Newsletter - July 2015 - Rosemary & Co Artists' Brushes Ltd.

The Finest Quality Handmade Artists’ Brushes

‘‘ It’s not just a brush, it’s an experience.

A ritual.

It’s life changing and it’s your life.’’

OUR monthly NEWSLETTER filled with INTERVIEWS & TIPS for your ENJOYMENT

www.rosemaryandco.com

Issue 8 July 2015

The BILL DAVIDSON Set

Set contains 9 brushes, all on long handles: Ivory Short Flat, Sizes: 2, 4, 6, 10, 12 Ivory Short Flat, Size 8 (x 2) Series 272 Masters Choice, Pointed Round, Size: 0 Series 274 Masters Choice, Short Flat, Size: 10

ÂŁ67 / $86

ROSEMARY & CO

Full Set

Available Online at

Request your FREE catalogue today!

www.billdavidson.biz

+44 1535 632666

www.rosemaryandco.com

LIFE is for LIVING, let’s all ENJOY JULY!

{CONTENTS} 04

LETTER of the MONTH

am standing in for Symi this month as Editor of the Newsletter. Don’t tell her this but I never realised how much work is involved.

I have enjoyed working with Chris (our designer) in calibrating this issue for you and thank you to all who contributed.

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FRIENDS of the MONTH

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MASTER of the MONTH

At the time of writing Symi is enjoying representing our family business in the USA. She will have enjoyed the Publishers Invitational in the Adirondacks, hosted by our dear friend Eric Rhoads. She has even had a go at painting and dare I report she is ‘hooked’ to Plein Air, who wouldn’t be inspired surrounded by such wonderful artists.

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BRUSH Reviews, TIPS & ADVICE

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GUEST of the MONTH

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Persevere, Persevere, PERSEVERE!

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ONES to WATCH on SOCIAL Media

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MASTER from the PAST

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STAY CALM and PAINT ON

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And then it’s on to a workshop at June Lake, CA tutored by one of her favourites, Jeremy Lipking; no doubt she’s enjoying life. Having been apart for over two weeks, I’m looking forward to her return.

July 4th - American Independence day, wishing all our friends ‘across the pond’ a happy celebration.

For us here in England it’s the Royal Garden Party, invitation only! Oh well I can dream...and of course Wimbledon (don’t say that word or the rain will come).

Life is for living, let’s all enjoy July!

Cover image courtesy of Ken Howard. www.kenhoward.co.uk Rosemary & Co Artists Brushes, PO BOX 372, Keighley, West Yorkshire, England, BD20 6WZ.

Rosemary Thompson, Managing Director enquiries@rosemaryandco.com

UK: 01535 632666 Int’l: +44 1535 632666

W: www.rosemaryandco.com E: enquiries@rosemaryandco.com

LETTER of the MONTH We LOVE to HEAR from YOU Dear Symi, One question I’d like to ask is relevant to the Factory. Traditional brush making has always fascinated me, amd I’d love to see it for real. We’ve now moved up to South Yorkshire and as often as possible having days/ weekends out enjoying the beauty of Yorkshire. When we’re in your neck of the woods, would it be too cheeky to ask if I could ring you prior to, and come and meet you all? It’s such a pleasure dealing with you guys, as well as your amazing product. I’d love to see you all and the brush making (even briefly). I must also apologise for continually addressing everything to your Mum and not you, I’m afraid it’s force of habit, please excuse me.

Enough rambling, I must let you get on with earning a crust! Hopefully I’ll get to meet you soon, I know I’ll certainly be in touch again! Take care.

Very best regards, Jeff Langley ‘‘We can’t wait to open the doors to all of our friends and customers as soon as the new premises are ready. We are working towards the beginning of next year!’’

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{FRIENDS of the MONTH} We TALK to TWO RIVERS

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e’ve been friends with the team at Two Rivers for years and years now.

Two Rivers was formed in 1976 and is located at Pitt Mill in Somerset, UK since 1990.

It’s one of a handful of commercial handmills still operating in Europe. The owner/manager is Jim Patterson, a fourth generation paper maker who has spent his entire working life in the paper industry, in larger mills both in England and abroad, including Wansborough Paper Company in Watchet. The mill is over 400 years old and still retains much of the ancient wooden milling machinery. It’s been restored over the last 15 years to a working waterpowered traditional paper mill, using a 100 year old metal wheel from Wales and an 1841 Hollander Rag-Breaker.

The wheel itself is a 10 ft overshot wheel weighing two and a half tons and standing eleven foot high. In combination with the rag breaker, Two Rivers will be the only place in the UK where water power is used to make paper from old rags. Showing a continuing commitment to manufacturing using environmentally appropriate methods, a full array of solar panels were fitted to the mill roof in 2011.

