The new best brush in my miniature painting repertoire

Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Sable Miniaturist brushes, 

L-R, #3, #2, #1, #0, #000

Comparing #0 brushes: 

 from bottom to top, #0 Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Miniaturist,

#0 Winsor and Newton series 7 miniature, and #0 (regular series 7 Winsor and Newton)

Comparing #000 brushes:

bottom to top, 000 Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky Miniaturist, 000 Winsor and Newton series 7 miniature brush, 000 Winsor and Newton (regular series 7)

Along with a few varieties of small synthetic brushes, I've been a fairly loyal user of Winsor and Newton series 7 miniature and regular series 7 for several decades by now, yet over the years I've observed that the amount of hair in the ferules has decreased, the cost has gone up, and although they are still good brushes, for the price and quality I'm just not feeling 100% satisfied with their performance and staying power.  With all the interesting brushes out there to try these days, I thought it was time for some research on sables.  After looking over three or four lines of brushes, I decided to try Da Vinci Maestro Kolinsky 'Miniaturist' sables.   

My rationale was that of all the miniature brush lines I saw, the Da Vinci Miniaturist line has more hair (fatter at the ferrule, or base of the brush), and a shorter but still very pointy tip.  It's a round brush made of Kolinsky sable, (which means male winter Siberian Kolinsky sable, the best sable you can get), and I hoped a fatter pointy brush meant it would hold more paint without dripping, and give me more control and precision.

So far I am very impressed with these neat little sables!  Above are some comparison pictures demonstrating the difference between the two lines, especially since the brush sizes do not exactly correspond, and it took me a while reading over the brush dimensions provided online to decipher the sizes I wanted to try.  They are not inexpensive, but I got mine through a nice sale at Dick Blick online.  I've been using them on a commissioned miniature painting in egg tempera, and also on a larger portrait commission in oil.  As soon as I get a little further with the miniature commission, I'll post it in progress.

Aretha, Step 3, plus a word about brushes & framing your miniature

Now working up the image over all a bit more, I've added the black velvet bands to the hat, so that I can start adding all those sparkling Swarovski crystals onto the black trim.  

Here is a line-up of my palette knives and brushes used for my miniature paintings.  Left-to-right:  palette knives for scraping paint off my palette, and for mixing pigments in jars, #20/0 Silver Ultra Mini Pointed round, #5/0 Escoda Kolinsky, 1/2" flat Cotman Windsor & Newton, #3/0 Umbria round Princeton synthetic, #0 and #1 Cotman blue-handled synthetics, #2 Princeton filbert, 2/0 Princeton shader, 3/0 Princeton round, 20/0 Princeton spotter, 15/0 Micron detailer, #000 & #00 (and up to #1 is also good) Series 7 miniature sable Windsor & Newtons, #000, #00, (#0 missing here), #1 regular Series 7 Windsor and Newton (I use these if I can't get the miniature Series 7, or in combo with them), Utrecht's (comparable to W & N series 7 for a lower price) Vermeer kolinsky sables series 221 in #000, #00, & #1.  The three brushes I use most often are:  3/0 Princeton Round, #000 series 7 miniature W & N sable, and the 15/0 Micron Detailer.

To frame your miniature, if you can't find a suitable photo frame, I recommend a framer who specializes in scaled down delicate frames, such as MiniArt Supply.  Proprieter Nancy Still is a talented miniature painter & MASF member.  She carries a wide assortment of tasteful ready-made frames, but also will make and ship a frame to fit your specifications for a reasonable price.