These are some of the brushes I use, and what I use them for, from top to bottom:
- Loew-Cornell angled shaders, various sizes: These are golden taklon brushes. I use the largest one for putting in backgrounds for small pictures. I have a couple larger brushes, including a wonderful 2-inch flat wash brush by Princeton, that I use for bigger pictures. I should say that every brush I use is a synthetic, usually a taklon. The smaller angle shaders I use for a variety of things, primarily foreground stuff and textures and other stuff. They're also great if you want to put in a fine line to start a horizon when painting a sort-of seascape or a small color field picture.
- Princeton Umbria round: The one in the picture is a size 8. It's what I'm using to make the picture shown as a work in progress in the blog entry immediately below this one. For the cascade and blossom pictures, the Umbria is simply the finest, most durable brush I've ever found. Believe me, I've spent a crapload of money and countless hours trying to find brushes I can count on. I can get such fine lines with these things, and they carry just enough water in the tip for me to be able to control the small details with accuracy.
- Small filberts: Shown are a Robert Simmons Sienna and a Royal Soft Grip. They both have their uses, although I've always found myself reaching for the Soft Grip as a primary brush, particularly when I have to "scrub" the paint into the paper. Not shown is a Robert Simmons Titanium filbert. I use the Titaniums when I need a very firm small filbert or need to really shove the watercolor to create a gradient.
This is my painting area. I put blobs of watercolors, arranged in color groups, on white ceramic tiles and rub the wet brush tip on the dry blobs to load the brush. Pretty much as you would use pan watercolors, I suppose, but without the convenient portability. Those are rectangular particle boards the tiles are sitting on. The clear area of the left hand board is where I put what I'm working on. (I sit on the floor to paint.)
Paints I use: I use a little bit of everything, when it comes to brands for "neutral" or "earth tone" colors like the umbers, siennas, sepia, Van Dyck brown, ochre, and most grays. My go-to brands are Daniel Smith and (surprisingly) Dick Blick, both of which have high solids contents, excellent handling properties and color fastness, and are readily re-wet after drying on the tiles (my "palettes"). They're usually single-pigment colors. Blick's Davy's gray is wonderful, and Daniel Smith's Bloodstone and Buff Titanium are fantastic. The Buff Titanium is about as close to gouache as I've ever used. I really find gouache to be dead-looking, probably due to its opacity.
I also use Holbein (mostly for neutral and Davy's gray), M. Graham (for non-neutrals), and Sennelier (they make a wonderful warm sepia). I think Winsor & Newton is the only major brand I don't really use. (If their Davy's gray didn't turn rock hard on the palette I'd use it in a heartbeat. Their customer service people are outstanding, and they bent over backwards to try to help me when I sent them a tube of their paint and asked why it came out of the tube with the consistency of modeling clay. They sent me several tubes, and each one turned sluggish almost as soon as I opened it. I finally gave up. Still, they're very nice people to deal with.)
(I should also mention that Dick Blick has about the best customer service of any online retailer I've ever bought from. They truly shine. Daniel Smith's customer service, on the other hand, is at the opposite end of the spectrum. I won't go into details, but if I didn't like some of their watercolors so much I'd never spend another penny with them.)
That's about it when it comes to materials. I guess I could mention papers: I primarily use Bristol board (hot press...almost exclusively Strathmore 500, 3-ply or 4-ply, 100% cotton) and Arches hot press watercolor paper. I also really like Cartiera-Magnani's hot press watercolor paper. I can't remember the last time I used anything other than hot press. I had two blocks of Arches cold press paper I gave to a friend. That stuff's kind of expensive, but you have to be willing to spend on some stuff to find out if it's of any use. I'm always impressed by people who can work with rough-surfaced watercolor paper. It's something I've never learned to do.
The Pinwheel cascade and the other one (I call it a "rotary" cascade) are on acid-free foam board, which has the most remarkable paper backing and is simply wonderful for painting small lines without any tiny backruns. I just got a sample pack of papers from New York Central Supply that, I hope, might contain a paper that matches what's on the foam board. I'll do some tests and see.
2 comments:
Thank you for the reply! I find your watercolour process fascinating, probably because your approach is somewhat atypical. A drybrush method? You sit on the floor! Gosh, I'm only 30ish and couldn't work that way! :) Thank you for your paint summary. I love subdued colour and enjoy earth and neutral paints very much, I suppose I collect them... I'm always eager to see what nuances of colour lie within the granulation on rough paper. I am a Graham girl primarily, but seek earth paints all over.
I had Buff Titanium in my sights, so you have added another positive for it - thanks. I will also check out the Bloodstone, as I have been curious about it. Also, I'm glad for the Holbein Davy's suggestions as the WN version solidifies so fast (as you know), however in a paintbox with my Graham paints the honey does at least keep it semi-moist... Do you have a favoured raw sienna? I have been off-side with a Maimeri version of late and need a replacement for it in a muted eighteenth century palette I wish to experiment with.
I laughed at your brushes comment - When I started out I had some kind of reverse-snobbery against sable brushes, and I went through soooooo many synthetics, sifting good from bad. I eventually tried some sables, and do enjoy some, but when I found Escoda synthetics I was done looking.
If I may ask, are your designs fully planned and penciled on the paper before you begin painting? Or do you work from a loose design that develops? I wonder...is it like a meditative approach that you take?
I've been getting back into painting after a little bit of a breakdown and a few years absence, but after so long away I am having a crisis of confidence. I've been warming up with some mixing charts and colour wheels with unusual triads in my collection. Anything to avoid doing real painting, I think. ;)
I would love to see your work up close. I did hunt around WetCanvas, but so many threads no longer have images. Would you be interested in swapping artist cards sometime?
No, not a drybrush method. I just can't have much water in the brush trip and still control the small lines. I blot out the excess water by touching the brush to a paper towel until I can tell it's the right moistness. (Andrew Wyeth - one of my idols - used to squeeze his brushes to get the water out. I always thought, "Wow, didn't he know you can use a paper towel?"
I think I bought a couple Escoda brushes once and ended up giving them to a friend who loves them.
The only pictures I draw out in advance are ones with dark backgrounds, because I have to be able to mask the foreground stuff. Otherwise, the picture starts as an image in my head that's allowed to take its final form gradually. It's often nothing like I originally imagined. The cascade in-progress picture (below) started as a little practice thing that I forgot about and one day discovered when I was organizing things. On the back of the sheet it's on is another small practice thing. If you're having a tough time getting back into painting, I recommend just practicing on small pieces of paper, trying stuff out, experimenting... and be okay with tossing it if it isn't working. I'd estimate I throw out 90% of what I do. The other 10% keeps me at it.
Post a Comment