Jackson’s Procryl Brushes are designed for skilled oil and acrylic painters. Made with acrylic fibres and a protracted matte black deal with, they’re reasonably springy and absorbent. On this evaluation, painter Chris Longridge checks the Lengthy Flat Collection of Jackson’s Procryl Brushes, and shares his ideas.
Evaluation of Jackson’s Procryl Brushes – Lengthy Flat Collection
by Chris Longridge
There are three very important elements in any painter’s toolkit – pigment, assist and brushes – and the final may simply be crucial. Simply as engineers demand precision from their instruments, painters needs to be no much less demanding of theirs.
This implies we’re in Goldilocks territory: some brushes are too superb, some are too stiff, some are too unfastened – only a few are good. However to come back again to our engineering analogy, the problem isn’t at all times unhealthy instruments a lot as choosing the right one for the job. Lucian Freud famously switched from sable to hog-hair brushes within the Fifties; the distinction in fashion is self-evident, and solely achieved by mastery of a brand new software. (It most likely helped that Freud was actually, actually good too.)
I paint principally in oils, typically acrylics, and for causes I’ve by no means understood, I’m very sparing with the paint – it at all times goes on dry and flat, regardless of how a lot I get pleasure from impasto in different individuals’s work. Hog hair, then, is simply too clumsy for me, sable too weedy. Each are obligatory of their proper place, however for nearly my entire life I’ve used artificial brushes. Which brings me to Jackson’s Procryl Brushes.
Designed with acrylic painters in thoughts, artificial brushes at their greatest mix the bounce and resilience of (usually long-handled) stiff brushes with the sleek draw of a sable. I favour flat-ended for the precision they provide – I like a tough line – and for the range inherent of their mark-making.
Jackson’s Procryl Brushes – Lengthy Flat Collection have been new to me, and shocked me with their versatility. Lengthy deal with: test. I can solely love a short-handled brush for super-fine work. And talking of the deal with, the end was clean and satiny. This was attention-grabbing, because it prompt a firmer grip, however really I can’t say it made a noticeable distinction in the long run.
The diameter of the deal with was acceptable to the width of the ferrule, which meant the brushes have been appropriate each for broad strokes and precision work – neither too fiddly nor too chunky within the hand. The fibres have been softer than I’m used to (I often use Professional Arte Sterling Acrylix), which inspired me to work thinner than normal, however the bristles weren’t too superb to face as much as a little bit of tough therapy. I didn’t have to choose up any unfastened hairs from the portray floor, anyway.
They held the pigment fantastically, although being finer they’d a bent to tangle barely and lose kind when working with stodgier pigment. The darkness of the hairs meant additionally that I wasn’t at all times assured of the color that I used to be about to use in comparison with a white-bristle brush. However as I stated earlier than: it’s a query of the appropriate software for the job. In the event you don’t wish to splash out on a fifty-part menagerie of unique brushes, then they’re a good compromise for a slimmed-down equipment – good for making use of a wash in addition to dabbing a deliberate brushstroke, and really fairly priced.
Supplies
Jackson’s Skilled Oil Color:
Jackson’s Procryl Brushes:
Jackson’s Single Premium Cotton Canvas Artwork Board
Jackson’s Adjustable Artist Apron in Gray
About Chris Longridge
Chris Longridge is an artist primarily based in Kent. He works primarily in oils and explores the constraints and alternatives afforded by paint in a post-digital surroundings, notably concerning portraiture and the determine.
Additional Studying
The Growth of Artificial Brushes
What Makes Jackson’s Artificial Brush Fibres Particular?
Understanding Brush Form Names, Hair and Functions
Paul Bell Portray Video
Store Jackson’s Procryl Brushes on jacksonsart.com
