Rosemary & Co R9 Travel Brush Review

I'm pretty sure I picked up the R9 squirrel hair mop travel brush from Rosemary & Co because of some minor positive comment on it in Jane Blundell's blog, and have become increasingly pleased with the choice ever since. It was my second brush after getting an Escoda Reserva Kolinsky Sable #8 Travel Brush, and at the first didn't seem to be as useful and pleasing as my Escoda, being a bit snapless and floppy, and without the needle sharpness of the kolinsky.

However, as I continue on with it I find I reach for it more often, feeling more comfortable to scrub with it and treat it a touch less gently then my kolinsky. I did underestimate the usefulness of it's point, but have become used to its difference. Further, the rate at which it puts pigment to paper and the ease of adjusting the pigment dilution by touching brush to water is exceedingly nice and can be done without too much thought, as opposed to my kolinsky brush :-)

Not so purdy, but still usefull :-)

My only issue with this brush is that even being careful when I cap it, I still occasionally catch stray hairs on the side of the brush, as the fit is extremely tight, bending them backwards and making it a little less pleasing to look at, even if it doesn't actually affect the practical usage of it excessively. Even after 6 months of usage, it still sheds a hair now and then, but I continue to appreciate this brush, and will likely pick up another should the necessity arise :-)

My Palette Choices

My current selection

My palette this year has been fairly varied between the beginning of the year until now :-)

At the start, I chose my colors based on company paint discriptions from Handprint, a few glowing reviews in blogs, and gleaned info from the Wetcanvas forums; all with the intention that they should be as transparent as possible, single pigment, and light-fast.

The original well-worn crew: Pyrrol Red PR254, Azo Yellow PY151, Phthalo Green (YS) PG36, and Phthalo Blue (RS) PB15:0, Burnt Umber PBr7

Later I realized that it was a bit difficult to mix the delicate colors of Wisteria, so I went to the store to pick up a Quin magenta PV19 (and less interestingly a titanium white gouache) and accidentally wound up picking up a Cobalt Violet PV14 instead! Thus I was introduced to the wonderful world of granulation, even though I didn't know what to do with it at the time :-)

After a bit, I had a sort of falling-out with transparent watercolors because of their difficulty, so I switched to body color gouache, another limited palette again, based around a psuedo-zorn Palette.

A pic of the gouache colors when I got them

A few months with that, and I was once again convinced that I thoroughly appreciated the transparent watercolor glow, and that gouache wouldn't do for being so flat.

By this time I had decided I wasn't the biggest fan of M. Graham colors simply because of the excessive honey content, and that I'd like to look for something else. I also had a better idea of what characteristics I wanted in watercolors. I chose a core palette based on a thread here* in Wetcanvas. Later adding; Holbien's antique turquoise for a non-granulating convenience match with manganese blue, and phthalo green for an easy near black mixed with Quin violet(as a side note I find pthalo green good for very little else :-P).

Transparent side of the new palette: transparent pyrrol orange PO71, hansa yellow medium PY97, pthalo blue (RS) PB15:6, antique turquoise PB17, quinacridone violet PV19, phthalo green (YS) PG36

Further expanding my palate, I decided on a granulating group, as I come to thoroughly appreciate the textures attainable with these colors :-)

Rhodonite genuine, transparent red oxide PR101, goethite PY43, green apatite genuine, cobalt violet PV14, buff titanium PW6:1, burnt umber PBr7, manganese blue PB33

As my palette continues to expand, I can tell I'm probably finished generally with expanding the transparent non-granulating side of my palette, however I continue to look to aquire new granulating colors :-) You'll see in the pic at the top of my page I still keep a titanium white gouache(lovely for highlights), as well as an ivory black. I'm looking to replace the ivory black at some point. I rather wonder what the palette will look like in a year's time :-)

Making My Own Manganese Blue

Still some left!

As manganese blue is such an uncommon pigment for characteristics and rarity, and as I've had such good experience with it thus far,  I searched out and obtained this lovely pigment in dry form to turn into my very own watercolor! I love a good project, and was optimistic about this one :-)

The ingredients

I chose to add clove oil to prevent mold, as I was interested to keeping this paint wet.

I wore a respirator for safety sake, as this pigment is rather poisonous and easily airborne :-)

In the mix

The final product :-)

You know, I'm happy with the final product, it was easy to make and now I have more of the paint I like so much :-)

Klum-Pinsel Travel Brush Review

Kolinsky Gussow Steckpinsel Gr:10

Measured hair width - 10mm, hair length - 14mm

It was of great interest to me when my hap was to land upon a thread in Wetcanvas, discussing paint brushes, that pointed out the splendid German brush maker Klum-Pinsel*(Non-English link). A shop that upon closer inspection and with the help of Bing's Web page Translator*, was shown to have a wonderful variety of brushes, and especially travel brushes*(Non-English link) plein air painters might want to take note, with prices that, at the time of this writing, were competitive with the much beloved Rosemary and Co brush makers. The only other difference I'm not sure of between the makers is the exact kind of hair used by Klum-Pinsel.

Being in the market for a flat travel brush, I compared the largest of Rosemary & Co's and Klum-Pinsel's flat travel brushes, and after a call and some emails with Klum(involving Bing again), I found I could get a larger cheaper brush from Klum according to the given measurements of both manufacturers and shipping quotes to San Diego, CA; so I went ahead and bought it, the Kolinsky Gussow Steckpinsel Gr:10 :-)

Klum-Pinsel's s brush on top, compared to a #8 Escoda Reserva below

My initial thoughts on painting with this brush were, something about never having painted with a flat brush before, and afterward were on how it had approximately the same strong snap as my Escoda Reserva brushes, holds plenty of pigment, and has an ok edge.
The edge isn't perfectly sharp but my understanding is that if I wanted sharpness, I should look to a synthetic bristle, which I'd rather prefer not to, or get a mixed bristle next time.

