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Watercolour brush
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Message
Posted
Your words have already portrayed a picture, before seeing your painting. An admirable talent, Michael.
I like tinkering about with words, and have a few bits of poetry from a creative writing class I attended.
Painting a picture and then writing the poetry on that painting is a good way to present both, I know this has been done before, but you may have rekindled a flame here, Michael :) Inspirational, indeed.
Posted
A great idea Pat - are there enough people interested? I do hope so.
I am sure Pat intended to include the Welsh and Scots and, of course the Irish - but not all contributors are UK based so perhaps it should simply be the countryside.
Anyway I would be more than happy to take part and do have many pieces of poetry to fall back on although much of it is in the light hearted vein (just love Roger McGough and John Hegley) Heres a recent example of mine:
Potatoes aren’t like people.
When people lie in the sun they go red,
when potatoes lie in the sun they go green,
and afterwards people’s skin peels
but potatoes skin doesn’t.
Potatoes don’t skin people
but people do skin potatoes.
People aren’t like potatoes.
Could paint a potato field I suppose - anyway to get back to the beginning any idea how we could progress this Pat? I am afraid I not a very computer literate individual but happy to contribute wherever I can. A collaboration between just a few of us?
Posted
Well, another example of encroaching senility! I've just bought an Escoda Versatil brush, to try this new synthetic fibre that's said to have a performance close to natural sable. I went for a size 10, but didn't read the small print! I've bought a series 1549 - a rigger (I'd never have guessed that anyone made a size 10 rigger. Why??). Well, the synthetic hair does indeed seem very promising - much nicer than any pure synthetic that I've used & probably better than many natural/synthetic mixes - so for me it's too nice for anything but watercolour. However, the hair is 4cm long! I can't see myself using this brush at all, it just doesn't suit the way I paint (although I will definitely give a more orthodox round Versatil a good try). Rather than have it sit in a jar for eternity, I'd be happy to post it to anyone (in UK) who fancies a try. I think that it will only cost 74p as a 2nd class large letter, so of no consequence, but I find current postal charges difficult to fathom!
Edited
by BillCook
Posted
Sylvia - no, I definitely don't want anything for it. It wasn't expensive, and it really is a most peculiar shape, so for you it's a complete pig in a poke. However, I'll be pleased to post it to you. Pass it on if you can't use it, or if you end up keeping it then perhaps give a fiver to a local charity/art group/whatever. I'd basically regards it as an opportunity to see what the Versatil fibres are like in the flesh. By the way, no, the gouache wasn't from me!
Posted
<style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 120%; }</style>I've tried a fewdifferent “economy” brushes over the last few years. For me, theonly one that has yet come close to kolinsky sable is the Da VinciCosmotop Mix B. I've got these in a few sizes and I really likethem. As I recall, they are a mix of synthetic fibres with squirreland fitch (whatever that might be) – but they suit me well: theyhave a nice snap (not too much, not like Dalon etc, but definitelynot floppy like squirrel) and crucially they hold a good amount ofwater. So, not much help to Robert in his search for a non-animalbrush, although they certainly tick one box for me – very nice touse but cheap! (By which I mean less that 10 quid for a size 8).I really think thatthe Escoda Versatil might be a serious contender for a truly good,totally synthetic watercolour brush. My bizarre, obese,rigger-on-steroids will hopefully be posted to Sylvia on Monday, andany feedback on its quality will be great. However, I played aroundwith it enough to think that this could, at last, be what Robert isafter. I'm certainly going to buy a couple of more orthodox rounds.I'd also echo Thea'sendorsement of Escoda Reserva. I bought one of these, one of myfirst “proper” brushes maybe 4 years ago, with some trepidation. I wondered if it would be any good (Current Jackson's price for asize 8: Escoda Reserva £14, Da Vinci Maestro 10 £27.50, and theabsurd W&N Series 7 comes in at £110 – surely nobody actuallybuys these things??). To my surprise then, it was the best brush I'dused by a good margin – and it's still a big favourite now.
Posted
Aaaaargh! The above post is an attempt to reproduce something I did 4 hrs ago. I think I hit the wrong "Post Reply" button. So instead of posting my "reply", everything I'd written vanished & was replaced by a nice, new clean slate on which I might write. Or vent my spleen. So I thought Ah! I can't lose it if I type it into a word processor then paste it. Well no, perhaps not. But why has this site then totally mangled the text??
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