Few things delight me as much as a handful of new brushes. Each year I buy plenty. Some are long and thin while others full and bushy. Each brush is different with its own personality and each has a special task in our shop, able to do with ease things that a different brush would make a chore. I have my favorites of course.
Over time each brush develops character, able to tell at a glance of the projects it was used on. Bits of paint speak of the color it spread. Bent hairs spell out it is now merely a primer brush used to scrub primer onto the rough surface. Angled brushes tell of difficult corners and hard to reach places, impossible to get at in any other fashion. A few of the brushes still look new or almost so, rookies in our painting game, waiting for the many adventures still to come.
After each use the brushes are carefully washed, straightened and shaped, then racked for drying - ready for the next time it is needed. They hang out together between projects standing in a laarge piece of white beaded foam.
Brushes are our faithful friends, ready to make the world a more colorful place.
-grampa dan