Jackson’s Raven Brushes are a range of short handled watercolour mop brushes which are made from synthetic squirrel hair with a synthetic quill. They have an excellent take-up and release of water and hold a lot of paint which will enable you to produce long, flowing strokes. The larger sizes are especially useful for creating big washes of colour without having to reload your brush with pigment or water. The hair is soft and holds its shape really well, it retains a really nice point which will be ideal for finer detail.
The thing I first noticed when holding the Raven brushes, like with any mop brush, they have a great shape and hold a really impressive point. I also like the fact that there are only 6 sizes as sometimes the more brush sizes there are within a range, the choice of which brushes would be most useful gets more difficult.
These brushes are versatile in the sense that you can create really fine lines and also great big sweeping strokes of colour. For a watercolourist like myself, depending on what I am working on I find myself switching brushes constantly from a really fine brush for detailing to blocking in colour. With the Raven brushes (especially the smaller sizes) I can get away with making smaller, more controlled marks and because it holds so much water, it means I can create long lines without having to break my stroke or reload the brush. The larger sizes would also be useful, because of their softness, when blending large areas of colour together – their softness means you will have less streaks and a much smoother wash.
I noticed that when using the Raven, I became more expressive with my strokes then I would normally be and so they would be great for someone that wants to further expand their watercolour techniques into more expressive, abstract watercolour paintings. Once the brushes are dry they retain a really nice point, ready to be used again!
Click on the underlined link to go to Jackson’s Raven Brushes on the Jackson’s Art Supplies website.
Brush-only orders over £20 have free worldwide shipping.
6 thoughts on “Jackson’s Raven Brushes”
Can someone advise on the physical size of the Raven
mop brush heads i.e. what does the number denote? For
instance does the number 6 brush, which is the largest in
the range, mean it is 6mm diameter at the ferrule?
What does number 0 denote?
Trying to work out which ones to purchase!
Hi Dennis,
Thank you for your question. Mop brushes follow a different scale to normal round or flat brushes. We unfortunately don’t have the Raven in Size 6 in stock at the moment so I am unable to measure it for you. After doing a bit of research online, there are quite a few blogs that say that a size 6 mop is roughly the equivalent of a size 16 round watercolour brush, with a size 0 mop brush being roughly the same as a size 10 round watercolour brush. I’ve just measured the Raven Size 0 with a Da Vinci Maestro Round Size 10 and the Raven is slightly wider in diameter. I hope this helps, many thanks, Christine
Have a look at Andrew Pitt’s demonstation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=R4t7ouDzcyg
He holds 3 Raven brushes (6, 2, 0) against
a ruler, and paints with them.
Hi Suzy,
Great spot, thank you for the recommendation – Andrew will feature alongside two other artists in our next artist review campaign, which is focusing on Jackson’s Watercolour Brushes.
All the best,
Christine
Jackson’s own website gives the dimensions for the size 6 as the length of the handle is 19cm, the length of the bristles is 3.9cm and the width of the ferrule is 1.6cm. Hope this helps, Dennis.
Thanks Philip!
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