Rebecca Szeto, a decorative artist from San Francisco has found a unique way to turn her old paintbrushes into works of art.
The wooden section of the brush, and part of the handle are carved into female figures. She paints them using oil based paints. The bristles of the brushes form the gowns that these figures wear.
All the figures that Rebecca Szeto creates are based on women in famous paintings. For example Vermeer’s ‘Girl With A Pearl Earring’ and Velazquez’s ‘Las Meninas’. The pieces all make reference to the history of painting.
Rebecca Szeto began creating the figures after years of accumulating old brushes from her work as a faux finisher. She did not collect the brushes with any particular project in mind, but it got to the point where she had to make use of them or throw them away, due to lack of storage space.
These ‘Paintbrush Portraits’ are an ongoing series. Rebecca Szeto believes that using her old brushes in this way gives people the notion that objects that are considered to be at the end of their life can be reformed into something of beauty and value.
