Da Vinci have a long standing experiance in manufacturing top quality artists’ brushes, and have been doing so in Germany since the end of the 19th century. Their brushes are hand shaped and perfected by many skilled craftsmen in their Nuremburg factory using the highest quality materials, and a combination of traditional methods and contemporary production process to ensure perfect quality standards across the range.
The brand manufactures and develops brushes for a wide range of techniques from oil, watercolour and acrylic painting to ceramic, gilding and silk painting.
Tried and Tested by Karlee Gould
Are you familiar with Da Vinci brushes? As Karlee Gould was new to the Da Vinci brand, we offered her the chance to work with some of their synthetic watercolour ranges for an artists’ review.
Karlee will be working with:
- Cosmotop Spin brushes in a series 5587, size 14 blade and series 5584, size 20 oval
- Da Vinci Forte Series Size 10 Filbert and Size 1 round brush
- Casaneo Wash Series in size 2 and 0
Cosmotop Spin Brushes
“These are quite large brushes but with very fine tipped ends, so I should see some great results when painting florals. I’m hoping that the size of the brushes mean they’re going to hold plenty of water and retain it well when pressed into the paper.”
“They have a very pleasing handle to hold. Their size provides a really comfortable grip and they also have grip grooves, much like many of there brushes, to help maintain comfort while painting.”
“The oval brush has a really impressive hold on the watercolours. I really enjoyed using it as it seemed to never run out whilst I was painting the tops of flowers.”
The blade brush is remarkable!
“I’ve used it for creating stems, blades of grass and finer details on leaves and florals and it has fast become my new favourite brush.”
“The capability of this brush is almost endless, and the tipped point can create the tiniest lines. Then, when turned sideways, thick, broad, lines. This makes it suitable for almost anything including background washes, and tiny fine details. I would go so far as to say that you could probably create an entire painting with just this one brush.”
The size I have is a large 14, but it does not limit its use in any way, shape or form. However it now makes me want to try the smaller sizes in order to see the fine details you can get with those. They must be just as fantastic.”
“It doesn’t seem to hold just as much water as the oval brush, but its capabilities outweigh this detail. I honestly wouldn’t be able to find a bad thing to say about the size or the shape of this, it’s completely marvelous, and would recommend it to anyone using watercolours (or any other paint for that matter). It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that it’s made in Germany, the engineering of these brushes is beautiful. What’s more, the bristles are purely synthetic making this brush suitable for vegan artists like myself.
“10 out of 10 for The Da Vinci cosmotop spin brushes!”
The Forte Brush Series
“I’m going to try out some Da Vinci Forte Synthetics brushes, in size 10 oval, and size 1, round. The general look and feel of these brushes is precisely like the Cosmotop spin brushes, although they have a slightly different feel to the handle, which is a pale and stoney green colour. They have an incredibly ergonomic size and carved groove to help with stability, grip and comfort.”
“The size 1 round brush looks as though it’s going to create some superb precision. The size 10 filbert brush doesn’t seem to be a single hair out of place along it’s perfectly semicircular tip. I tested out the tiniest lines imaginable: butterfly antenna! I could get lines as small as hairs with this brush.
The filbert brush made for some very sweet curved flowers, and fabulous tulips.”
The Casaneo Wash Brushes
“The design reminds me of Eastern calligraphy brushes, but these fold to a direct point when wet. The quality of these brushes is great, really delightful to work with in all directions, and hold a lot of liquid.”
” When working with Daniel Smith Watercolours these brushes held a lot of the Interference Gold watercolour which was interesting to note, and dropped it into other liquid paints generously. I really loved how this brush cut back through watercolours and inks too, absorbing the liquid wherever it was placed. A really fantastic piece of kit I’m going to use again and again without a doubt.”
“These brushes were really very helpful when painting my whale. I found myself returning to this brush time and time again throughout my experiments because it was super absorbent and made gorgeous marks.”
“The more and more I used the brush, I realised it must be the tool getting me to fall in love with the paints I was using. I haven’t stopped using it since.”
The full range of synthetic brushes from Da Vinci are cruelty-free and provide many options for vegan and vegetarian artists.
Have you tried them? Which Da Vinci brushes are your favourite?
More about Karlee
Karlee’s work includes a wide range of techniques from watercolour, calligraphy and illustration to digital art. Her practise is entirely vegan and eco-friendly, so all the products reviewed and used by her will be cruelty-free and suitable for use by vegan and vegetarian artists.
You can find all Karlee’s posts published in the GreatArt online magazine by clicking here!
Karlee is currently working on compiling all of her creative work into a new online home. For the time being you can view her digital work and contact her here!
GreatArt – your art superstore
Art supplies, ideas and advice for all techniques.
GreatArt offers you art supplies for all techniques from:
- traditional fine art painting,
- drawing,
- sculpture,
- printmaking,
- graphic art,
- illustration,
- airbrushing,
- model making…
We offer an extensive range of stretched canvas and display products for exhibition, all the art supplies required to create your own bespoke canvases, as well as custom framing and mounting services from GreatArt Store. You’ll also find hundreds of articles and tutorials to browse in the online magazine.
ldakers
Add comment