Sunday, June 5, 2011

Squirrel Hair

So, I bought a new watercolor brush. It's made from squirrel hair and it set me back $27.50. I know, right? Cheap.

My friend Rebecca said that she would send me a squirrel from the side of the road and then I could just make the brush myself. But I opted for letting a professional build my brush, and this is the one I got:


Although, it might have been cheaper to go with Rebecca's plan, you think?

This is a size three brush. I wanted a four, but they were all out. Plus, a four would have been even more money (because it would be bigger) and well, I'm a poor art student. It works wonders though, this brush of squirrel descent. Much better than my mop brush.


Theses are the brushes that I had been using. The red one came with my watercolor paint set, and the yellow one is my mop brush made out of goat hair.

See how these brushes have stray bristles? There's not really a nice point on them, so they can potentially make marks where I don't want there to be any. This is because these brushes are really inexpensive and low quality.


My new brush is the best of both worlds, it's big to cover the space the mop brush does, and it has a nice tip on it, like the finer brush. I can cover a vast area and finish it with some detail all with the same brush. And it keeps the pigment longer than the other brushes. It's amazing the difference a high quality paint brush makes.


This is what I did today. I didn't use my mop brush at all, just the squirrel hair and my cheap little red one. But I like the way it turned out. It's surprisingly a lot easier painting with the new brush, but I still need lots more practice with it before I feel comfortable using it.

I just hope it doesn't start demanding peanuts and snack bars.

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