Picturing Poe: A Recommended Exhibit

Hello Ink Puddlers!  I have not been as diligent in my postings of late, but I hope to change that very soon.  My latest post is an outright recommendation for anyone in the Mid-Atlantic area to visit the Brandywine River Museum, especially before November 15 in order to see "Picturing Poe: Illustrations for Edgar Allan Poe's Stories and Poems."  I thoroughly enjoyed this exhibition, brought to my attention by my awesome girlfriend.  If you like Edgar Allan Poe, the macabre, or book illustration, you need to check this out.  And while you are at the Brandywine, you can also see their wonderful collection of three generations of the Wyeth family of artists.

Click on the image above to visit the Brandywine River Museum website

What I loved about this exhibit is that it combines original works of well known artists who have contributed to book illustration history, such as Arthur Rackham, Aubrey Beardsley, and Edmund Dulac, with some surprising contributions by even more well-known fine artists such as Édouard Manet and Paul Gauguin. Throw in some abstract, comic book, and digital art into the mix, and you've got yourself an awesome little exhibit just in time for Halloween.

An engraving for "The Raven" based on a work by Gustave Doré

One of my favorite works to view were the original ink wash compositions by famed book illustrator Gustave Doré.  You can see his layers of pencil and ink, and even some corrections and missteps in his wonderful gray tone ink works.  If you get a chance to look at his illustrations as printed, you can see how engravers would copy near perfectly the image and yet add fascinating detail and clarity to the work for it to be printed.

An Édouard Manet lithograph for Le Corbeau

You can also view Manet's contribution to modern book illustration with his lithographs for Le Corbeau, The Raven (1875).  In fact, you can view many works by prominent European artists and illustrators who were entranced by Poe's works.

An Arthur Rackham illustration for Poe's Tales of Mystery and Imagination 

And I know my girlfriend would agree that you can view multiple illustrations for the same work, sometimes even the same exact scene in one of Poe's stories, and you are not bored.  I think it is fascinating to see several artists' take on the narrative, mood, and visual imagery of a particular scene.  This exhibit gets high marks from me, and I encourage anyone interested in book illustration or Edgar Allan Poe to see it.

Brush DeathMatch (Raphael Kolinsky Sable Extra Pointed #0 Vs. Dick Blick Wonder White #2)

I have been meaning to do this more often: get into the nitty gritty details of how I judge the value of a particular art tool.  I have been using the Raphael brand kolinksy sable extra-pointed #0 brush for my ink work for years now.

I heard about the brand and brush from some online site, claiming that this is the brush that the Kubert Brothers use.  You can't blink at that endorsement, so I bought one and have been using them ever since.  I like them better than more expensive Windsor & Newton brushes, so I have been pleased.  However, here are the issues I have with them:

1) Inconsistency: I have had several of these brushes over the years, and sometimes the brush is great and sometime it is not so great.  When you order online, you get what you get, and there is no "test driving" brushes in your favorite brand of ink at art stores, so you have to make due.  I have been disappointed with some brushes.

2)Natural hair is natural hair: Being natural hair, it is susceptible to wear and tear, degradation when exposed to chemicals like cleaners, and it becomes fickle in high humidity.

From DickBlick.com:

This hair comes from the Siberian and Manchurian Sable, better known under the name of Kolinsky. It is a small animal that lives in the coldest areas of these regions, giving it a very strong and dense hair, an ideal hair for watercolor. It has fantastic spring, snap, and color holding ability.

I have one Raphael sable brush that I am on the verge of trimming with a pair of scissors.  There is a a stray bristle or two that requires me to position the brush specifically with every stroke.  Otherwise, the stroke goes haywire and I don't like it.  I figure since it is not the brush I prefer, even if I mess it up by taking the scissors to it, then I can just use it for something else, just not my finished lines.

I happened to be browsing the Philadelphia Dick Blick store and I came across a tiny, inconspicuous white plastic bin with small white-bristled brushes.  The "Wonder White" it is called.  Interesting.  Looks synthentic, but I like the edge to the bristles and the handle is short.  I cannot stand those long-assed handle brushes.  I hold my brush like a pencil for the most part, so I prefer a shorter handle.

Here is what I like:


1) The Up-and-Down Test:  So far, I really like how the brush provides a clean and similar brush stroke going either up or down.  Sometimes, because of the individual brush, I find myself only using up-strokes and having to position and angle the brush in a very specific way to get the stroke I am looking for.


2) The line:  It's a good line brush.  I bought it for use with thin lines, and it is getting the job done.

From DickBlick.com:

Dick Blick's White Taklon has a texture and responsiveness comparable to red sable, but with greater durability. The sharp point has good spring and is great for all water-based media. (Expect some staining of the filaments that won't harm the performance of the brush, just the appearance.)

I tried to replicate similar strokes and items I use a lot: letters, simple faces, curvy lines, lines right next to other lines.  The extra pointed kolinsky is clearly more pointed than the Wonder White, which is great if you have excellent brush command and you can lay down very quick and precise strokes--they look great (not seen here).  The Wonder White definitely has more resistance to it, which means you can put the brush on the paper and pull the brush.  This means you can apply more pressure and you can work more slowly (and advantage over the kolinsky).  The down side is that the Wonder White's lines were looking to me like pen lines, which is fine, but often I will use brush because it is distinguishable from pen.

So, there you go.  I think I have to switch to the Wonder White for a while anyway.  At the very least I will pick up a spare and use it more often.  It works nicely, has a longer ferrule, and is cheaper than the Raphael kolinsky.  That is a winning combination.  And as any artist knows, you really don't know a brush or a pencil or any other media until you've tried it out and compared.  Not quite the Death Match I was looking for with a clear and definitive winner and one loser being trashed, but I am still glad I did it.

Have a favorite brand of paint brush?  Let me know which and why!