I really enjoyed this interview. I am a beginner, want to be a traveler sketcher. I found the tip about cleaning and preserving your brushes very useful. I have been following Liz for a couple of years and took some of her classes. Liz” s enthusiasm is contagious. Thanks Symi for this lively interview.
Thank you, Symi and Liz for this fun and informative interview! I have taken 3 courses from Liz this year and look forward to one more beginning in early January. I have grown quite a lot in my artistic skills, through great instruction from Liz and practicing often. Also, I ordered four brushes from Rosemary and Co earlier this year and thoroughly LOVE them and use them daily - 3 are daggers. I live in California and was very pleased to receive my order in a timely manner, given the miles apart we are and the difficulties we're currently facing. Thanks, Rosemary and Co for creating such wonderful tools!!!
Loved both your energy and your verve for the work that you do whether brushes or paintings. My takeaways were using conditioner for your brushes (awesome), the eradicator brush (oh how I need that) and Liz's comment that 'travelling never stops' even if we have to stop travelling. Also Symi's accent and the way she say love - luv. Takes me back to a time in my life when I lived in Britain and had a friend who hailed from Yorkshire. Precious and lots of fun. Thanks
For our 10th anniversary in 2019, we booked a trip to Budapest, and I found Liz’s urban sketching Sketching Now curriculum, and took three of them last spring, cramming and practicing before we left. What a find! And so helpful on our trip. I sketched so much, and left postcard sketches for our guests as well as bringing home nearly a full sketchbook. Wonderful memories! I learned about Rosemary & Co. from Liz, finding a toothbrush holder and sharpening off my dagger end until it fit, along with my travel round so I could travel . I am in love with Rosemary & Co brushes after trying them, and even more when learning more about the company and brushes with all the new RUclips videos and interviews. Hearing your accents side by side warms my heart. I feel like I know you both and would be welcomed in either hemisphere with a hug if there were no COVID. Now I know about the conventions, and that there are local urban sketcher groups here in Charlotte, NC. Mind boggling how connected globally we are, and yet I want a balanced sword?!?! Lol just to sketch, not to hurt anyone. Congratulations to you both on such wonderful products. I’m eager to start Liz’s design course in January.
I really enjoyed watching the chat because Liz’s and Symi’s enthusiasm was so refreshing and inspiring! I also was glad to learn about refreshing my brushes with baby shampoo and conditioner. Thank you both for your generosity.
I so very much enjoyed the technical aspects of the brush discussion. Not only the cleaning/freshening tips, but especially the handle balancing with the brush. I'm very new to sketching, and haven't yet gotten in to brush theory, so this was fascinating to me. Who knew? Also, I had some aha moments when Liz talked about edges and focusing on the basics rather than "the picture". All in all, this was a lovely conversation!
Thank you for having Liz on! I just love seeing her positivity and passion. It's contagious and encourages me to just practice, practice, practice! Best wishes to the giveaway winner!
Nice to listen to and watch your conversation, you two are very lively talkers. A good friend of mine taught me to put jokes into your presentation to keep the audience captivated. I think arranging for the window cleaner was a brilliant one!
How great is a dagger brush, they are a ‘cut’ above the rest! Liz, I love that you are not precious with your art materials, whittling down a perfectly balanced brush and accidentally leaving another behind (whoops!) Instead of worshipping the brush and being too scared to use it, your thrill in the making of art is such a good reminder of what good art materials are all about! As you said Syme, great brushes don’t hold u back from making the art you want
Thank you for such a wonderful interview/conversation! I enjoy how Liz teaches and have learned so much from her blog and postings. Rosemary & Co brushes have quickly become a favourite of mine, including the dagger brush. I love the 'baby' dagger, the 3/8" brush; it's such a versatile tool!
Brushes in a toothbrush holder? Now not only will I dip my brush into my tea when painting at my desk, I'll be trying to clean my teeth with it. Maybe not so good with cadmium pigments. This was one of the best interviews I've heard, you're both so at ease, and Symi you managed to get soooooo much interesting chat out of Liz (not that, Liz, you need much encouragement!!). I watched this whilst sketching pages for Sketchbook Design :-)
A great interview with lots of inspiration for sketchers. Liz is always so positive and gives lots of good tips. Love her site and her recommendations are always the best! The dagger brush is wonderful in the travel size. Good for small journals.
Be still my heart! Two killer artists with daggers!!! Glad to know I’m not the only one hacking a brush for traveling sake. Also like the pointers on cleaning and conditioner. Bravo for sharing links too!
