Save your brushes by mixing your colors with a palette knife! I like a medium size, diamond shape knife. Less paint becomes embedded in the ferrule of your brush when using it only to apply the paint to the surface rather than also mixing with the brush.
You can also try doing entire paintings with the knife. This forces you to simplify things and loosen up. A great advantage is not having to wash brushes at the end of the day. The Cape Cod School of Art (recently revived by followers of Charles W. Hawthorne and Henry Hensche) in Provincetown has traditionally promoted the use of putty knives on gessoed board to create color studies outdoors.
