Artiste Botanique
There is something quite magical and romantic about a dip pen with a beautifully marbled handle and a gorgeous nib. The feel you have as you dip the pen and make a mark on the paper with the liquid ink cannot be matched by a felt tip pen. For this ginkgo leaf I have chosen… Continue reading Ginkgo leaf part 2: Ink
As I have almost literally received a ton of paintbrushes to review (I am almost not exaggerating), I thought I would first write a post about the anatomy of a paintbrush. What the different bits are and what they do. That way, when I write about the brushes and their performances, we'll all be clear… Continue reading Anatomy of a paintbrush
I have been painting a lot of Ginkgo biloba leaves, some from my own tree in the garden, others from the beautiful pair of trees outside the orangery in West Dean Gardens. There is something fascinating about a prehistoric tree. You can just imagine it surrounded by Diplodocus and Stegosaurus in the fading Jurassic light,… Continue reading Ginkgo leaf part 1: drawing
I hadn’t tried any Princeton brushes before Jackson’s sent me some to test for my Veganuary blog. These Neptune series 4750 brushes are faux squirrel rather than the faux sables I usually use. On the round brushes, the varnished handle shows the wood grain, in deep mahogany tones and satin finish. The flat brushes have… Continue reading Princeton Neptune synthetic squirrel – Brush review
When I started painting, there was no comparison between sable and synthetic brushes. The sables were much higher quality. There was also this idea going around that you were not a proper artist if you didn’t have the most expensive sables in your toolkit. This view is now obsolete, but myths are hard to kill…… Continue reading The best synthetics brushes
Sandrine Maugy 