‘I wanted to create a set of brushes that reflected my own practice – the brushes I reach for every day when painting portraits and figurative work.’
Elysia relies very heavily on both long and short flat brushes, so having a range of these brushes is really important to her. She uses a range of rounds while painting; smaller rounds are essential to her for adding in highlights and fine details, while larger rounds are perfect for her more impressionist work. Ultimately, she wanted them to be able to hold paint well and apply it smoothly, allowing her to ‘work confidently through layers.’
The stiff synthetic flat brush is one that she uses to ‘loosely block in layers and scribble in colour for backgrounds’. This brush is a reminder of her impressionist influences and is essential to quickly establishing the overall mood and colour placement of her paintings.
And finally, a softer, fluffy blending brush for painting blurred backgrounds, which, for Elysia, ‘helps to keep the focus on the subject and gives the paintings a more realistic feel’. The hair for this brush was carefully chosen, prioritising an ability to blend colours seamlessly, without overworking them.
