Chinese Watercolor Brush Review & Demo 

Hi Lirin, I know this is an older video, but as an American who has been doing Chinese Brush Painting and Sumi-e for about 6 years, I have a few notes and suggestions. Also, I came across your video because my daughter and I are doing some “fusion” experiments, combining materials and techniques from both the East and West. Last year, my precious Son passed away suddenly. He was who got me into CBP and he and his friends sent me so many brushes and other supplies; that I’ve shared them with my daughter and local kids who were interested in my calligraphy. My Son had spent over 12 years living in, traveling through and working in China. During that time he also visited traditional brush makers (some families have over 1000 years of history in brush, ink stick, and/or Xuan paper production. Most of these families also have artists and Masters in the art. Ancient Chinese culture combined CBP, Calligraphy and poetry as the 3 necessary arts needed to achieve any sort of leadership or scholarly roles in society.). My Son assured me that no animals are harmed in the production of brushes in China and he actually watched as local goat farmers brought their young goats in, so their chests can be carefully shaved in springtime, helping to keep the goats cool during the hot summer and supplying enough goat hair for thousands of brushes. It’s that type of cooperative business between farmers, ranchers and in the case of much needed hog bristle brushes (used in mounting brushes), hog farmers, they all send trimmings, or post-mortem (after death) hair shavings to brush makers who pay them for the hair, hairs are then washed, conditioned and separated, ready to be made into brushes. Ok, after THAT bit..my Son’s long time dream was to educate people from the East and west on each other’s cultures; and bring people together. So, a few things about MOST Chinese brushes (both China and Japan have begun making combination synthetic/natural brushes. This does NOT include them as every Eastern Master I have spoken to says these are for cheap mass production and they do NOT hold the same qualities of the original natural brushes. Most natural brushes in both China and Japan are still made by hand, with a few exceptions). Again, the differences in quality are obvious. False advertisements of brushes being handmade and/or natural; have recently resulted in some hefty prison sentences. This is considered to be a historic national treasured art (it’s hard to translate) and brush, paper and ink stick factories have been cited by the UN to be places of international historic significance. The people to NOT take kindly to the pop-up factories making fake brushes and presenting them as real. As a result, this industry is closely monitored and regulated; especially since Westerners have taking a greater interest in this art form. *There is a certain way to hold these brushes in order to create the strokes; both Chinese calligraphy and CBP use the same basic strokes, although there’s many more strokes in CBP. An ancient Master once said that you can tell my looking at a painting whether the artist was trained by a master and held the brush correctly. There was another later saying about Western painters holding the brush like a pencil..he wasn’t kind. **The brush is normally held perfectly perpendicular to the paper; the exception is in landscapes and some florals which use side strokes. **ALL NEW, authentic brushes start with a natural “glue” in the bristles, put in to help keep the brushes to a point. This must be gently, but thoroughly rinsed out before use. It’s always best to use clean, non-treated water to wash these natural bristles. ALL of these brushes WILL shed a bit for the first few uses. The key is to be gentle, NEVER pull down and NEVER leave these brushes in water. Instead of the metal ferrules or other means Western brushes use to secure the bristles, again, these bristles are formed, then GLUED together before going into the bamboo/wood/plastic stems. My precious kitty stole one of my brushes and it ended up in her water dish one night. When I found it in the morning, hairs were floating in the bowl and she was NOT happy. I had to throw that brush out. **These brushes need to be hung by their loop to dry. It’s also best to store them this way, but when you have as many as I do, most of my smaller ones are dried bristles down; then I put them bristles up in one of my brush pots/cups. There are MANY more tips and techniques you can read or watch here on RU-vid by Henry Li, Oriental Art Supplies (home of the Master Ning Yeh and his family; they contract to a brush maker in China to have their own specialty brushes made, mostly to make it easier for beginners to learn some of the most complex strokes. I highly recommend the BIFF brush, that has MANY uses, but makes a Bamboo stem or “bone strokes” in calligraphy, almost mistake proof. It also makes perfect cherry/plum blossom petals!), Nan Rae, Fiona IDS and others. Most have beginner videos where they go into detail about materials. Two last points before I end this novella. A. Using western paints on Chinese brushes: good quality WC paints are no problem. Bad quality paints, acrylics and oil paints can and will destroy these brushes. Also, while good quality pan paints are fine; many brushes have very long bristles making it difficult to grab out of small pans and almost impossible to do the double, triple and even quadruple loading of different colors onto the bristles of one brush. This technique is probably the most used (ie: load a full brush with white, then 1/3 brush with pink, then a dark pink on the tip-which gives variegated petals of flowers like peony in just one stroke) in CBP; even bamboo stems using paints OR ink will have different values of colors on different parts of the brush. Pan paints make this difficult….at least for beginners like me. One GREAT brush with shorter bristles, but they still retain quite a bit of water/paint/ink AND hold a point, are called Red Bean, or sometimes just Red hare. When you see them you’ll know them. Although you can’t do much multiple color loading; they make a great introduction brush to CBP, and can easily be used with pan paints. My daughter does a lot of traveling and plein air painting and has a whole collection of sizes of these brushes for even her Western WC art. She calls them her “secret weapon”. In fact, last time she visited..she apparently “borrowed” some of mine and I just had to reorder some. They’re inexpensive and have so many uses..it makes sense why she likes them so much. While you CAN get them on Amazon, I’d recommend one of the Asian suppliers like Henry’s Blue Heron or Oriental Art Supply. A friend in New York bought some on Amazon and they turned out to be synthetic imposters. Then he found the same brush at an Asian grocery . Apparently, the secret is out and someone is trying to capitalize on their popularity. Do NOT get fooled by imposters; especially when the real ones are so inexpensive. (He paid almost 3 times the price for the synthetic and said they were worthless, he gave them to his 4yr old who didn’t like them either Lastly, these brushes, when treated properly, can last and keep their tips for MANY years. Even Very old brushes are kept and used for landscapes and other techniques. I have several brushes that belonged to my first tutor, the great grandmother of one of my Sons friends. She taught CBP at US University’s for over 30 years before retiring and returning to China. The brushes her granddaughter sent me are almost 50 years old and perform the same as my new stiffer brushes. These brushes are ALL made of natural hairs, some are just one type of hair (goat, weasel, hare, horse, hog); MANY are combination brushes with stiffer bristles in the middle to hold a point, and extra-liquid retaining hairs like goat, on the outside. Each have their uses and techniques. I’ve noticed this past year since my Son passed and I started painting again, more Masters from China are now on RU-vid, some who either have subtitles or they speak English. My daughter showed me both young Eastern painters and Western, are discovering and either using Eastern supplies, or painting in traditional Chinese methods on TikTok. Personally, I think this is a great thing! My daughter, who is also a professional singer, has always said that music and the arts bring people together. I think my Son would be proud as he felt we should be BOTH learning from each other and cooperating; rather than give into the narratives meant to divide and keep us separate. I understand that conflict is more profitable than peace..at least for those at the top. But for us regular folks? I think most of us would just like to get along. The past 10 years or so of learning about China, her history, language, culture, breathtaking scenery and incredibly happy, optimistic young people; have been the most fulfilling years of my life. I just wish more people were willing to put aside the dangerous narratives we’ve been drilled into believing..and give the millions of Chinese citizens who are on our social media platforms a chance.

