Every painting is a bit of a battle, and Trekell Pro Team Artist Julie Beck trusts specific Trekell brushes and tools at each stage to help her win it.
Over time, every artist develops a workflow that feels natural. For Julie Beck, each stage of an oil painting calls for a different tool. Rather than relying on one brush to do everything, she uses Trekell Long Filbert Hog Bristles, Spectrum Brights, Spectrum Liners, and the Trekell Wipeout Tool to build energy, refine shapes, and add the final details.
The images in this tutorial highlight different areas of one painting and show which Trekell tools she used to create each effect.
Starting Loose with Long Filbert Hog Bristles
Julie begins her paintings with Trekell Long Filbert Hog Bristle Brushes. She describes them as aggressive, scratchy, and not interested in perfection. Natural hog bristles are ideal for the early stages of an oil painting, where expressive marks and confident brushwork matter more than perfect edges.
Their firm texture pushes thicker paint across the surface while creating broken edges and varied marks that keep the painting feeling alive. Julie uses these brushes to break things down, establish movement and texture, and lay in the overall foundation of the piece before worrying about details.
Refining Shapes with Spectrum Brights
As the painting develops, Julie switches to Trekell Spectrum Bright Brushes. She calls these brights clean, confident, and a little more calculated. The firm synthetic bristles and crisp square edge make them ideal for simplifying shapes and strengthening form.
Spectrum Brights bring order to the chaos created by the hog bristles. Their solid, deliberate strokes help organize the painting as larger masses become more defined. Julie relies on these brushes throughout the middle stages, using their mark making to continuously think about shapes and structure rather than getting lost in small details.
In areas like the painted wall and base, the hog bristles create broken, textural passages while Spectrum Brights sit on top with clearer planes and controlled edges. This combination keeps the surface lively but still readable.
Finishing Details with Spectrum Liners
When it is time to refine the smallest details, Julie reaches for Trekell Spectrum Liner Brushes. She describes them as slow, precise, and yet flexible. These brushes combine excellent paint capacity with exceptional control, making them perfect for long, consistent lines and intricate finishing work.
Julie uses Spectrum Liners for graffiti, small stickers, crisp edges, and any mark that needs commitment. They demand focus with every line, but hold a lot of paint, so she can create smooth, uninterrupted strokes without constantly reloading. The marks are super consistent and the paint flows right off the brush.
On the blue mailbox, you can see how the hog bristles established early texture, Spectrum Brights built solid shapes and planes, and Spectrum Liners finished the lettering, stickers, and crisp edges. Each tool has a role, and together they create a cohesive, detailed surface.
The Tool That Helps Save a Painting: Trekell Wipeout Tool
Not every great painting comes from adding more paint. Sometimes the best solution is removing it. That is where the Trekell Wipeout Tool comes in.
Julie calls the Wipeout Tool her safety net and secret weapon. She uses it to fix mistakes, carve back into shapes, clean up edges, and sometimes completely reinvent a passage without piling on more paint. The pointed end offers precision for smaller corrections, while the flat edge functions almost like a miniature squeegee for broader adjustments.
By lifting or pushing paint instead of endlessly adding more, she can keep layers from getting muddy and maintain clarity in her forms.
How Julie’s Trekell Workflow Comes Together
Julie’s workflow remains consistent even as each painting presents its own challenges:
- She starts with Long Filbert Hog Bristles to establish energy, texture, and expressive brushwork.
- She transitions to Spectrum Brights to organize shapes, strengthen form, and bring order to the surface.
- She finishes with Spectrum Liners for clean, confident details and crisp lines.
- Throughout the process, the Trekell Wipeout Tool gives her the flexibility to make changes, carve back, and rescue passages without sacrificing freshness.
Every painting is a constant push and pull. Not every piece is the same, but Julie can use the same Trekell tools to tackle any challenge that comes up, moving from rough beginnings to refined finishes while keeping the painting alive.
Final Thoughts
Watching experienced artists like Julie Beck work is a reminder that great paintings are not created with a single “perfect” brush. They are built by choosing the right tool for each stage of the process.
If you want a brush setup that supports loose block‑ins, structured forms, precise details, and on‑the‑fly corrections, consider trying Julie’s combination of Trekell Long Filbert Hog Bristles, Spectrum Brights, Spectrum Liners, and the Trekell Wipeout Tool in your next oil painting.
