Speciality brushes offer an answer to the problems of creating convincing skies, foreground texture and an array of foliage and tree effects in watercolour. Tim Fisher puts Jackson’s natural hair range through its paces.

I was asked to evaluate a range of speciality brushes produced by Jackson’s Art Supplies, a leading mail-order art supplier in the UK.

The set I was sent comprised eight uniquely shaped natural hair brushes that are ideal for creating naturalistic forms and foliage shapes.

The brushes and their uses:

I also used the pure squirrel swordliner No. 0, which is perfect for everything from long fine lines to foliage effects.

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Unique shapes

The Jackson’s range of speciality brushes is ideal for those who are frustrated by representing convincing foliage, grass textures and sky effects.

These uniquely shaped brushes are specifically designed to help the watercolourist solve a number of painting problems as well as providing the opportunity to experiment with new techniques.

I tested the brushes by producing the two paintings you see below.

Having painted with them, I think they are good value for money.

They should form a part of any artist’s armoury, to be held ready for when that unexpected or difficult painting challenge occurs; one of these brushes is sure to have the answer.

How to paint foliage and texture

Brushes used:

The Mill House, watercolour, (25.5x33cm)

The Mill House (above) provided a good subject to test the brushes.

  1. The size and shape of the 1in. sky stippler allowed for a much looser approach to applying layers of paint, as I found that a big wash of yellow ochre could be applied quickly and simply over most of the surface.
  2. After a few moments delay, I picked up diluted ultramarine blue and fed it into the ochre wash.
  3. Once dried on a paper towel, the brush became useful for lifting out cloud edges.
  4. I then tackled the weeping willow on the left using the medium fan stippler, which I dragged down the paper with a partly mixed combination of ultramarine and yellow ochre. As this was done, the paint separated and provided colour interest.
  5. I switched to the comb foliage for the lichen-covered roof, which was painted by dragging the brush sideways to form some of the roof tiles.
  6. The adjacent tree behind the mill was tackled next. Holding the comb foliage near to vertical over the paper, I dragged a green mix of primary yellow and ultramarine blue upwards.
  7. The toothed edge of the brush broke up at the edge of the tree to represent foliage. I used the side of the same brush to cut into the building to create a straight edge (see below).
  8. While the paint was still wet, I fed a darker green mix into the damp base of the bush to increase the contrast of it next to the building.
  9. The two large bushes that overlap in front of the building were added with the small soft hair stippler and the deerfoot stippler. These shaped brushes were ideal for creating the softer foliage textures.
  10. Larger areas were best formed using the deerfoot stippler, with finer detail being added with the small soft hair stippler.
  11. Picking up a strong mix of ultramarine and primary yellow, and applying that to the damp surface with a slight circular motion, introduced some of the best texture forms.
  12. The foreground grasses were painted with the foliage brush, again using a mixture of ultramarine blue and primary yellow. This flat brush is one of the larger ones in the set and ideal for covering large areas of a painting.
  13. I stroked the brush upwards for a grass effect, moving from left to right across the paper. When I returned across the surface, the initial paint had dried enough to allow the next grass strokes to overlap the previous application, which gave depth and texture to the grasses.
  14. Finally, I mixed a strong dark green from Chinese orange, ultramarine blue and primary yellow, and used the dagger to place precisely the shadows and detail around the building and at the base of the bushes.
  15. Taking the same brush, I made a shadow mix from ultramarine blue and French vermilion and applied the tree shadow at the foot of the painting.
  16. The still damp grass allowed these colours to fuse into the painting.
  17. To finish, I took white FW acrylic ink and dotted flower heads using the fine tip of the dagger. I added a little primary yellow into the white to create marsh marigolds growing out of the old millpond.
Top tip for painting straight edges

To cut into the building seen in The Mill House (above), I used the side of the comb foliage brush, which has a straight painting edge.

How to paint soft and sharp edges

Brushes used:

Sunlight and Shadows, watercolour, (25.5x33cm)

In the second painting, Sunlight and Shadows (see above), I tackled the right-hand side of the painting with the speciality brushes.

  1. The broad area of foliage was first painted with the 1in. sky stippler and a dilute mix of ultramarine blue and Sennelier yellow.
  2. I let parts of the wash run into the parked car. As the surface began to dry, I used the toe of the small soft hair stippler to add the dark leafy edge with a mix of ultramarine, Chinese orange and primary yellow.
  3. To create the broader leaves, I went on to use the deerfoot stippler. The still damp background allowed these colours to fuse in with soft edges.
  4. Taking the pure squirrel swordliner and the dark mix, I added fine twigs and branches. This brush was ideal for fine twig details by dragging it over the paper.
  5. The lower grass was painted with the comb foliage and the foliage brush; each brush provided a different scale of grass.
  6. Finally, I used the dagger and a mix of ultramarine and French vermilion to place the shadows across the road. Rotating the brush as I moved it across the paper gave a more varied mark for the shadows as some of them merged, forming encapsulated lights where the original road wash could still be seen through.

To find out more about Jackson’s range of versatile brushes and to buy the specialist brushes, visit

www.jacksonsart.com

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