Smart Brush for Watercolour, Acrylic and Oil, Round, Bristle Hair

These are general-purpose studio brushes, built to work across watercolour, acrylic and oil rather than being specialised to one medium. The hair is set in a seamless metal ferrule on a lacquered wooden handle — the ferrule is the part that fails first on a cheap brush, so a well-crimped one matters more than it looks.

The shape of a brush decides what mark it can make, far more than its price does. Rinse it before the paint dries in the heel, reshape the tip with your fingers while it is still damp, and store it upright on its handle or lying flat — never standing on the hair, which bends it for good. Acrylic is the medium that kills brushes fastest: it sets hard inside the ferrule where you cannot see it.

This is the round shape in stiff bristle hair rather than soft hair. Bristle carries thicker paint and leaves visible brush marks — which is exactly what you want in oil and heavy-bodied acrylic, and exactly what you do not want in a watercolour wash.

• Suits watercolour, acrylic and oil
• Seamless ferrule on a lacquered wooden handle
• Reshape the tip while damp; store upright or flat, never on the hair
• Rinse before the paint dries in the heel — acrylic especially