Léonard is a french creative brand specializing in high quality brushes. The Bullier Company now uses the brand “Leonard” to sell its collections of brushes in tribute to the famous Florentine painter.
Since 1840, Léonard brushes have evolved using French skills in order to satisfy artists.
►Art brush specialist:
Handcrafted brushes require very good dexterity which is only acquired through years of experience. I’m inviting you to watch the video below to learn more about it.
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►Details of a brush:
- A brush is made of 3 parts: handle, ferrule and hair. When you focus on the hair, you see the “body” which is between the “root” and the tip, also called “flower” of the brush. It determines the fineness of the tool. The flower should remain intact; therefore it can never be cut. In the end, hair quality will determine the fineness of a flower. The finer the flower, the more expensive the price.
- Other hair features are the “spring” (the ability to come back to its intial shape after bending) and “retention” (reservoir effect).
- There are also many fibre brushes, some are natural, some are synthetic.
► My favourite brushes of the studio:
During my last shopping, I discovered and tested the “Mongoose” brushes from Léonard. These have quickly become favourites in my studio. Brushes made from synthetic fibre, available in 3 models:
- Flat
- Filbert (or cat’s tongue)
- Round tip
SPECIFICATIONS: very nervous and very elastic, this brush performs well with oil and acrylic, with great precision. It has a flower with huge finesse and the polished handle is the right length for fine and more amplified gestures. The seamless ferrule is nickel plated. Its tricolor synthetic fibre looks like natural fibre. I would believe it was natural hair! I can tell the quality is really good!
NOTICE: Do you know how to give a pointed shape to a brush ? You have just to roll the hair between fingers.
► Beauty Tips:
Tips & Expert words: Thanks to Stéphanie Bullier, Director of the French Company Léonard, for taking a few minutes to answer my questions.
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3 / What is the best way to clean Léonard brush?
Stéphanie Bullier: Oil and acrylic are both oil-based paints, so it is impossible to clean only with water. The first step in cleaning a brush is to wipe it gently on a support to remove as much material as possible. You must then rinse the brush thoroughly with water and wash with suitable soap. We recommend our Clean Brush black liquid soap. Made by a master soap maker and baked in a traditional pot, this liquid soap is made from pure Olive oil and perfumed with Eucalyptus Essential Oil.
2 / Do you have a little “beauty” tip to prevent the hair from drying out too quickly or becoming too brittle?
Stéphanie Bullier: You should know that natural fibres have properties very similar to our own hair. It is therefore necessary to treat hair brushes as carefully as we would for our own hair. To prevent the fibre of drying out over time, apply linseed oil or keratin.
1 / What should you not do with a Léonard brush?
Stéphanie Bullier: 1 – Never let a brush dry after use. By drying, painting sheds its water and becomes a different matter, solid, therefore, it will be impossible to remove it later. So you should clean brushes immediately after use. When several brushes are used at once or if it is really impossible to clean a brush in the minutes following its use, they should at least be placed in the water until they can be cleaned properly.
2 – Do not crush the flower, or rub strongly on paper, canvas, cloth or any other medium. Such actions damage the shape and hair of the brush.
3 – Finally, after cleaning, you should never leave a brush to dry with the head up and the handle down. When you put your brush in a storage jar for example, with head up, water is likely to go down in the heel of the brush between the fibre and the shell, which ultimately can create a space warp and even take off the hair on your brush.
The ideal way is to to suspend the brush upside down, or to use protection like our drying brush sleeve that will allow brushes dry while preserving their shape and quality over time.
►News feed on:
- Léonard Brushes Website
- Leonard Art Brushes Facebook
- Twitter @pinceauxleonard – Instagram @pinceauxleonard
- Leonard YouTube
- Pinterest @pinceauxleonard
More art materials on Great Art.co.uk
DISCLAIMER : cet article est une collaboration sponsorisée avec Léonard. Vous venez de lire mon article issu de cette collaboration. Au risque de me répéter, sachez que j’apprécie cette marque et que je suis convaincue de la qualité du matériel destiné aux artistes et aux personnes créatives. Même si cela paraît logique, je précise que je suis LIBRE sur la thématique et le choix des produits mis en avant, LIBRE sur le contenu, LIBRE de donner mon VÉRITABLE avis, et c’est également pour cette raison que ce partenariat est important car je peux donner libre cours à mon imagination et ainsi proposer du contenu frais et de qualité.
