I have been biting the bullet and actually spending some money on good brushes.... Back in 07 when I started out I quickly realised that I was neither competent enough as a painter nor disciplined as a brush cleaner to buy expensive brushes. My brushes just didn't survive the usage. I destroyed brushes very quickly so I bought cheap brushes... and they lasted maybe one or two painting sessions. The sorts of brushes I was buying at this stage were the £5 brush roll including a full set of rounds and flats from 'The Works'. The reason I was destroying the brushes was: 1. Vigorous application (I scrub). And I scrub onto canvas... this wears brushes. So I need tough brushes. Otherwise they're useless within a couple of paintings. 2. Using acrylics... let a brush dry with acrylic in it and you may as well chuck it out (this doesn't matter with a cheap brush). 3. Leaving a brush standing in water - which is a function of acrylic use unless you're fastidious as a brush cleaner and have easy access to a sink and running water (which I didn’t as I was banished to the garage at this stage). During my early painting I was also establishing what brushes I needed.... Originally I used all types of brushes – flats, rounds etc etc. I went through a Bob Ross style phase of using fans. I was lead astray by Terry Harrison – who clutching his brushes in a Darth Vader manner - nearly took me to the watercolour darkside. I went through a brief knife phase (the primary attraction of knives being the ease of cleaning) but realised I just didn’t like them. I even went through a phase of using dagger brushes. In the end I realised I actually only need two brushes for almost all paintings: 1” flat and a 0.5” flat (or Bright to use the technical term?). Everything else, every ‘specialist’ brush: fan, dagger, liner, sword, foliage brush, wizard etc etc are simply either a crutch (at best) or a con to take your money. I get why you might use a few rounds or a filbert... but really flats do just about everything... So my mission has become to find the perfect 1” flat brush for the type of paint I use. I use acrylic of a medium consistency – not fluid, but not really heavy butter. Think System 3 or W&N Galleria... I do often thicken with appropriate mediums though... My starting criteria: 1. Must be synthetic. Several reasons for this: a) durability, b) synthetics don’t absorb water (hence no swelling or turning into a dish mop), c) moral and marital (you try explaining to your vegan, Buddhist wife where natural hog, squirrel, mongoose, sable come from) follow my point? 2. Must be in the right sizes... you’d be amazed how hard 1” brushes can be to find. And what I soon realised is a size 20 in one type of brush would be a 12 in another... you’d think they’d standardise. 3. Must be reasonably stiff to let me shove the paint around. 4. Must be pretty durable as canvas is very rough and I paint quickly and aggressively. 5. Must be able to be pulled into a sharp edge... otherwise a flat is pretty much useless. 6. Must be short handled... just personal preference really and so they fit in my boxes etc. 7. Must float, brush head down.... this is so you can effectively stand them in water, but they don’t rest on their bristles and get bent.... 8. Must be reasonably cheap and easily available.... I replace brushes regularly. Daler System 3. As you know I use system 3 paint so I figured I’d use Daler system 3 brushes. Nothing wrong with these... fill all the criteria above. However I started to find that the paint on the handles would break up and flake off eventually... this left a really rough grip which became unpleasant. I also found them a bit less durable (in terms of brush head wear) than I’d like... and the bristles were a bit softer than I’d like. A 1” flat system 3 brush was working out at about £5 (from Jacksons) and they were lasting 10-15 paintings. I still use these – particularly when painting way from the studio... the short handles makes them convenient. These are not the easyiest brushes to get hold of in York... try ebay fro sets. W&N Galleria. These are softer than a new system 3, but they seem to stay firmer longer... handles seem to be very durable. Think these are working out about £7 for the long handled version... only ever bought one and its still going strong.. These brushes are pretty ubiquitous. Jackson’s Procryl. Starting to get expensive now.. £10 for a long handled on. These look the business – lovely, durable matt black handles... look like some sort of goth accessory from the Matrix... I also got a 1” (equiv ) filbert... just lovely (needs to be for £12). A little bit soft for me... def softer than the system 3, but sometimes you need that. Very durable so far – good for smoothing and blending. These I get mail order from Jacksons. Da Vinci Impasto. These are my current favourite and are £9ish. Hexagonal; dark blue handles mean you get a solid grip . The brush head is really unforgivingly stiff (think knifelike) and awesome for moving paint about. The downside is these cannot be my only brush, they are just two stiff for some elements so I need to use a W&N or Procyl as well. These are great for really quick sketching. Again mail order only. My Conclusion. I really only need a 1” brush most of the time. I’m tending towards using the Da Vinci and the Procryls on the studio.... but when I’m out I’ll stick with the shorter handled and less specialised bristles of the system 3s