The Filbert Paint Brush
Brush Series: Final Episode #5
Today we are going to talk about Filbert brush. This is the final episode in my paintbrush series! I’m going to show you how to paint some flowers and big thick leaves in this painting tutorial. The Filbert paintbrush makes these really easy to do.
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Some of you must be asking yourself, “What is a Filbert brush?” Not a brush name that you hear often is it.
A Filbert Paintbrush is similar to a flat brush but the hairs are in an oval shape. This makes it great at blending colors too.
You can find full sets of filbert brushes like this set HERE if you want a choice of multiple sizes, but I love the ones that come in a variety pack like THIS ONE I have purchased many times for myself.
The Filbert paintbrush was the perfect tool for painting these Hydrangeas
First up- flowers. The rounded tip on this paintbrush makes it really easy to paint petals. You can see in the video below, I like to load my brush with a mixture of colors to add dimension to the petals.
Pull light short brush strokes towards the center of a ‘bloom’. Rotate around as you go. Not all have to have 5 petals. Hydrangeas have lots of petals so we will be layering.
As you stack the small strokes on top of each other, it starts to look like the little petals from a hydrangea. As they overlap they are going to pick up different colors. I just bounce back and forth between my colors and even add lighter colors for high light.
If you go back and see all the different brushes that I have shown you, you can see that if you use the right one, the brush will do the work for you. You’re basically just pushing down and pulling and this brush makes the petals for you! You kind find this brush and more really great supplies for getting started in my Amazon Store.
We could also do some quick little brushstrokes kind of clustered together to make taller flowers that might come out of your bouquet. I like to put a couple of colors in my brush because you kind of get that fade were transitioned from one color to the other.
For larger leaves, first, make a quick outline of the basic shape with your brush. We’re just going to fill it in with a comma shape stroke. Start on the outer edge of your leaf and again make quick strokes that layer on top of each other while moving around to fill your outline. This time the strokes will just be in a comma shape!
Make sure you have enough paint on your brush. If it’s dragging and starting to get wispy, then pick up a little more paint so you can have an even brush stroke.
These leaves would make pretty leaves not just for hydrangeas but with pumpkins too. This would even be nice for fall leaves. You can just drag some red and orange into your comma stroke and you get these simple rustic-looking leaves.
In the video below I show you all these different techniques and then put them all together in a little flower still life! I use the same Filbert paintbrush for the entire painting!
Filbert Paint Brush Video Tutorial!
This is the last brush in this series. If you have missed any of the other brushes we talked about, you can go back and find them in my blog or on Youtube.
Check out more of my floral painting blogs here!
I hope you guys enjoyed my video series on brushes and it helps you work on some basic techniques that will benefit you in all of your future paintings!
Just remember that the more you practice the better you will get! If it doesn’t work out the first few times just keep working on it until you get the hang of it! You got this!!
Stay creative and most importantly have fun!! Trust the Process!
