#escodareserva

A short primer on Escoda Brushes: They are made in Barcelona, Spain, and come in several categories: Reserva (pure male sable) Optimo (female and male sable mix), Versatil (synthetic mimic of sable), Perla/Barocco (black and white synthetics meant to act like synthetics), Aquario (their giant absorbent mops). You can purchase the travel metal-handled version, or wooden handled version for each brush category. I’ve been using it a lot and I’m really happy with it! Prior to this, I’ve been using synthetic brushes that come to very fine, stiff points that allowed me to control my painting so much that people would ask me if I did them in pencils! So I decided to get a soft sable to try loosening up my paintings. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate my previous painting styles, but I also wanted to try soft, romantic paintings with lots of water and juicy washes and bleeding colors and all that fun stuff. So on to the review!

I got the Escoda, some Winsor and Newton Masking Fluid (which smells ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE, but works really consistently and that’s good enough for me), a cheap chinese brush for applying the masking fluid, a 2/0 Sakura brush, and a pad of Derivan paper in A4 size.

I bought everything in this photo above from Morning Light Art and Gallery. :)

Morning Light imports these brushes straight from Barcelona, and I was treated to this open box of beautiful golden brushes when I came to pick up my reservations.

Check out this gigantic #20 wooden handled Escoda Reserva. You could probably paint a chair with it. It was gorgeous, I wanted to rub it on my face MY PRECIOUSSS but managed to restrain myself from behaving like a total dweeb at the store, with moderate success.

Like I said, I bought this #8 Escoda Reserva to loosen up my painting and it did just that! I love how soft the bristles are, and how responsive. For people who have been painting exclusively with synthetic brushes on small paintings, the difference can be quite jarring. Some may even react, “Y U NOT GIVE ME THE CONTROL LIKE SYNTHETIC YOU STUPID EXPENSIVE BRUSH?!” But pure sable brushes really aren’t meant for that. So right now I use the two kinds alternately, the sables for laying down water and making big flowy shapes with the paint, and the synthetics for details and scriptlining and writing words.

VERSATILITY

Below is a flower done with a red taklon brush (size 2) and the Escoda #8. Sable for the subtle color graduation, synthetic for the edges and stamens.

An unfinished painting of a forest I did exclusively with the Escoda.

It’s possible to achieve both fine detail and lovely soft gradients with one brush.

SYNTHETIC VERSUS NATURAL HAIR

Here is a comparison chart of my favorite synthetic # 10 (shown below)

and the Escoda Reserva brush. When using the synthetic to make the corkscrews, the hairs separate, but since I never do this motion in my paintings, that difference is almost moot. To someone who LETTERS with watercolor, however, that is one thing to take note of because it will be quite apparent in calligraphy.

VIEW THE ABOVE COMPARISON PHOTO IN A LARGER SIZE HERE.

More observations above, but the biggest things are:

SABLES:

sables hold more water and more paint

have a wider range of line widths

can create softer looking washes

have a greater paint load

require you to go slower so as to maintain the point

produce natural looking strokes

their subtle touch allows you to work on more types of paper. (frustrated by that cheap paper pilling and disintegrating under your stiff, merciless synthetic brush? Try it with a sable)

SYNTHETICS:

are great for uniform lettering

have a smaller range of line widths

hold less water and the hairs can splay out as the water runs out of the brush faster.

they can make pencil-thin, more uniform lines and thus also give a more synthetic appearance to your work if you choose.

Also, lifting, scrubbing and drybrushing are synthetic territory, no other brush does those three things better, at least in my opinion.

With a big synthetic brush, though, like my #10, you can get close to but not exactly mimic all of the pure sable’s characteristics. you can maybe get a similar line width range, but not the same paint or water load, and if you want a natural, effortless look to your paintings you can do it with a natural hair brush. Hence my decision to use both a synthetic and a sable! Problem solved lol.

One last observation I have is that a travel brush (which is slightly more expensive than a wooden handled one) has a metal handle, and is noticeably heavier. It took me some time to get used to the extra weight, but I adjusted after a few days, and now I’m enjoying the convenience of being able to bring a brush in its own container. It fits right into the brush well of my Winsor and Newton Compact Field Kit. I make sure to hang it upside down to dry after painting and I don’t store it wet into its metal handle to avoid the possibility of mold. It is a beautiful, gorgeous thing with its varnished glossy wood that shows the grain, ended by a golden metal ferrule and handle. These travel Escoda Reservas are elegant, highly functional, and seem like works of art in themselves.

IN CONCLUSION

Of course, keep in mind that most veteran artists will tell you that even the most expensive brush cannot make up for poor composition, bad execution, or lack of skill. I’ve seen some friends make some truly astounding pieces with student grade materials, and I’m confident they could produce a masterpiece with a wet noodle dipped in barbecue sauce! So I’m glad that I started out with some affordable options so that I could make an informed choice about each new “upgraded” tool I purchase, and I always remember that I have to regularly use each tool to bring out its real qualities. If you are not comfortable spending money on a pure sable brush, there are a lot of options that try to mimic them, such as the Versatil range from Escoda.

That’s pretty much it for my review. I’m really using the heck out of this brush. I use it for everything, whereas before I would use several synthetics for one painting. It’s really quite the workhorse and worth every cent.

I did this painting exclusively with the Escoda Reserva # 8. It felt a little less like work because the bigger sized brush managed to make a 9x12 piece more doable for me. 

I look forward to collecting some more sizes. However I have come to realize that my art material "acquisition” needs some responsible thinking and I should reflect on whether it is worth these animals being hunted for sable brushes, but that is a post for another day. I am thinking of trying sable-mimicking hairs such as the Escoda Versatil, which has some very good reviews. I’ve already put in some reservation inquiries for incoming Versatils and I’m excited to review those next. :)