Good to see you are always working on self improvement! AND you share everything. Thank you.

I just bought this brush & happily found your review - thanks

Hello Liron. In the USA the term China in this context means natural bristle, as opposed to synthetic. It does not mean the brush is Chinese..In fact, Yasutomo suggests that it is Japanese. I buy a lot of brushes to paint furniture, walls, windows etc... and when I go to the paint shop, they always say: you want synthetic or China?

i love my chinese calligraphy and japanese sumi-e brushes, they a so versatil, a bit like a pointed mop quill thats so popular, tfs

Love your utube channel. Thank you!

So interesting. I think I will have to invest in one of these. I love Chinese paintings. Are you going to try it on rice paper with the Eastern style paints? That would be great to see. Thanks, Liron. I really love this kind of video. :)

Snap! I got my mijello ‘bucket’ after seeing Steve Mitchell’s too! I love the handle brush rests, and the teeny receptacle at the end that I keep for clear water. Love this review of a ‘cheap’ brush. Proves to me that if you need to save money, don’t do it with paper or pigment, do it with the brush. Great!

I love Chinese brushes. They are very versatile. And they last surprisingly well... when cared for. My oldest brushes are Chinese brushes... still serving me, 20 years and going. (They make beautiful loose and atmospheric works also clouds, water and foliage)

Actually Yasumoto is a company from Taiwan. I use almost only Chinese or Japanese brushes. They are also usually cheaper than western brush.

Just got the SW1 version of this brush. The line versatility is excellent.

I have never tried a Chinese paint brush. It really looks Great! I was wondering if there was any loosing of brush hairs or how it continued to hold up. There really are quite a range of marks. Thank you.

Definitely do the book reviews. I have started to move from video courses like Skillshare to books for learning.

I would love to see you use this in an actual drawing situation, representing something real, and let the brush teach you how to make the marks you would like to see. I love chines brushes, I have some huge ones an they too will broduce some veey fine lines but also these huge strokes too.

Hey, a couple of thoughts about your tree study. Could it be that using your ‘palette dirt’ has given you accidentally great colour harmony? I think that’s part of it. It’s a very calming, desaturated palette. Also that abstract quality is big right now. The hard edge/outline with bright white surrounds gives it a ‘hole in the universe’ feeling. Like a tree-shaped window into the cosmos. The blooms and colour transitions add to that feeling. It lends itself to deeper interpretation. Perhaps telling us that nature is our key to ourselves (our inner world); or that simple familiar shapes recognised by even tiny children (tree) are an entryway to bigger scarier concepts like mystery, magic, etc. I think it’s an interesting contrast to your usual more ‘representational’ style, so it stands out in your sketchbook. Personally, I’m a fan of compositions that juxtapose science (the precise outline) and abstract art (the fluid interior). There’s an artist who takes anatomical drawings and adds whimsical watercolour ‘decorations’ (can’t recall her name). Or John Lovett with his architectural detail focus point then gesso/watercolour ‘fog’ around it. Maybe it’s a direction worth exploring for you? Look also at Charles Ash. He uses sumi brushes but with western wc landscapes. Outstanding, atmospheric, my latest watercolour crush!

Where can i buy one of the Chinese brush

Recommendation 秋洪斋 （brand)秀逸 and 染，2 good quality and widely used in China Chinese brushes for watercolor

Loved this brush! Gonna put it on my bucket list :D , the tree colours immediately reminded me of Arthur Rackham illustrations because he uses such mix of colours in his work :) I have a suggestion, there is some site called kit you can put links to all the paint,brushes,papers and your favourite books there so they can all be in one place . And yessssssss for more books reviews!

What brand is the watercolor case/palette that you are using? I like the large mixing area

Nice review.

I bought a small set of Chinese brushes, but haven't tried them out yet. Looking forward to giving them a try.

Grew up writing Chinese calligraphy. Started watercolour recently and the brushes I got for watercolour were a bit shocking to the hand-:).

Takes practice to get used to this kind of brush which doesn't not spring back, but can achieve very nice effects.

❤

what is the brand of this watercolor paper?

You can get real chines brush's on ebay for like $1.50 for 3 of them. It will take a few weeks for them to be shipped from china though. I think the points are MUCH better than expensive watercolor brush's that only last a few paintings and then they are junk brush's.

Hey!! I really like your videos :) But I am suuuper curious, where are you from? I cannot guess from your accent :O

I used to follow Indian artist Nitin Singh see - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aMC7ToqVj2w.html .He works almost exclusively with this type of brush and I was always fascinated by the types of strokes he was able to achieve and the way the tip would form a square chiselled tip like a flat brush at times.

Love u from India but ' China ka maal zaida din tikta nahi" means ' Chinese material don't go many days"