Cheap brushes

Just shows that expensive equipment isn't much use unless you have vision and talent. Cheap brushes don't matter when you know what you are doing - definitely a good buy if they produce super work like this.

many thanks Helen and Thea, it makes you wonder how much profit certain well known art materials companies make out of essentially 'nylon' brushes. I looked at a catalogue earlier and most half inch flat, synthetic brushes cost about £4! You can guess how much the one and a half inch ones are!

Very good result as well!

Great atmosphere Stephen

Money well spent Stephen. Lovely scene and fresh colours.

many thanks Louise, Michael and Fiona for your thoughtful comments.

Great work Stephen, and great job with those cheap brushes, that have certainly enabled you to produce a work worth seeing

A lovely calm atmospheric scene, well painted.

I tried them as well (mainly to prove to my other half that I do need good brushed) Ho hum I'm going to buy some more. I'll never get away with dear ones again. Anyway this picture is lovely.

A real eye-opener - and antidote to brand snobbery. Well done!

Many thanks, Ros,Chris, Dawn and KIm for your encouraging thoughts. I think the Oldham branch of the works will sell out soon with the interest from the two art groups i go to!

Cheap doesn't always mean bad - but it often doesn't mean good, either.... Of my cheap brushes, I have 4 Hakes - not a special branded set, just standard goat hair on a plain wooden handle stitched into place; and I love 'em. And I've got a very old nylon (Dalon, in fact) three-quarter inch flat, which has served me very well. The one thing I'd be careful of with cheap brushes is moulting - stray hairs can ruin a watercolour wash (especially when you try to remove them too soon) and be a blessed nuisance with oil or acrylic. But no, you don't always need to spend a fortune - as, indeed, you've proved.

Thanks Robert, of course, in general the well known brands will be better but I do think, especially with the synthetic ranges, the manufacturers must be making a huge profit out of us poor starving artists, languishing in our Garrets!

Definitely value for money, because they obviously did not adversely affect your painting in any way. A lovely, tranquil atmosphere, beautifully captured, Stephen.