Brush Reviews

[Cheralynn]

I know this is an older post but for us newbies it’s a wonderful and extremely helpful resource. I’m struggling more with finding the right brushes for me than I did with determining the most suitable paints. Thanks so much!

[ronsu18]

heartily agreed and thanks for the bump. imagine the perfect world where you could test a brush before purchase.
i ran into a seasoned watercolorist in an art supplies shop and she offered:
“all you need is one hand tied squirrel brush and a shaving brush from the hardware store”.

C&C welcome

[Undergoose]

Looking over the last seven years and my experience with a huge number of different brushes, natural hair, synthetic or any number of blends, I’ve learned that it really does come down to what Virgil has been telling us for so many years. Sling paint! The rest will eventually flow and catch up.

Karl

"Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring... "How to Build a Boat." ~Steven Wright

[Undergoose]

Wow! Almost 8 years later I stumbled across this (again), and it made me chuckle and blush a bit…

I was certainly exuberant about reviewing brushes! I still have all of those brushes, along with a bunch more that I’ve picked up over the years. I’m torn between updating my early reviews from 2012 and just starting over with a new post.

But a “Swoosh” rating factor? How did y’all let me get away with that?

I’m hoping to start getting back into the WC community, but I think I’ll take it a little slower this time.

I’ve been playing around with a lot of cheap, Chinese brushes over the years, and there’s a lot to be said for them, as they allow (erm…force) you to just ‘mash’ the color onto the paper in a loose manner, and learn how to express yourself without geeking out on the details so much.

I’ve also been continuing to work with my precision brushes and and enjoying the control that they give me when I’m geeking out on the details.

Many of my earlier posts were based around some sort of underlying need to choose between control and chaos (mashing a cheapo brush); I’ve since been working to allow myself to let go and just create.

This has allowed me to free my mind and realize that there’s really no “rule” when it comes to the “best brush” for watercolor. I’ve just settled into the brushes that work for me, and the more I relax, the more I realize that ranking brushes into a list of criteria (like “Swoosh”) isn’t important.

So…yeah…8 years later and I have hundreds of brushes that I thought were important to review to help people decide on the best brush value/masterpiece ratio for them.

None of that matters to anyone but me, though!

It wasn’t until I really started slinging paint that I found “my” set of tools, although I’m sure that’s going to evolve.

 

 

Karl

"Someone asked me, if I were stranded on a desert island what book would I bring... "How to Build a Boat." ~Steven Wright

[Author]

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