Comparing Two Top Sable Watercolour Brushes

We have been asked this question a few times recently 

“Is the Winsor & Newton Series 7 sable watercolour brush worth the high price and how does the Da Vinci Series 10 sable compare?” 

We thought we’d ask a skilled watercolour painter to compare the two watercolour brushes and give us an expert answer to this question.

We asked watercolour artist Juliette Losq, who studied Fine Art at Wimbledon College of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, to give us her feedback. She worked on one of her complex layered paintings using both the brushes and has given us her verdict. Juliette painted with the Da Vinci Maestro Tobolsky Kolinsky Red Sable Series 10 and the Winsor & Newton Kolinsky Sable Round Series 7 both in size 6.

Comparing Watercolour Brushes: Winsor & Newton Series 7 and Da Vinci Series 10

review by Juliette Losq

I build my work up in washes, applying layers of masking fluid in between, before gradually adding more tone and detail. In this instance I was working on a monochrome landscape composition using Winsor and Newton Lamp Black watercolour in washes.

At the stage at which I tested the DaVinci Series 10 I had laid down the preliminary washes and two layers of masking fluid, building up limited detail. I wanted to use the brush to create additional tone and achieve further mapping of detail, and it was useful for both. The brush holds a good quantity of water whilst retaining its shape – it handles very smoothly and I was able to use it to create a variety of marks. It came to a good point and could be used for surprisingly fine detail bearing in mind its size.

Using the DaVinci brush for intermediary steps of the painting.

Using the DaVinci brush for intermediary steps of the painting.

The Winsor and Newton Series 7 similarly held its shape well initially, but after the application of a few areas of wash and broader side-based marks, it did lose the shape slightly. The texture of the hair did not glide as smoothly as the DaVinci but did hold slightly more water on balance. Whilst I was not able to achieve the same level of detail for a comparable size of brush I was still able to achieve a variety of marks.

Using the Winsor and Newton Series 7 brush for the next layers.

Both brushes had their merits and were useful at this stage of building up my work, but I found the Davinci to be much smoother with a finer point.

The painting with more layers added, work in progress.

The finished painting, not yet titled, 150 x 150cm.

Juliette Losq

Juliette Losq studied Fine Art at Wimbledon College of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. Losq won the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2005 and was one of the five shortlisted artists for the John Moores Prize in 2014, receiving the Visitor’s Choice Award. Solo shows include: The Edgelands, Le Salon Vert, Geneva, 2016; Terra Infirma, Waterhouse and Dodd, London, 2016; Nemora, The Fine Art Society, London, 2014; Dans la poussière de cette planète, Galerie Arcturus, Paris, 2013; Lucaria, Theodore Art, New York, 2012. Her work is held in the Saatchi Collection, the Newnham College Cambridge Collection and the New Hall Art Collection. She works from a studio in Eel Pie Island Boatyard in Twickenham.

Juliette uses Winsor and Newton masking fluid and Saunders Waterford 300gsm hot pressed paper.

Juliette Losq’s website
Instagram @juliette_losq
Twitter @juliettelosq

Juliette will be exhibiting in the group exhibition Seen Unseen, June 28 – July 27 at Long and Ryle.

Watercolour Painting Supplies at Jackson’s Art

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