About a year ago I made the switch from Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes (which I was using for several years then) to Rosemary & Co Series 33. I was very pleased with the brush, even with shipping included they were less than 75% of the price of a W&N brush. The only thing that I had had to get used to was the shorter and thinner handle. Loyal readers of my blog might remember I positioned the Rosemary & Co brushes on number 6 in my top 10 of 2009. Shortly after writing that article I ordered some more Rosemary brushes.

I've been using them intensively over the past few months but for some reason I wasn't as happy with them this time. From the 3 brushes I ordered one of them had a point which was splitting all the time. The points of the other ones weren't as crisp either. One of my retired W&N brushes even had a better tip still! And picking up that brush again was such a difference: the slightly thicker and longer handle really makes a difference when handling it.

This made me decide to take W&N in consideration again. Okay they are expensive, but quality comes with a price. And since the brush is the most important tool for miniature painting I'm prepared to pay for the superior quality of a W&N Series 7 brush. I've ordered a batch of 4 #1 brushes (depending on how much I paint my brushes last about 6 months) from Ken Bromley Art Supplies today, since they are running a 50% deal this week. I've also thrown in a some brush cleaner and color wheel.

Lessons learned? For me: "never change a winning team" sounds very appropriate. I was completely happy with my W&N brushes in the past so why did I switch to another brand?

The lesson I have for you is don't save money on a brush. It's the most important tool on your desk and yes, you will paint better with a good brush. W&N Series 7 are probably the best brushes out there. If you do not want to pay the price be sure to check out Rosemary & Co, they're actually very good and far better than anything you will find in the average gaming or modelling store.

EDIT: okay some comments and I want to add one important thing for those who want to buy Rosemary or W&N brushes, which aren't cheap of course. If you know you won't take proper care of your brushes, this means washing them out after every painting session, storing them properly, handling them with care while painting, then don't waste your money on them. They wear out as fast as any other cheaper brush, it's only when they're in perfect shape that they perform as they should be.

Hi there! Some of you might have been thinking where I've been, well as you might have heard I'm about to move into my new house. There's still an insane amount of work to be done but the end is in sight and we hope to move in by the end of this month.

Needless to say there isn't any time left for miniature painting. In fact I've packed up most of my stuff already.

The good news is that in my new house I will have a dedicated painting room of almost 20 square meters. So there will be plenty of room for a big desk, display cabinets, a dedicated photo setup etc. I really want my new studio to be installed perfectly before I start painting there. But of course the rest of the house has a higher priority.

I have some hopes to start painting again somewhere in October, but this will more probably be November or December or event next year.

Anyway I will be updating this blog from time to time. I still have a bunch of reviews ready to be published. Another thing you can expect are some posts concerning the furnishing and installation of the new painting studio.

Thank you for coming back to my blog and enjoy the nice weather (if you have any).

-Gerrie