Adds watched things for hours [live specimens]...with a frantic drawing in the last 10 minutes....still have this problem with sunrises & sunsets....watch them until it is too late for get to sketch...forget to make colour notes...for get that the digital has special settings....I'm always awe-struck...The dissection classes? I was like Sweeney Todd on speed;I had the sight, the dexterity and that surgeon's panache....oh boy did it hack-off my tutor...It's a wonder that the formalin [formaldehyde in solution] did not put me into an early box...

I shall keep my brushes, yes you are right they are lovely for holding lots of water.

Phil, I forgot to say he did it with his eyes closed!

This is clever. I much admire this style.

I for one like the sound of that Rob...it reminds me of my observation classes in biology when I was a mere student...stumbled over the sublime bit though...

Sylvia, they are really useful for watercolours. Hang on to them! Oh, Patsy, love the lion. I heard a story of a Chinese expert who was supposed to produce a picture of a blossom. Whilst others practised and worked on their paintings he did nothing, just gazed at the branch for days. At the last minute he picked up his brush and just did a few confident strokes to create a sublime image of the blossom's essence. That, I am told, is what Chinese painting is all about.

I do like your lion Patsy, I did Chinese brush painting in Hong Kong, we had a genuine Chinese tutor and she really was a tarter, she smacked your knuckles with a brush if you didnt do it her way. It was a very stringent class , we had to hold the brush correctly, dip it at the correct angle, we never did fun things like lions, I only progressed as far as bamboo, , I can do those really well... anyone want to buy a collection of Chinese paint brushes?