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Monthly Tip
"The Brush Lady" by Bill Hudson
The other day, Judy Coyle spent three hours in The Bear Street Gallery in response to an invitation by artists of the Orange County Fine Arts association. Judy is "The Brush Lady." She sells top quality brushes at rock bottom prices. And she brings them to your organization on request. Judy has bins containing 1000's of brushes for all media. My estimate is that her prices are 50 to 75% off the list price. And these include top of the line name brands such as Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sables. Judy is very knowledgeable, personable, and a life-long artist in all media. She is a perfect fit for most art venues such as art leagues, festivals, demonstrations, classes, and studios. Judy is the representative for Southern California. However, her company has representatives who supply brushes on site to most areas of the United States. Simply contact Judy.
THE BRUSH LADY
While Judy was in our gallery, I asked her to write a little about artist brushes. Fifteen minutes later she handed me this, hand-written on a couple of sheets of paper.
"Natural hair brushes include most notably sable. The term "sable" is used generally to denote hair from a number of animals in the weasel family. This includes mink, sable, polecat, badger, mongoose, and other members. There are various types and grades of hair which are suited to different uses, whether for watercolor, ink, or oil painting. The best, highest quality hair is from the Kolinsky sable, a Siberian mink which lives only in Russia and Northern China. The highest quality Kolinsky is from the winter coat of the male animal, which has the longest and strongest tail hairs at that time of year. The female hairs are much shorter.
Other natural hair brushes include hog bristle (taken from pig's back), goat hair, ox hair (from inside the ears), and pony hair (mane and tail). These are used variously for oil painting, sign painting, calligraphy (Oriental Sumi brushes for instance) and so on.
Another great brush for watercolor and ink is squirrel hair. Black Siberian squirrel is the highest quality and has a holding capacity the same or greater than sable hair, although softer in feel. Squirrel brushes are available in many interesting shapes - jumbo round wash brushes down to regular rounds, dagger shapes good for lines or pin-striping, flats, lettering brushes, quill brushes (pointed fat rounds bound to handles with bird quill, wrapped in wire), ovals and flats, and an especially useful shape called a cat's tongue which is a flattened oval with a pointed tip. Cat's tongues are also found in sable. No real cat's hair is used! It is referring only to the shape of the hairs.
Other countries may use other natural hairs not available in the US. For example, cat and dog hair may be used in China where these animals are not regarded as pets. It is a case of buyer beware when purchasing brushes labeled sable from China.
It is not recommended that natural hair be used for acrylic painting. Synthetic brushes are easier to clean and last longer for acrylics."
FREE: This Newsletter is a free service. Selected announcements for individual artists and organizations are also free.
Share a painting or marketing tip. In exchange Watermen Art will publish the tip, and post at least one of your images, with a short bio and link to your website.
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What's Happening...
For FREE MARKETING, email us and we'll do our best to get your event in next month. For more information on the following events, click on the links:
The Mystery of Winter in Watercolor - Young Harris, Georgia February 1-3, 2010 (9:30 A.M. - 3:30 P.M.) Come and visit Brasstown Valley Resort in the splendor of winter in the mountains of north Georgia. This workshop will be 3 days of working with nature and all the design principles of a master designer. Weather permitting, we may hold a half day outing. |
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EXTENDED AGAIN!...save 50% on all orders at MahlBridge.com. Simply enter code SPECIAL09 in your shopping cart to receive your discount.
(offer ends DEC. 31)
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