It is a travel brush, so I should mention that the fitting of both pieces together, closed or open, was perfectly snug and left no wiggle room. The bristle squeeze is a touch tight when closing up, which is  something I worry about when a bit jittery from caffeine at a cafe after a day in of painting, an inconvenience but nothing impossible to deal with and worth the trouble for having a larger brush :-)

As of yet I heartily recommend this brush, looking on to time's breaking the brush in and feeling out it's longevity.

The travel brush when closed up

*links may break

Highlight: Manganese Blue

It's a well-known fact that manganese blue is, or at least almost is, an extinct species of pigment.

At the time of this writing, it's still available in dry pigment form from Cornelissen Pigments*, and in watercolor tube by manufacturer Old Holland* at some online retailers and in pan form from the boutique paint maker Pen Holder Arts*(at least occasionally).

Side by side swatch of boutique vs large manufacturer

For interest's sake I got my hands on both available brands of genuine manganese blue and compared them. I found they were similar except for pigment load, that is to say that you need far more of Old Holland's manganese blue paint to approach what Penholder Art's can achieve with so much less. Another point of interest is that Penholder's is a pan paint but much more easily wet and disolved in water than the tube paint from Old Holland, which struck me a touch odd.

As a side note: I recently discovered that one online retailer, Jackson's*, seemed to no longer carry the PB33-only variety of Old Holland's, replacing it with a Manganese Blue Extra(a multi-pigment paint). After communicating with interested parties on the subject, I found that Old Holland ran out of PB33 more than a year ago, and consequently, remaining retail stock is running out.

Though rare, this pigment is widely regarded for its hue, granulation, and low tinting characteristics. Handprint's author said of it "This crystalline synthetic inorganic pigment, a near perfect cyan hue, imparts a lyrically coarse texture even after extensive milling. Though never a popular paint, I feel this is of the loveliest blue pigments ever used in watercolors: it imparts a unique poetry to sky, water or landscape greens when used in diluted mixtures that put its granulation on display. "

4x6in Plein air piece from Union Street Railroad Bridge in Salem, OR - Steven Drenning Jr

The above piece illustrates PB33 in all it's glory. Used singularly and only in the sky here, you can see it's lovely granular quality starkly contrasting the quite similarly hued but non-granulating PB17 of Holbein's Irodori Antique Turquoise in the water below. 

*links may break

Boutique Paint Makers

Liking to know what options are available, I thought it might be a valuable resource to compile a list of boutique watercolor makers.

Disclaimer: I originally wrote this as a post on the wetcanvas forum, in much the same style as here. It has been ported to blog format for easier update and stewardship of links. Additionally I have taken suggested links from others within that thread, and continued my research to expand the list. Please feel free to comment and add to the list.

-

You hear them mentioned of in general, but rarely by name, and finding it a touch difficult to find any common listing, and liking to know what options are available, I thought it might be a valuable resource to compile a list of boutique watercolor makers.

Not the common companies you would find on top 20 brands blogs, or in the immediate recognition of most, but rather those makers of small batch, handcrafted, often pan only selections of watercolors.

I've generally separated and prioritized non-Etsy links in the order shown due to the deluge and overabundance of Etsy stores in my search results. Most of these makers have an Instagram presence, making it easy to check out some of their paints even when not in stock, which is oft to happen with handmade, small-batch colors.*

Cloves and Honey Art - Instagram
Handmade watercolor pans with clove oil, and accessories.

Eventually Everything Mixes - Instagram
I learned about this German maker from Sadie Saves the Day's YouTube review.
Cruelty free, vegan, handmade watercolor pans and accessories.

Greenleaf & Blueberry - Instagram
Handmade watercolor pans and accessories.

Stone Ground Paint - Instagram
Handmade watercolor pans, tubes, and accessories.

-Etsy stores:

31 Purple Fish

Biscuits Watercolor

Designs by Rachel Beth

Earth Mineral Arts

Hushwing Watercolors

Hydra Colour

I'm Loth Watercolor

Jasper Stardust

Letter Sparrow

Made Organically

Matteo Grilli Art

Paint And Letters

Penholder Art

Pinta PH

Redwood Wood Willow

Rivervale watercolors

Ruby Mountain Paint Co

Sea Of Grass Studio

Wanderlust Watercolors

*Links may break

(Updated 28th November 2017)

Palette Box Project

Having appreciated the Palette Addicts thread at WetCanvas for a long time now, and loving a good hands on project, I got it into my head to pickup a cigarette cases to upcycle into a useful travel palette. 

Such an interesting old case! 

In the quick Etsy search that followed I discovered a lovely very well used, antique Park Sherman display case, made of metal, that has 3 shelves and folds up rather nicely.

The closed case, showing the wear of many years.

I plan on cutting some shelving away to make room for a collapsible shot glass for my watercolor water, and adding fillable WC pans and tiny ceramic bowls for mixing on the top shelf.

The cigarette dividers should, when cut down a bit and placed horizontally, hold my travel brushes just fine on the shortened mid or bottom shelf.

As yet elsewise, I'm excited to see what direction this project takes :)

The Park Sherman logo