As an artist, when I paint in oils, I have to say that I prefer to use the finest brushes. This is nothing to do with snobbery, in fact the majority of artists are often the poorest people you'll come across. It has everything to do with using the very best tool to do a job. A cheap paint brush will produce a cheap looking painting no matter how good the artist is.

On the other hand, a good artist will produce a very fine painting when using the best brushes they can afford. This is the main theme of this hub page, in that there are artists brushes and there are artists brushes and no two are equal! 

At the top end of the several ranges of very good brushes, a singe brush can and does cost well over a hundred pounds (over $160 or so), but they will last a lifetime if looked after properly and during that lifetime will be responsible for the production of the best work and artist is capable of turning out. Because lets face it, a work of pure genius can manifest at any moment and if you're using cheap brushes, that moment will be spoiled for want of a good brush (and good paint as well).

What are the Finest Quality Oil Painting Brushes?

Probably the finest of all oil painting brushes must surely be the da Vinci brand and of those, their Kolinski Red Sable oil painting brushes are the very finest. The da Vinci Kolinsky Red Sable oil painting brushes are blessed with both a great resilience to heavy work and a softness that makes then glide across the canvas. These fine brushes are chiefly used for the spreading of colour very thinly yet evenly. Using these brushes, the finest shades of colour as well as structure can easily be achieved by an accomplished artist. That's one of them in the image on the right, by the way.

There are also the da Vinci black sable brushes that are cheaper to buy than the red sable but are still of very high quality and for an artist on a budget, these are probably the next best thing to red sable oil painting brushes.

Other High Quality Oil Painting Brushes

Other high quality brushes can be had in the Kolinsky Red Sable and Kolinsky Tajmyr brushes from makers Raphael and Jacksons as well as high quality brushes from Winsor and Newton, Escoda and Isabey.

Other good makes of oil painting brushes include Raphael Paris Classic brushes, Isabey Isacryl brushes, Escoda Tadami Mongoose and Tejin brushes. These are the artist's best known and most used high quality brands of brushes and they will always be known for the quality of the brush as well as their longevity and ease of use.

Where Can You Buy These Artists Brushes Online?

There are several online outlets for fine quality artists oil painting brushes, including Jacksons Art Supplies. But if you are looking for a bargain and maybe picking up a really good quality brush at a heavily discounted price, there is always eBay. The world's largest Internet auction house often has some extremely good name brushes that come up for sale by ordinary sellers.

There are also several eBay stores that also cater for high quality brushes at discounted prices but the real bargains come when you least expect them and a seller is offloading an unwanted gift and is maybe not aware of the true value of the brush. Ok, this doesn't happen often these days as most people are pretty clued up as to what hey're selling on eBay, but not always.

So if you fancy trying your luck, there are some live eBay items that are on sale right now displayed to the right of this text and it changes in real time each time you refresh this page. You never know what is going to come up next. If you see something you think is a bargain, simply click on it to get the full details!