NEW! Jean Haines personalised range addition
Size 12 Gorgeous Kolinsky Sable Brush
I have a confession. I have a gorgeous new brush which was launched on my tour in USA and I have been so busy that I haven't had time to launch it in UK. To make matters worse I sold out immediately so there wasn't any stock for me to promote or sell! But now I am about to put this fantastic brush in my online shop range.
Why a new brush and why personalised? Well over the last few years I have been invited to have my own watercolour product range. You name it, I have been offered it. From my own watercolour paper to my own palette and even my own watercolours. But I already used the very best products possible so putting my name on anything at all seemed a waste of time. And anyway who is "Jean Haines" that she warrants her own art range! Truthfully I am just someone who adores working in watercolour. That idea just simply wasn't me.
But having said that there was an area I wasn't happy with, purely because of my time studying brushwork in China. I was taught by the most amazing mentor when it came to how I hold and use my brushes.My Asian mentor came from Shanghai and I talk about their techniques frequently in my workshops. In fact it is my workshops that started my quest to search for the possibility of my own brush range. There seemed to be a gap in the market for brushes of an expensive quality but at a reasonable price. I meet people on my workshops worldwide who don't invest in good brushes because of their high cost. The main problem is that using cheap brushes does not give you the same effect as using those of a higher quality. Which puts professional artist at an advantage. An artist tried my old brush on one workshop and said " No wonder your work is so beautiful, how much did that brush cost?" I had to admit the price of that particular brush was over £200. It had been given to me by the manufacturer and it has been constantly used in my demonstrations over the years. Many people who paint cannot afford to pay that much for a brush. This expensve brush it is heaven to use. It glides over the paper so well but it is missing a point as that was not the design of it. It made me think and I did research into what I wanted from a brush. One that I might put my name on. I knew what I wanted design wise. A mix of East meets West. A point, full barrel and excellent performance.
I decided to research to see if it was possible to produce a highly expensve product but one that could retail at an affordable price. It had to have the best qualities to not only load with pigment but it had to release well. The sable had to glide over paper. As my subject work is often created with a size 10 and I load my rigger with tiny particles of pigment to drop into sections I needed an initial set. This needed to be for sale at a reasonable cost so artists who wanted to try sable could. My first brush sets were launched and have become so popular that even my professional artist friends have raved over them. Th efeedback has been incredible worldwide.
Jean Haines Size 10 and Rigger personlised Brush Sets
But of course I now needed a wash brush for my larger work and this was far harder to create. I don't enjoy cheap brushes and a sable at this size could cost a fortune. A wonderful blend of hair has made this a fabulous brush to use and it is one of its kind. I love it! And luckily this too has quickly sold out at each workshop session.
My wonderful wash brush with the sable brush set, fabulous to use and my favourite!
So now my personalised brush range consisted of my brush sets and a wash brush. But one more brush was missing. And this, of course, was the one I put off designing until last because it needed to be really high quality and I knew it would be very expensive. I was comparing it with my £200+ brush. I wanted it to be designed at the same quality but sell at under £100. For me this is the icing on the cake in my brush range. I would be lost without it. I did it!
My new Size 12!
I wasn't going to launch my new Size 12 until later in the year or at least when my next book is launched but I couldn't wait. I love it so I kno w other artists will too. I had stock sent ahead for my USA tour and a mistake was made in that my Size 12 came too. The new brush launch was initially going to be in UK and USA at the same time. So there was more than great excitement when we all realised what had happened. When I showed artists my new brush, in New York, Texas and Mexico everyone immediately loved it. I sold out at every location. I even ordered new USA stock as needed during my trip. What happened was, once one artist used my brushes and loved them everyone else wanted to buy them.
The Size 12 is not a cheap brush. This is a high quality watercolour brush that could easily be on sale for far more. But the idea of my personalised range is to get the best possible brushes out there so that every artist, every single person who loves painting can buy the best possible brushes and enjoy using them. As one artist told me, once tried you can never go back to your old ones!
So I will now race to my web site and add my new size 12 brush and apologise that it has taken me so long to update everyone on its' existence.
One tip. Please. please please! If you DO invest in fabulous brushes never leave them in water whilst you are working. Look after them by simply rinsing in water and they will last a long time!
Happy painting!
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