Best treadmill workout I ever had, lol! I watched this while walking on my treadmill, which made the whole thing fly by! Speaking of flying, that is what I think about when I see Liz painting with the dagger! Her dagger looks like a maestro wand, flying around! My first contact with watercolor and Rosemary brushes was thru the Anna Mason brush series. Anna makes amazing art, which I was dipping my feet into. Anna is in the opposite art spectrum than Liz. Both produce amazing art, but I never thought you could freely slap paint around like Liz does and still have it look awesome! I got hooked on the R13 Rosemary brush because of Liz, and then I got curious about the dagger. I am not good with it yet, I use the baby version ( I call the 3/8 "the dagger with training wheels"!) I need to eventually upgrade myself to the 1/2" so I can splash paint around like Liz does, with not a care in the world! Sooner rather than later, if I am one of the 5 lucky ones - fingers crossed!
Ayyy, I finally got a chance to watch the entire interview. I purchased a dagger but the bristles are waaaay too soft and now can't wait to try a Rosemary & Co. dagger. Symi, any chance you can tell me, again, what solution you use to clean the synthetic brushes? I could not pick up on that word. Liz and Symi, thank you so much for sharing your wealth of information with us.
I just received my first order of Rosemary dagger travel brushes. That sharp point is amazing! I learned about how to clean/condition sable and synthetic brushes-new info! Liz's excitement is so fun!
Lovely chat, I have been trying to draw something every day for the last 12 months and I agree that it really helps, looking back through my sketchbooks the improvement is obvious even though you can't see it at the time, also love encouraging other people to draw and I love how Liz makes it so accessible and low pressure for beginners
I love that Liz had and has the confidence to quit her job and carry on as an artist. And remember the “Flintstones “ house we showed you when we gave you a ride were to San Francisco? Your response was “ oh NO!” It was so fun to hang out with you Liz! Can’t wait til the next symposium!
I always chuckle at the thought of using a toothbrush holder in my kit. But I do see the relationship of the necessity to brush teeth daily AND of course to sketch daily. Love, love, love Liz Steel - her fun personality and knowledge make online classes a delight and well worth the money! Thank you Smni also for this fun interview. For the giveaway, picture your favorite image of a child waving their hand in the air and excitedly proclaiming in a west Texas drawl, “PICK ME, PICK ME.....”
Hey Symi..have you thought about producing a narrow, lightweight case which would hold just a few ‘proper’ brushes.....sort of an upgrade on the toothbrush holder? Just a lITTLE bigger?. I have brushcases, but they are just too bulky to take out sketching
Liz, the coffee lady :) Wonderful. I belive I first learned about her from Teoh Yi Chie and been following her on instagram ever since. It would be great if you could do one of these interviews with Teoh too.
I'll take a "stab" at winning one of the dagger brushes! :) I have taken several of Liz's classes and enjoyed hearing more about Liz's life as a sketcher and her tips. There were two big take-away from this interview for me. One is to ease into sketching in public by sketching my food! I have seen many of Liz's sketching, but didn't think of that. Also, Liz mentioned feeling guilty after reading a library book about wanting to be an architect because it was a man's field. During high school in the mid-70's we were given an interest and occupation test. I tested very high for becoming an architect but the school counselor told me that only men went into the field. Now, thanks to Liz's classes, I love sketching architectural forms!
Really enjoyed this! And the toothbrush holder trick! You shouldn't have said you have larger travel brush sizes coming out next year because now I'm going to hold out in an order until it comes out...not that I should because most of my paintings are miniature....haha.....but I'd love to try one of the dagger brushes too...so entering for the giveaway!!
Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed the interview! The larger travel brushes could take several weeks in the New Year so don’t hold out! :) I’ll be posting on our social media when they’re ready though! Thanks again.
