One thing that has changed very much the way that I work recently is Brusho ink. I find it very exciting to work with. The colours are so vivid and vibrant and give me the intensity that I sometimes can’t achieve with watercolour.

Brusho can be hard to work with and takes a bit of practice to get to grips with but is well worth the effort. It’s unpredictable and that is what I like about it.

You will need a brush cleaning soap to get it out of your brushes when you have finished and to get it off your hands as it is very staining. The crystals get everywhere! Be warned!

I like to wet my paper in the shape I want to paint say, a tulip head shape, then sprinkle a few grains of crimson brusho from the tips of a dry rigger brush onto the wet shape and see what happens. Leave a few seconds then maybe brush out to the shape I want with a wet brush or even add grains to it of another colour. Take care or you can finish up with mud!

I keep the dry riggers specially for dipping into my brusho pots (but only pick up a few grains).

You have to take care not to transfer the crystals from one colour pot to another one e.g. you would not want to get yellow ones in with your blue pots or red in with your greens. Therefore you will need a few rigger brushes.

This is the way I use my Brusho. I don’t mix it into pots of water and dilute it. I use it directly onto the wet paper in crystal form and get really strong colour, but you have to be careful and patient or you will get all your crystals mixed up in their pots and ruin them.

It’s a bit like being disciplined and keeping your watercolours clean. If you do it you will get really great results. Once again, plenty of clean water.

I generally use a size 14 brush for painting as I find this best. Small riggers are best for the Brusho pots.

I hope this article convinces you to try Brusho. Give it a whirl. You know you want to!