Watercolour & Gouache Brushes

When picking a watercolour brush there are a lot of different criteria you will want your brush to meet. At Winsor & Newton they have over 150 years of brush making experience and so have got the perfect brush down to a tee! This wealth of experience enables them to provide a number of brushes that are ideal for watercolour painting. 

Watercolour brushes are made specially to control the flow of colour from the brush tip. The perfect brush will have a fine point, the ability to hold and evenly and consistently control colour and should spring back into shape after every stroke. There are a selection of natural and synthetic brushes available in the Winsor & Newton watercolour brush range each helping you achieve different effects from bold washes to fine detail. All watercolour brushes are fully compatible with Gouache, as gouache colour has the same properties as watercolour. Consequently all the same characteristics will apply.

Sable Brushes

Sable is an animal hair traditionally used in Watercolour brush making. The finest quality Sable is considered to be taper-dressed Kolinsky. There are different grades of Kolinsky sable hair, but the very best comes from Siberia. The finest Kolinsky is a soft-golden-brown colour that gradually darkens towards the tip. Sable is used to create the best soft hair brushes. The hair filament is conical in shape and a has a slightly scaled surface which results in an unrivalled point with excellent responsiveness and colour carrying capacity.

Inferior parts of the sable pelt may be used in lesser quality brushes. These second-quality hairs are shorter and less springy compared to top quality hair. This does make them a more affordable alternative to their top-quality counterparts whilst still being a high quality brush.

Synthetic & Synthetic Mix Brushes

Most watercolour artists recognise that pure sable brushes are the best to use for their watercolours, but may choose to use a pure synthetic or synthetic mix for either economical or ethical reasons. Synthetics are usually a fraction of the price of a pure sable. Buying a brush with a mix of both natural and synthetic hair can also help keep the costs of your brushes down.

Whilst many of today's synthetic brushes perform excellently, pure sable brushes are still considered to have the edge.

Winsor & Newton Wash Brushes

Winsor & Newton Pure Squirrel Wash brushes are designed for use with watercolour and are ideal or large washes and blending. Made from the finest quality pure Russian Squirrel hair, they have an excellent colour loading capacity and offer fantastic control and responsiveness.

Cleaning & Caring for your Watercolour Brushes

As with all brushes, it is imperative that your Watercolour brushes are properly cared for, cleaned after use and stored correctly to prolong their useable life. We have some easy to follow, simple and quick brush cleaning and care information you can follow to make sure that your brushes are always looking at their best!

Click here to see our range of Winsor & Newton Watercolour Brushes