dependent for existence, occurrence, character, etc., on something not yet certain; conditional (often followed by on or upon): Our plans are contingent on the weather. 2. liable to happen or not; uncertain; possible: They had to plan for contingent expenses.
But they don't do a worse job, either. Sure, expensive bristle brushes allow you to spread the varnish out smoothly, but so does a forty nine cent foam brush. So it makes sense to use the lowest-tech, least expensive tool to do the job.
Warnings. 1  Don't use the same brushes for water based paints (watercolor, acrylic, gouache) and oil based paints (oil painting, oil pastels, anything with thinner.) Once a brush has been used with oils once, it's an oils brush. 2  Label the handle with tape so you know the difference.. Dip your brush into the watercolor liquid on your palette, and lift a small amount of color onto your brush. Next, paint this inside the shape drawn on your paper. If the paint is too thick, and stays in one place, dip your brush into the water again and add a little more water to the paint on the paper.