Matt and I have been having an argument about whether or not Rosemary & Co. makes good brushes. I had previously taken a recommendation of his and bought a set of five brushes, and subsequently fell in love with brush again. Unfortunately, he has recently redacted his endorsement, and the knife and flaming baton throwing has ensued:

Here is my response to a commentor on the fence about whether to buy these brushes or not:

I have to say Matt and I have been having disagreements about the Rosemary brushes. I was in your same position about six months ago: didn’t have a lot of money to spend but wanted to try a LOT of different kinds of brushes to figure out exactly what sizes and shapes I might like in a brush. For twenty-five bucks, I got five different sized kolinsky series 33 brushes and a watercolor brush. The watercolor brush was decent, but the kolinsky brushes changed what had previously been a firm hatred of brush into a lusty love affair. I f*cking LOVE brush now.

Unlike Matt, I haven’t used a lot of brushes, so I don’t personally know how W&N and Raphael brushes compare, but the complaints I’ve read about Rosemary brushes seem pretty minor things when you’re just starting out and trying to figure out how a brush actually works. If it doesn’t hold as much ink, you’ll just have to dip more. And I’ve never had a problem getting a point or a thick line, or of them splitting except under the greatest pressure. Usually I just get sort of a drybrush look when I apply a lot of pressure.

I still think that Rosemary brushes are an excellent brush for their price, and as I was just saying to Matt: they’re the sort of brush you want to get a lot of just to see how a brush feels. They may not make artists cream their pants like apparently a good W&N does, but they seem like a good start to me.

Plus, once you figure out what size you like best (like how I figured how drastically different a 5 is from a 2, and that I really prefer a 5, which I though I’d prefer the thinner brush!), you can always go out and buy a nicer one in another brand.

As for me? I don’t want to spend $10-$20 on a single brush just to test it out and possibly never use it again! Some of the rosemary’s I bought sit unused (like the 0), but I spent less than $5 on it, so I really don’t mind.

Seriously, for twenty or thirty bucks, you should try a selection and see what you think. I love mine, and I love the faith they’ve given me in brush again that had been destroyed by a BAD WINDSOR AND NEWTON.

So there. (sticks tongue out at Matt)

——

I use a Rosemary Pure Sable Kolinsky Series 33 #5 and #2, btw.

I think I’m going to switch from the “Fairfield” (which is apparently Strathmore 300 Series in disguise) 2 ply plate to Strathmore 4 ply plate. The 2 ply actually worked great for brush, but nibs and it do NOT get along. I’m constantly pulling up fibers in the tips of my nibs. The Strathmore 4 ply plate, however, seems to take a real beating from my nib; I can scratch over a wet line with a nib over and over again and its smooth surface persists. It also takes thin, delicate lines well; I can scratch the nib up and still get an even, tiny line as easily as I can drawing the nib down.

I’m also still partial to Rising 3 ply plate, even though it doesn’t work with nibs as well and it’s an off-white color. But there’s something about using brush on it that tactilely, is a real pleasure.

Also: a quick review on Dr. Ph Martin’s Terra Cotta India ink:

I mentioned this ink in my previous post. First, I love the color. It’s a warm, rich, clay color. The red kind of clay you played with in sixth grade pottery class. I know a lot of artists whom prefer Sepia over black ink because of it’s warmth. Personally, I find Sepia still too towards the cool range. Terra Cotta offers a warmth I’d use in whimsical children’s illustration.

This ink is opaque straight from the bottle, I have yet to see it bleed, and it hardens tough as a ROCK. It was utterly impervious to my frenetic erasing; even the thinnest of lines stayed intact. Quite possibly the most eraser-resistant ink I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with!

There are a few unfortunates to this ink, however. It uses large sediment particles, so it has to be periodically closed and shaken, or stirred, or you’ll start getting runny, translucent ink. It also takes forever to dry (several minutes!). For someone like me who tends to start in the middle of the page and work outwards, this isn’t too difficult to work around; I just have to be careful to avoid resting my hand on any lines. If you are, however, like my boyfriend who makes random lines all across the page with no logic whatsoever :P you would probably have a little more frustrations with this ink.

Two Rivkah-ey thumbs-up for Dr. Ph. Martin’s Bombay Terra Cotta India Ink!

—–

Guh. Too bad I can’t tell if this paper is 400 series or 500. The samples I got only marked down the thickness, not the grade, and I can’t remember which I ended up getting. ;_; Going to see if New York Central Art Supply has any Canson bristol papers. I didn’t like them with brush, but I’ve heard good things about how they work with nibs, and that they’re a more consistent company. The Strathmore papers I keep trying are just all over the board. Sometimes the quality is phenomenal, and sometimes it’s just cr*p.

OMG. I <3 FONT EMBEDDING. Current generation browsers are finally, FINALLY, moving towards support for embedded fonts, and this means webpages can now look SEXY. (drools all over happy pages)

So yeah, putting the finishing touches on my new site, and EEK does it look pretty! XD And HOLY F*CK has it take forever! ;_; I've been teaching myself PHP and a better understanding of the CSS language (which is actually ridiculously easy once you understand what you can and CAN'T do with it) and everything for the site is finally starting to come together.

HOLY COW I'M SO EXCITED. I feel like I'm getting a new lease on my career and on life. All this energy comes rushing in from nowhere and I want to jump to the sky and shout with joy. The last time I moved, it was a bad, horrible, terrible decision, and in my gut, I knew so. But this time around, I know it's the RIGHT decision, that good things are going to happen, and that I just need to GO. Only ten more days until I move--

HOLYBANANAS!YES!

--and I'll be living in THE most multi-cultural city in the US. Maybe on our planet. I can say "sayonara" to Austin for the time being (though I'll be back to visit!) and "howdy" to my new city.

(hugs New York City)

SO EXCITING. O_O

Back to my website now! Hopefully, next time I update, it'll be from my pretty, brand sparkling new layout.

Eek!

SO EXCITED! \>o

Woo font embedding!