Size 9 Sable Watercolor Brush?

[RawMilk]

I cannot find this anywhere, can someone help me? I'm on the watercolor chapter of The natural way to Draw by Nicolaides and it calls for this brush but I couldn't find this brush anywhere, so I skipped ahead to the next chapter while I wait to find one... I see a Kolinsky size 9 on Jerrys art Rama but that's 225 dollars and I'm not swimming in money so something cheap would help

anything similar would help too

thanks in advance!

[martyl]

I'm a "natural media" watercolorist, so have lots experience with brushes. First off, you usually get a far better price online than in a local store.
Some great brush companies are : Isabey, Escoda, Cheap Joes, Winston & Newton.

Actually, I'd recommend trying to borrow one if its just for one chapter of a book.

If you plan to continue with watercolor, by all means, go for sable (Kolinsky is the premier quality, but red is okay for a beginner). A size nine round shouldn't cost you
more than 50-75$.

Good luck

edit:
Oh, Oh! in process of pricing sable brushes for you, I discovered bad news for watercolorists. US Department of Wildlife has temporarily banned import of the Kolinsky sable products. Apparently China misfiled certain paperwork. That seems to be why you couldn't find an affordable one. All my supply houses are backordered. Who knows how long this will be an issue (and what politics are involved??)
In the meanwhile, try for an inexpensive squirrel brush. They hold lots of water (which is one of the qualities that make the sable so useful), but are not quite as firm as sable, but should get you through your chapter. good luck

[Pernickety Jon]

Hi RawMilk,

Sable hair brushes do get a lot of advertising in many watercolour instruction books so they may be really good - if one can afford to buy them. For a beginner though, they may not be so suitable. Personally, my financial priority would be artist quality paints, not so much brushes.

Brush quality for watercolour painting is generally determined by how much water (paint) the brush will hold, the rate at which the brush releases the paint onto the paper and, how well the brush fibers (the head) hold their shape.

Early attempts at making synthetic brushes were rubbish. One important property of natural hairs, which eluded synthetic fibers, was 'split ends'. Magnify a quality natural brush and one can see that the fibers end with a number of tiny filaments. These filaments are very important in both holding and releasing the watery paint.

Newer synthetics have begun to achieve these 'split ends' in their brushes. I've found that 'Prolon' brushes by 'Westart' are suprisingly good in all respects. They are more expensive than many other brushes but much, much cheaper than Kolinsky Sable. A #8 'Westart Prolon' - $18.42 compared to a #8 'Raphael 8404' sable at $118.31. The Prolons are made in England but don't seem to be so easily found on the internet.

A quick web search reveals 'Prolene' brushes at 'Jerrys Artarama' but there are probably other brands of similar quality available. Like Martyl said, try borrowing one. Maybe you could contact an individual or club to get some hands-on time before you commit to the big money.

Best of luck.

[screenpainter]

you don't need a sable brush to do beautiful watercolor. that is pretty much just hype and very old school. go for an acrylic handle watercolor brush with a soft synthetic brush that is soft and well made. save you tons of cash. probably under ten bucks. check out this brush. they also have rounds with the acrylic handles.

http://youtu.be/at0JEzOorqE


http://www.utrechtart.com/Utrecht-De...008031.utrecht

[ishtiaq]

I cannot find this anywhere, can someone help me? I'm on the watercolor chapter of The natural way to Draw by Nicolaides and it calls for this brush but I couldn't find this brush anywhere, so I skipped ahead to the next chapter while I wait to find one... I see a Kolinsky size 9 on Jerrys art Rama but that's 225 dollars and I'm not swimming in money so something cheap would help





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ishtiaq