Electrical heating is used to gently dry their paper in the mill loft and over the year the panels will cancel that cost. The mill is usually open for visitors during normal working hours.

Please visit their website at: www.tworiverspaper.co Rosemary & Co

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{MASTER of the MONTH} INTERVIEW with KEN HOWARD

Ken Howard OBE, RA is a professional painter who exhibits with Richard Green at 147 New Bond Street. His next show is January 2016 London, Venice and the rest of the world.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST START TO PAINT? When I was about five, it was the only thing I could or wanted to do, so I didn’t have any choice!

WHO ARE YOUR INSPIRATIONS? Goya and Velasquez, both Spanish painters and eventually they led on to French Impressionists.

HOW DO YOU GET INSPIRED? I paint in front of the subject all of the time. The subject is very important to me.

Painting is about form and content.

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WHAT PIECE OF ADVICE COULD YOU GIVE TO A YOUNG ARTIST? Just keep doing it! It’s all about practice.

Also, patience, it won’t happen tomorrow.

I started exhibiting in the Academy when I was 18 and they elected me when I was 50, which is a long time.

WHY DO YOU PREFER PLEIN AIR TO STUDIO WORK? I prefer Plein Air because I am inspired by what is front of me, not what is in my head. I follow Turner’s advice, ‘‘Paint what you see is there, not what you know is there’’.

‘‘The BRUSH is a VERY IMPORTANT TOOL BECAUSE its an EXTENSION of the ARM.’’ TELL ME ABOUT YOUR OBE? It’s called Service to the Arts. I think it’s very much because I do quite a lot of work with charities such as Marie Curie.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE BRUSHES? I find Rosemary’s brushes fantastic.

The brush is a very important tool because its an extension of the arm.

Rosemary’s brushes are a real pleasure to work with. I use the filberts because I find flats tend to make a certain form, a mark and so do rounds, whereas filberts are more anonymous.

‘Painting is about Revelation, (a way of seeing) Celebration (you can celebrate in paint anything) and Communication (painting should speak to you as it is).

You shouldn’t have to explain a painting, it should communicate for itself.’

Images courtesy of Ken Howard See more of Ken’s work at: www.kenhoward.co.uk For more information about Ken please contact Richard Green: UK: 0207 4933939 Int’l: +44 207 4933939 Rosemary & Co

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{Let’s GET UP and GO} REVERSIBLE Pocket BRUSHES

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welcome addition to the watercolourists’ outdoor painting box. Useful on holiday and field trips yet also popular in the studio as an everyday brush!

The lightweight slimline case enables the artist to ‘feel’ the paper through the brush stroke. The construction allows the head to be reversed ‘inside’ the case for safe storage.

A hole has been pierced at the end of the case for ventilation whilst drying stowed away. This range of brushes will become a favourite!

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Reversible Pocket brushes are versatile and easy to use.

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hough typically used for watercolour, these brushes are ideal for sketch work en Plein Air. Thus, a tool useful for artists in all mediums for their initial ideas and compositions.

Originally designed for travel when only a handbook available to sketch on the go, these little wonders will become a favourite. We have designed with weight in mind too and you will be surprised how light they are.

Visit our site for more details and search for “Reversibles�.

Images courtesy of Liz Steel.

See more of her work at: www.lizsteel.com Rosemary & Co

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{GUEST of the MONTH} CATHEDRALS to PORTRAITURE

By Tim Rose

Tim Rose is a British watercolour artist, specialising in the portrayal of buildings, gardens and cityscapes. He works mostly in watercolour and travels throughout Europe and the USA.

I

have been painting in watercolour most of my life and my subject matter ranges from Cathedral interiors to portraiture.

I try to paint direct from my subject as far as possible finding that ones own responses change as the subject opens up to you and as lighting changes during a painting session. Sometimes my first impression is the one I try to hold, but often I just work and wait until a shaft of light appears or an unusual shadow or a reflection makes itself apparent.

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I enjoy drawing for its own sake and sometimes work out complex compositions through an initial detailed sketch if the subject requires it, but then try to paint in one sitting. I find with watercolour a bold and energetic start will carry me well into a painting in a short space of time allowing me to determine warm/cool values and lights and shades, bringing in details at the end.

The brush I cannot do without is the Rosemary & Co Kolinsky Sable Series 33, size 12, used in all my works.

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im Rose works from life whenever possible in order to capture the natural atmosphere and illumination of his subject, often sketching and painting in crowded places.

He is also an experienced teacher and

demonstrator and runs specialist courses in watercolour painting throughout the year.

Please visit his site for more information.

See more of Tim’s work at: www.timrose.co.uk Rosemary & Co

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PERSEVERE, PERSEVERE, PERSEVERE!

By Todd Lachance

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efore I was a professional artist, I was an elite athlete in the sport of long track speed skating.

