Final image.

Open a document 400 x 400 px. Draw a rectangular shape from the rectangle tool .By using the pen tool, reshape it step by step as below.

Create the handle of the brush

Select the shape and draw an oval shape by pressing the Alt button. This will minus the oval part from the section.

Add anchor points on both sides, drag it and shape it equally on both the sides.

Add again on the top and shape it as below.

We have now come to the basic shape of the brush. By changing the colors to darker you can use it as clip art or custom shape.

Now lets apply effects to the brush. Lets start with the handle.

Apply Bevel and Inner shadow with the values given.

Apply red color for the handle. I have used here is #990000.

Now moving to the next part of the brush. The ferrule. As its a shining metal we will apply some gradient. A level down to chrome. Follow the values for the gradients, in the layer blending options.

To hold the bristles tight you can see that there is a press. For that, make a horizontal rectangle and apply the same gradient in reverse from the gradient overlay settings.

For the bristles we have to select background and foreground color.

make the foreground color to #c09b61 and Background color to #9a6716, ( lighter and darker brown color) If you wish you can make the bristles black also in the same way.

Got to the Filter > Render > Fibres. Drag the slider as shown below. Press the randomize button to get the desired result.

Now apply the bevel effect to give a depth to it.

The results are shown below.

Next part, we will make a paint bucket holder made of tin with a light copper color.

Make Shapes as before using the ellipse tool and rectangle tool. Apply gradient blending options as below with the following color values.

For the upper part apply the gradients as below.

From the layer blending option, apply stroke with fill type gradient. Apply the gradient color values.

After applying the stroke, add few more effects.

Duplicate the layers 2 more time and set it below one another.

For the bottom of the bucket, duplicate and drag the top one and place it at the bottom. Shape the bucket’s end part with same curvature .

Draw the dripping paint shape with the pen tool.

Apply the following effects for the paint.

The results will be like this

Make a few drops dripping. Draw paint shape for brush too with the same with the same setting applied for dripping paint. add few drops.Draw 3-4 lines (5px brush) and apply Gaussian blur. (refer How to make a melting strawberry for details)

Watch the details of Gaussian blur.

Place the paint brush according to your wish. Give some drop shadow.

Hope you will make it better by doing a bit more experiments on this image.

Download psd from here.