Brushes for Watercolor

Watercolour brushes hold a large load of water and colour and release it steadily through the stroke. Rounds are the foundation: they lay broad passages of colour, and their fine tip draws clean line and detail. Alongside them sit wide brushes for large washes, in natural hair and synthetics.

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A watercolour brush works as a reservoir: it holds water and pigment inside itself and feeds them out steadily through the stroke. Its quality shows in two things: how much it holds and how fine a point it keeps.

The round is the heart of the category. A well-made round keeps a fine point at any size, so a single size 8 or 10 lays a broad passage of colour with its body and draws a crisp line with its tip, which is why many watercolourists work most of a painting with one brush. Kolinsky sable is the traditional benchmark, with the greatest capacity, spring, and a point that reforms stroke after stroke, and modern synthetics now come remarkably close at a fraction of the price. Around the rounds sit the specialists: squirrel mops hold the most water of all, for skies and large washes, flats lay even bands of colour and cut clean edges, and riggers, with their extra-long hairs, draw continuous fine lines for branches, masts, and grasses.

Art & Colour carries watercolour brushes in sable, squirrel, and synthetic, from fine detail rounds to wide wash brushes.