Hi Douglas, thanks for your note. This hasn't happened before and I've done all the interviews the same. Luckily, it's only the first part of the interview and then it settles down - so strange. I hope you enjoyed the talk never the less. Best wishes, Symi
I think I have managed to find the picture you've mentioned in the interview done with that medium eradicator: www.lizsteel.com/port-macquarie-trip-part-2-painting-with-the-eradicator/ It really does a marvellous job! One of the "effects" that impress me a lot, is how people can realistically paint waves, and I see now how it is possible! I am currently assembling my sketching set, and there are only so many tool one can take along onto location, so I am trying to limit the number of brushes I am going to own, but you really got me interested with that eradicator! I wonder what is the difference in what I can achieve with it in comparison to R4 One stroke? Is it possible to replace one with the other? I would also very much like to see what is that you are using R5 Rigger for instead of 1/2" Dagger. It really got me thinking if my set is enough before I start the online classes... BTW the catalog which you have sent me is a lifesaver! I am very much into the zero waste approach, but with all the different shapes and sizes that other companies use, even from Rosemary and Co, it can really give you a headache. Since the pictures and the real scale, I can see what is the actual difference between them. I am dyslectic, so starting watercolour painting as a hobby, aside from my Computer Science studies, is as far as I could possibly imagine going outside my comfort zone. Having that said, I really appreciate all the help I can get. I never knew that Liz is painting so quickly, and I have been following her for years. It does make a difference since being a full time working and studying mum of a 3-year-old, makes you want to push your personal interests somewhere aside for the future. It made me believe that I can still do it, especially, since I need a before in my life, to not go mad with all of my daily responsibilities! Thank you very much for this interview. It was very informative, and it is such a pleasure to see you both. Don't be surprised that people want to visit you. You are on my go-to list as well ;) Hopefully, I will get to meet you soon!
Hi Anne, I'm not sure. We did all we could to try and edit it out, but it didn't make it any better sadly. Whilst we were on the call it sounded perfect to me, obviously, otherwise I'd have made some changes. I'm sorry about that - but hope you enjoyed it overall. :) Symi
Hi Phil, firstly I did acknowledge that the sound is a little iffy to begin with - but it does get better. It's a strange thing as when we were talking there was no echo (obviously or else I would have fixed it!). My intention would never be to insult my friends or guests whom I interview. That goes without saying. I'm sorry you are so appalled by this. Thanks for stopping by either way though, Symi.
![Method Writing: The First Four Concepts - Jack Grapes [FULL INTERVIEW]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ba9jAVzADY0/mqdefault.jpg)
I really enjoyed this interview. I am a beginner, want to be a traveler sketcher. I found the tip about cleaning and preserving your brushes very useful. I have been following Liz for a couple of years and took some of her classes. Liz” s enthusiasm is contagious. Thanks Symi for this lively interview.
Thank you, Symi and Liz for this fun and informative interview! I have taken 3 courses from Liz this year and look forward to one more beginning in early January. I have grown quite a lot in my artistic skills, through great instruction from Liz and practicing often. Also, I ordered four brushes from Rosemary and Co earlier this year and thoroughly LOVE them and use them daily - 3 are daggers. I live in California and was very pleased to receive my order in a timely manner, given the miles apart we are and the difficulties we're currently facing. Thanks, Rosemary and Co for creating such wonderful tools!!!
Loved both your energy and your verve for the work that you do whether brushes or paintings. My takeaways were using conditioner for your brushes (awesome), the eradicator brush (oh how I need that) and Liz's comment that 'travelling never stops' even if we have to stop travelling. Also Symi's accent and the way she say love - luv. Takes me back to a time in my life when I lived in Britain and had a friend who hailed from Yorkshire. Precious and lots of fun. Thanks
For our 10th anniversary in 2019, we booked a trip to Budapest, and I found Liz’s urban sketching Sketching Now curriculum, and took three of them last spring, cramming and practicing before we left. What a find! And so helpful on our trip. I sketched so much, and left postcard sketches for our guests as well as bringing home nearly a full sketchbook. Wonderful memories! I learned about Rosemary & Co. from Liz, finding a toothbrush holder and sharpening off my dagger end until it fit, along with my travel round so I could travel . I am in love with Rosemary & Co brushes after trying them, and even more when learning more about the company and brushes with all the new RUclips videos and interviews. Hearing your accents side by side warms my heart. I feel like I know you both and would be welcomed in either hemisphere with a hug if there were no COVID. Now I know about the conventions, and that there are local urban sketcher groups here in Charlotte, NC. Mind boggling how connected globally we are, and yet I want a balanced sword?!?! Lol just to sketch, not to hurt anyone. Congratulations to you both on such wonderful products. I’m eager to start Liz’s design course in January.
I really enjoyed watching the chat because Liz’s and Symi’s enthusiasm was so refreshing and inspiring! I also was glad to learn about refreshing my brushes with baby shampoo and conditioner. Thank you both for your generosity.
Thanks so much for your lovely feedback, Karen! I'm glad you enjoyed this! :)
I so very much enjoyed the technical aspects of the brush discussion. Not only the cleaning/freshening tips, but especially the handle balancing with the brush. I'm very new to sketching, and haven't yet gotten in to brush theory, so this was fascinating to me. Who knew? Also, I had some aha moments when Liz talked about edges and focusing on the basics rather than "the picture". All in all, this was a lovely conversation!
