Artists Materials Used
Artists Materials Used
I only use the best quality materials for my Portraits. If you commission a painting, you expect it to last a lifetime (or even longer) so my materials need to be long lasting and of extremely high quality.
When painting my original watercolour landscapes, I usually use Italian Fabriano 300lb rough watercolour paper, this is a heavyweight paper with a nice textured finish that is perfect for my style of painting and holds the water and paint very well, as I tend to work in a "wet on wet" style.
For my Pet Portraits, I use Slater Harrison "ColourMount" Conservation textured mountboard. This is a white core, conservation quality board that does not discolour with age and is "bleed resistant". It has an Alkaline pH that is buffered with Calcium Carbonate to a pH of 7.5 to 9.5.
My brushes and paints are the most important elements to my paintings. I have a very wide range of brushes including Kolinsky natural Sable brushes which are well known for their quality of picking up and dropping paint as well as their abilities of precise control when painting.
Natural hair brushes are superior to synthetic hair brushes for liquid holding capacity, the hollows and indentations found on the surface of the cuticle of the hairs pick up water and pigment really well, which is why natural hair is considered the best for liquid holding capacity – once the brush is pressed against the paper being painted on, all the liquid and pigment is deposited on to the surface. Soft fine hair is particularly favoured for wash applications as it has less of a ‘snap’, and will create gentle fluid marks with no crisp edges.
I also use synthetic brushes for precision, spring and detail. Synthetic hair does not have the scale-like cuticle layer that natural hair possesses, so does not hold liquid as well, however synthetic hair brushes possess a greater spring, they are more resilient and if looked after, have a much greater lifespan. These characteristics make them suitable for watercolour painting techniques that demand greater control, and crisper, finer detailed work. I use Toray hair brushes which is a very fine nylon hair which is perfect for the fine detailed style of my Pet Portraits.
I have always used Winsor and Newton "Cotman" watercolour paints since I first started painting with watercolours, they are uncompromising on quality with excellent tinting strength. After using them for so long I can judge perfectly what mixture of colours I need to match the subjects colouring.
