this one wooden rib tool my grandmother gave me years ago, the nice one, and it just sits there while i carve everything with a bent old knife i found in a drawer. the expensive stuff makes you precious and precious is the enemy of making, honestly.

but here's the thing, those cheap brushes might be doing you a favor. the right tool for the job is the one you're actually willing to use, not the one that costs more. you'll wreck a few of the $8 ones learning stuff and then one day the nice ones won't feel so scary anymore. or they'll stay in the jar forever, and that's also fine as long as you're painting.

i had a similar thing with clay actually, i bought this expensive porcelain once and was too scared to touch it for like a month. then i made the ugliest little bowl with it just to break the spell and it was liberating 😅

Niall Doherty·2h

The bent old knife from a drawer, sure that's the real story there. I've a gouge I've had since I was about nineteen, cost me nothing, wooden handle cracked and I've glued it twice, and it's the one I reach for over the fancy set I bought meself years back that's still in the box somewhere. The fancy set was a big deal at the time, a real splurge, and I think that's the curse of it, isn't it. Once something costs too much or means too much, it stops being a tool and starts being a thing you're meant to keep nice for a special occasion that never comes.

There's a priest I know, lovely fella, told me once he had a bottle of good whiskey a relative gave him, kept it for years, waiting for the right moment, and it went off in the end, oxidised or whatever whiskey does. And he said it to me, better to drink it on a Tuesday. Same energy.

But sure your grandmother's rib tool, that one's different. That's not about the money. That one's about not wanting to be the fella who wrecked granny's thing. And there's no badness in that. But she gave it to you to use, I'd say, not to sit there looking at you. Wreck it using it and you're honouring her more than you are keeping it mint.

And yeah, the day will come you stop being precious about the nice brushes, or you won't, and either way you're making work either way, and that's the whole game. 🙂

Karen WesselOP·2h

Ha, the gouge is the perfect example. Nineteen years old and glued twice, that's a tool with history. The fancy set in the box though, that's the sad part, right? You spent real money on it because you wanted nice things to work with, and now it's just furniture.

That priest fella sounds like he's got it figured out. I think you're right that "means too much" is the curse. My nice brushes were a gift, so on top of the cost there's the guilt of maybe wrecking something someone chose for you. But I'm starting to think the cheap ones are doing me a favor by breaking me of that. Maybe this year I actually crack open the good set on a piece I care about instead of saving it for someday.

Karen WesselOP·2h

That's exactly it, "precious is the enemy of making." I'm gonna steal that line. And you're probably right about the cheap ones doing me a favor. I've been messing up skies and water washes on them all winter without a second thought, which I absolutely would not have done on the nice ones.

I just hate that my husband spent real money on them thinking he was getting me something special and I'm over here ignoring them. He asked the other day if I liked them and I felt like a jerk. Maybe I'll pull one out this weekend and just let myself make a mess with it. One of the cheap ones can keep the jar warm for a night 🙂

Camille Laurent·2h

The wobbly ferrule bothers me but I understand the instinct completely. That fear of ruining the good ones is real, and the thing is, it's costing you more than the brushes. You're not painting with half your tools.

But I'd push back a little. A good brush ruined means you used it. A good brush that sits in the jar is already dead, just in a prettier way. The husband got you those for a reason, I think. Use the cheap ones for the texture work, sure, that's what they're for. But give the nice ones some of the work you actually care about. Let them get scuffed. That's what they're for too.

I had a decade where I barely painted because I was saving my good materials for when I was "good enough." What a waste that was.

Karen WesselOP·1h

You're right, and I needed to hear the "sits in the jar is already dead" part. That hit. My husband would actually be thrilled if I scuffed them up using them, that's the whole reason he got them. I'm gonna pull the nice ones out tomorrow and make the new piece I've been putting off. The cheap ones still get the texture work, but they don't get to hog everything anymore.