Thank you for having Liz on! I just love seeing her positivity and passion. It's contagious and encourages me to just practice, practice, practice! Best wishes to the giveaway winner!
Thanks so much, Claire! I'm glad you enjoyed the interview - I hope you took things away from it! Wishing you all the best too! Symi
Nice to listen to and watch your conversation, you two are very lively talkers. A good friend of mine taught me to put jokes into your presentation to keep the audience captivated. I think arranging for the window cleaner was a brilliant one!
How great is a dagger brush, they are a ‘cut’ above the rest!
Liz, I love that you are not precious with your art materials, whittling down a perfectly balanced brush and accidentally leaving another behind (whoops!) Instead of worshipping the brush and being too scared to use it, your thrill in the making of art is such a good reminder of what good art materials are all about! As you said Syme, great brushes don’t hold u back from making the art you want
Thank you for such a wonderful interview/conversation! I enjoy how Liz teaches and have learned so much from her blog and postings. Rosemary & Co brushes have quickly become a favourite of mine, including the dagger brush. I love the 'baby' dagger, the 3/8" brush; it's such a versatile tool!
Brushes in a toothbrush holder? Now not only will I dip my brush into my tea when painting at my desk, I'll be trying to clean my teeth with it. Maybe not so good with cadmium pigments. This was one of the best interviews I've heard, you're both so at ease, and Symi you managed to get soooooo much interesting chat out of Liz (not that, Liz, you need much encouragement!!). I watched this whilst sketching pages for Sketchbook Design :-)
Thoroughly enjoyed this video! Love your brushes and have many of your travel brushes. Fabulous quality. Thank You!
A great interview with lots of inspiration for sketchers. Liz is always so positive and gives lots of good tips. Love her site and her recommendations are always the best! The dagger brush is wonderful in the travel size. Good for small journals.
Be still my heart! Two killer artists with daggers!!! Glad to know I’m not the only one hacking a brush for traveling sake. Also like the pointers on cleaning and conditioner. Bravo for sharing links too!
Best treadmill workout I ever had, lol! I watched this while walking on my treadmill, which made the whole thing fly by! Speaking of flying, that is what I think about when I see Liz painting with the dagger! Her dagger looks like a maestro wand, flying around! My first contact with watercolor and Rosemary brushes was thru the Anna Mason brush series. Anna makes amazing art, which I was dipping my feet into. Anna is in the opposite art spectrum than Liz. Both produce amazing art, but I never thought you could freely slap paint around like Liz does and still have it look awesome! I got hooked on the R13 Rosemary brush because of Liz, and then I got curious about the dagger. I am not good with it yet, I use the baby version ( I call the 3/8 "the dagger with training wheels"!) I need to eventually upgrade myself to the 1/2" so I can splash paint around like Liz does, with not a care in the world! Sooner rather than later, if I am one of the 5 lucky ones - fingers crossed!
Ayyy, I finally got a chance to watch the entire interview. I purchased a dagger but the bristles are waaaay too soft and now can't wait to try a Rosemary & Co. dagger.
Symi, any chance you can tell me, again, what solution you use to clean the synthetic brushes? I could not pick up on that word.
Liz and Symi, thank you so much for sharing your wealth of information with us.
The toothbrush holder is a great idea! I’m going to start whittling.
Wonderful duo! This interview is so heart-warming; it is like talking with couple of good friends around the hearth...
Thanks so much! Liz is a good friend & I'm glad you enjoyed this :)
I just received my first order of Rosemary dagger travel brushes. That sharp point is amazing! I learned about how to clean/condition sable and synthetic brushes-new info! Liz's excitement is so fun!
Lovely chat, I have been trying to draw something every day for the last 12 months and I agree that it really helps, looking back through my sketchbooks the improvement is obvious even though you can't see it at the time, also love encouraging other people to draw and I love how Liz makes it so accessible and low pressure for beginners
Thanks so much for your lovely comments, Trace! I’m glad you enjoyed this interview!
I love that Liz had and has the confidence to quit her job and carry on as an artist. And remember the “Flintstones “ house we showed you when we gave you a ride were to San Francisco? Your response was “ oh NO!” It was so fun to hang out with you Liz! Can’t wait til the next symposium!
Liz is so enthusiastic as are you. Great interactions.
I always chuckle at the thought of using a toothbrush holder in my kit. But I do see the relationship of the necessity to brush teeth daily AND of course to sketch daily. Love, love, love Liz Steel - her fun personality and knowledge make online classes a delight and well worth the money! Thank you Smni also for this fun interview. For the giveaway, picture your favorite image of a child waving their hand in the air and excitedly proclaiming in a west Texas drawl, “PICK ME, PICK ME.....”
