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)

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