A New Brush

I have been playing around with a new brush.
Yes they are dear... I won't go into details about their cost.
But

I got my hands on a couple of

Isabey Kolinsky watercolor brushes.

They are made in France from Russian sable. They are accurate and hold a huge amount of water  and paint for their sizes. 

My current art work has taken me out of the atmospherics temporarily to some small canvases that can reflect a smaller subject.

The first one was the monarchs that are in my daughter Linzi's possession. My latest number is a very small 4x12 of my Starbucks coffee shop from the outside. My first inclination was to draw an outline with a pencil. The problem became that the lead in the pencil entered into the value structure of the painting. This was not good. I decided to "sketch" this new brush using non staining paints.. and it really helped to keep the painting from going grey. I have never been very good using a brush as a sketching tool. This new brush with its accuracy and its supply made sketching much easier. I am headed for some bigger versions of this brush.

The retail list on a bigger version of this brush is almost 300 dollars. Ebay to the rescue! I am hoping to get a size 12 for around 100.  I am keeping my fingers crossed!

: ) Pat