Hey Symi..have you thought about producing a narrow, lightweight case which would hold just a few ‘proper’ brushes.....sort of an upgrade on the toothbrush holder? Just a lITTLE bigger?. I have brushcases, but they are just too bulky to take out sketching
Found it interesting about soaking natural brushes in baby conditioner over a weekend. And great news about the larger cases coming in 2021
I'm glad you found that useful - and yes, watch this space for the larger cases. I'm excited about those too!
Liz, the coffee lady :) Wonderful. I belive I first learned about her from Teoh Yi Chie and been following her on instagram ever since. It would be great if you could do one of these interviews with Teoh too.
Thanks so much for your feedback - I am glad you enjoyed this!
I'll take a "stab" at winning one of the dagger brushes! :) I have taken several of Liz's classes and enjoyed hearing more about Liz's life as a sketcher and her tips. There were two big take-away from this interview for me. One is to ease into sketching in public by sketching my food! I have seen many of Liz's sketching, but didn't think of that. Also, Liz mentioned feeling guilty after reading a library book about wanting to be an architect because it was a man's field. During high school in the mid-70's we were given an interest and occupation test. I tested very high for becoming an architect but the school counselor told me that only men went into the field. Now, thanks to Liz's classes, I love sketching architectural forms!
Lovely interview thank you.
Really enjoyed this! And the toothbrush holder trick! You shouldn't have said you have larger travel brush sizes coming out next year because now I'm going to hold out in an order until it comes out...not that I should because most of my paintings are miniature....haha.....but I'd love to try one of the dagger brushes too...so entering for the giveaway!!
Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed the interview! The larger travel brushes could take several weeks in the New Year so don’t hold out! :) I’ll be posting on our social media when they’re ready though! Thanks again.
You should use an earpiece for your sound, we have an echo from your loudspeaker.
Hi Douglas, thanks for your note. This hasn't happened before and I've done all the interviews the same. Luckily, it's only the first part of the interview and then it settles down - so strange. I hope you enjoyed the talk never the less. Best wishes, Symi
Interesting how her background as an architect shapes her art now :)
I think I have managed to find the picture you've mentioned in the interview done with that medium eradicator:
www.lizsteel.com/port-macquarie-trip-part-2-painting-with-the-eradicator/
It really does a marvellous job! One of the "effects" that impress me a lot, is how people can realistically paint waves, and I see now how it is possible!
I am currently assembling my sketching set, and there are only so many tool one can take along onto location, so I am trying to limit the number of brushes I am going to own, but you really got me interested with that eradicator! I wonder what is the difference in what I can achieve with it in comparison to R4 One stroke? Is it possible to replace one with the other?
I would also very much like to see what is that you are using R5 Rigger for instead of 1/2" Dagger. It really got me thinking if my set is enough before I start the online classes...
BTW the catalog which you have sent me is a lifesaver! I am very much into the zero waste approach, but with all the different shapes and sizes that other companies use, even from Rosemary and Co, it can really give you a headache. Since the pictures and the real scale, I can see what is the actual difference between them.
I am dyslectic, so starting watercolour painting as a hobby, aside from my Computer Science studies, is as far as I could possibly imagine going outside my comfort zone. Having that said, I really appreciate all the help I can get. I never knew that Liz is painting so quickly, and I have been following her for years. It does make a difference since being a full time working and studying mum of a 3-year-old, makes you want to push your personal interests somewhere aside for the future. It made me believe that I can still do it, especially, since I need a before in my life, to not go mad with all of my daily responsibilities!
Thank you very much for this interview. It was very informative, and it is such a pleasure to see you both. Don't be surprised that people want to visit you. You are on my go-to list as well ;) Hopefully, I will get to meet you soon!
Is the giveaway over?
Hi Lynn,
No it is not. We will pick a few winners by the end of January :)
Have dagger will travel!!!🖌🙏
Why is there such an echo and reverb sound?
Hi Anne, I'm not sure. We did all we could to try and edit it out, but it didn't make it any better sadly. Whilst we were on the call it sounded perfect to me, obviously, otherwise I'd have made some changes. I'm sorry about that - but hope you enjoyed it overall. :) Symi
The quality of the sound is absolutely appalling. What an insult to your guest.
Hi Phil, firstly I did acknowledge that the sound is a little iffy to begin with - but it does get better. It's a strange thing as when we were talking there was no echo (obviously or else I would have fixed it!). My intention would never be to insult my friends or guests whom I interview. That goes without saying. I'm sorry you are so appalled by this. Thanks for stopping by either way though, Symi.