da Vinci Watercolor Series 5247 Wash and Detail Paint Brush Set, Natural Hair with Vegetable Oil Brush Soap, Multiple Sizes, 2 Brushes (Series 418, 36Y)

Excellent size 50 brush for watercolor. Perfect for wetting large areas on the paper. It is very well made and super soft.

My first professional watercolor brushes - I don't know why I waited so long to buy these.There is a HUGE difference between these brushes and the cheap ones I'd been using before.** One of the biggest differences is how much water these brushes hold - they hold a lot!** They are also very soft, so they bend easily when you apply the brush to the paper. You can get some neat effects by applying the brush in different ways to the paper - for example -- rolling the side of the brush around on the paper creates some neat effects.** Super easy to rinse too - just shaking the brush in a cup of clean water rinses out the watercolor - I'm not sure about other people's experiences, but it took a lot more work to rinse my old cheapo brushes.** The brushes keep a nice point. I just reshape the point after rinsing and blotting the brush.I'm uploading a photo of my first painting done with these brushes. (Arches cold-press watercolor paper...paints are QOR, M Graham, and Daniel Smith)**Update 11/1/17**These brushes are still great, but I've found that for some of my paintings I prefer watercolor brushes that are a bit springier. I bought a variety of brushes from Blick, and really like the Catalyst by Princeton. They're pretty cheap, but have a great amount of spring. I also like the da Vinci Cosmotop Spin brushes...they also have some spring to them. However, nothing yet compares to the water carrying capacity of the da Vinci series 5358.

These are by far the best watercolor brushes I've ever owned. They hold a truly incredible amt of water & paint. So much in fact, that there's a bit of a learning curve.They also come to a nice point. I had to roll the brushes on a paper towel after dipping them in water or paint to avoid flooding the paper. I wish I had more of them. The German hand made quality is obvious. Amazon has them at a good price too.

Used this type brush as a kid in art school for ink washesGood toy now.

As warned by others, the #80 brush is not as advertised. Instead you get the #20 and #50, which is what I wanted anyway.

Love the quality of the brushes....takes a bit to get use to. I normally use rounds and flats. These brushes have great potential. Hold a ton on liquid, whether paint or water, for washes. Come to a perfect point for detail. A lot of versatility.

Love these brushes, you can pay more but these cowboys hold an excellent point plus you can mold them to an edge shape and that to will hold. Actually I use them for almost every type of stroke you can mash them and get great foliage for trees etc or get a liner point that holds enough watercolor to paint as long a line or lines as you want. It holds huge amounts of water or paint and therefore is a God send for wet on wet. Honestly, they could replace almost every brush I own,"which is a lot even the kolonskys" and I'd never miss them. If your looking for the most useful brush give one of these a try you won't regret it. And the price, oh my...try and do with the very best squirrel or weasel what these guys can do no way.

Went from good synthetic brushes to da Vinci 5358 and found the biggest difference is these hold a lot of water AND they hold a pretty sharp point. Great brush at a great price.