Lets Paint!

Sandra Strohschein is an award winning artist in both watercolour and photography who resides in Michigan, USA.

Sandra’s travelled the world studying and teaching watercolour for the past five years. She told Symi, “I am so happy that I was introduced to Rosemary’s handmade brushes, happy enough to put my name on them and endorse them to my fellow artists world wide!”

Fig. 1. Everything I need is right here, my Rosemary & Co Brush Set. A Mop, an Angular Liner, a Kolinsky Extended Point, a Pointed Pure Sable and a Pure Squirrel.

Fig. 2. I begin with the size 6 Squirrel mop, laying down all the large washes of colour building the foundation. The mop carries a great deal of pigment and water, so I can paint quickly without having to return to the water source constantly! Rinsing and shaking out the brush means I can come back in quickly and soften edges.

Fig. 3. With the mop I lay in the basic large shapes and local colour. With practice you can get those values during this initial stage. Remember the more pigment means intense values! More water means light values!

If I could have two brushes, these would be the first ones. The Squirrel Mop and the Kolinsky Sable Extended Point.

Fig. 4. With the bead of paint that has puddled, I begin to drag shadow shapes onto the composition. My paper is dry at the start so I have a great deal of control as to where my paint runs. This is done with the Extended Pointed Kolinsky. A thick brush at the ferrule, tapered to a magnificent point.

Fig. 5. I also love the 1/2 inch angled shader. I use it for two things; softening hard edges and lifting colour. Here I am doing a little repair work. I believe that watercolour can be corrected and the angled shader has saved many paintings!

Fig. 6. Using the Extended Point, again I begin to lay in tree shapes and detail in the foreground. This brush is wonderful because I can switch quickly from thick to thin. It carries a great deal of pigment and water. I dance with this brush across the paper.

Fig. 7. This is a 9 Pointed Squirrel Round. It is great for splattering, something that we watercolourists love to do. It holds a great deal of water and pigment.

Fig. 8. The finished piece.

Images courtesy of Sandra Strohschein.

You can find Sandra’s Field Set on our website, just search Sandra Strohschein or by clicking here.

See more of Sandra’s work at: www.sandralstrohscheinfineart.com