My greatest obstacle (other than finding pants to fit my legs and rear end) was overcoming the struggle mentally, technically and physically to get better over the long term. As an athlete, you spend countless hours training and preparing for one or two big competitions. Sometimes things don’t quite come together on the big day. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you should quit. The ability to see the big picture for what it is, is paramount.

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In art, whether it is sticking to a career plan or stepping back and looking at your painting, the hardest thing to do is getting up after you’ve been knocked down, dusting yourself off and moving along. Learning from perceived failures can be so valuable.

It’s also important to know when to ditch that sketch across the lake and start over!

Persevere, persevere, persevere!

See more of Todd’s work at: www.toddlachance.ca or follow on him Facebook: Todd Lachance Artist

{ARTISTS around the WORLD} ONES to WATCH on SOCIAL MEDIA

PETER BARKER

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eter is a leading professional British painter of landscapes and wildlife. He mostly uses oils, but he paints in pastel, watercolour and acrylic also.

Peter Barker ARSMA

JEAN HAINES

ANDREW SALGADO

nternationally reknowned British artist, Haines is recognised for her expressive and iconic brush strokes. Jean is certainly one to watch.

ndrew is one of the eminent emerging painters in both the UK and North America.

He has been listed by Saatchi as “one to invest in today”.

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A

@JeanHaines

andrewsalgado_artist

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TWITTER: Rosemary&Co @rosemaryandco

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LINKEDIN: Rosemary & Co Artists Brushes

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{MASTER from the PAST} HENRY H.LA THANGUE 1859 - 1929

By Rosemary Thompson

Fig. 1

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orn in Croydon, Surrey, he first studied at Lambeth School of Art and The Royal Academy.

As a gold medallist, being personally recommended

by Sir Frederic Leighton, he entered Gerome’s prestigious atelier at the Ecole Des Beaux Arts in Paris. Whilst in Paris he was particularly inspired by French artists Gustave Courbet & Jules Bastien-Lepage, encouraging him to paint realist rural pictures.

He was also influenced by the Impressionists’ 14

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commitment to painting before nature. It was in France he adopted the ‘square brush’ technique used in Figure. 1 to striking effect. It allowed him to cover the canvas quickly and to capture fleeting light effects. He painted this work in Norfolk and characteristically placed the figures against a high horizon, flattening the picture space. Upon his return to England he became a founder member of The New English Art Club. Being something of a radical, he did cause division in the ranks by proposing the New

English should be a large national exhibition in competition with the Royal Academy.

I love how he paints country folk going about their chores, he captured change as it was happening. One minute a horse driven plough vanishes to be replaced by the motorised tractor.

Perhaps without realising it he documented on canvas a world we would never see again, or did he know?

Images courtesy of: www.bbc.co.uk/arts

STAY CALM and PAINT ON

By Gina Strumpf

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s an artist and a workshop instructor, I always encourage my students to use the best material they possibly can afford. Invest in the best, then paint, paint, paint!

Several years back I was invited to be the Resident Artist onboard CUNARD’s Queen Mary 2 with a Trans-Atlantic ocean voyage, as an onboard tutor for watercolour instruction.

The ship provides introductory watercolour kits of paints, paper and a few brushes that can be purchased for class. After a day or two of instruction, seeing the frustration of not having a quality brush, I sought to remedy that by offering Rosemary brushes next time I set sail. With the help of Rosemary and Symi, on my next voyage I had a selection of the finest watercolour brushes (Pure Kolinsky Sables, Pure Red Sables and Red Sable Blends and my personal favourite, the Roger Jones Brush) to offer to my students. Now we all know the brush doesn’t make the painting, but the difference between a “hobby brush” and a quality brush will take you and your confidence to soaring levels. It’s a pure joy to witness the excitement in discovery of new converts to Rosemary brushes!

Now, teaching on the open sea holds it’s challenges, a floating class room is fine on calm sunny days. But mother nature can be unpredictable, with up to 30 students rocking n’ rolling and being pitched in 40 foot seas, as their faces are turning a nice shade of green.

Class does go on! You call up the galley for pots of ginger tea and crystallized ginger bites to be delivered. With brush in hand, you just go with the flow.

My travels around the globe on board the most majestic Ocean-Liners that sail the sea, introducing students to the art of watercolour, continues to be a ‘fabulous trip’.

Teaching ages from 9 - 90, multicultural bonding, with the joy of creative expression the universal language is the ultimate adventure logging thousands of nautical miles and thousands of smiles, with many happy students leaving the gangplank waving their Rosemary brushes in the air!

“Stay calm and Paint on” Visit Gina’s site at: www.ginastrumpfstudio.com Rosemary & Co

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See WHY the WORLDS LEADING ARTISTS USE our BRUSHES

Thank you for all your support and endorsing us! +44 1535 632666

enquiries@rosemaryandco.com

www.rosemaryandco.com