The artist's trade

Kolinsky sable

Graphite & coloured pencil
copyright Jeanette Jobson

Vivien's keeping me busy lately! Another interesting little project has people drawing their painting brushes and the results are quite interesting.

Your task grasshopper, should you wish to take it, is to sketch your paintbrushes...

This brush, like many others, has a story to tell.

In 1980 I was 26 years old and building my art, living on a farm near Coombe St. Nicholas, Somerset, with two dogs and two very small children and mostly on my own, as my husband worked abroad in the oil industry 9 months out of 12.

In one of the closer towns to me, Chard, I used to shop for groceries and art supplies. The art store would take some of my work, mostly watercolours back then, on commission. I had a couple of paintings in the store, small life studies I believe. I would somewhat forget about what was hanging in the store and rotate them when asked if nothing sold.

I was contacted one day by the store owner who tracked me down at lunchtime in the pub to say that there was a gentleman from London who was interested in one of my paintings and wanted to meet me. I went back to the art store and had a long conversation with the man who wanted to buy the painting and asked if I was interested in accepting brushes in exchange for the work.

Being a young artist and parent with the usual lack of cash that accompanies that status, I hesitated. The pounds that the painting represented were already being spent in my head, but the man went out to his car and came back with a small case. Inside were an assortment of Kolinsky sable brushes. Part of this person's job was selling artist's brushes and he was offering me two of these sable brushes in exchange for my painting.

I couldn't resist the offer, realizing that the brushes were worth even more than the painting was worth and that they would last a long time, producing many more paintings, so I accepted and the deal was done. We celebrated in the pub with a drink while dressing the brushes in a glass of water on the bar.

The paint is gone from the handles on this and the other brush and the ferrule's shine is diminished considerably, but the hairs are still soft as silk and paint like a dream, holding water and pigment beautifully even after 30 years.