In my “Easter Rise” blog, the need for animal sacrifices as a way of alleviating one’s sin before God was made redundant by Jesus’ personal sacrifice. Neither animals nor children ever again were to be slaughtered, mutilated or tortured for whatever people thought their god wanted.
In like manner, neither does beauty need blood sacrifice.
Beauty companies have given this concept great attention in their “Beauty without Cruelty” campaigns. This includes the refusal to use animals as testers for hair shampoos, face creams or anything else. They leave the animals to their natural beauty.
In the Visual Arts, some companies have jumped aboard this sensible concept by producing high quality brushes without maiming an animal.
When I did my research on good watercolor brushes, I found that the Chinese and Russians were the worst perpetrators of cruelty to animals. Their traps for the Kolinsky sable were miserable and cruel and hideously painful to the animal. Their excuse for traps is that the animal does not fare well in captivity. These animals need to live in very cold environments like Siberia. Traps set in the dead of winter produced dead winter coated weasels.
I refused to buy Kolinksky sable brushes. And whatever trapped animal brush I may have bought in the years of my ignorance, I treat with great care.
The Chinese also trapped wolves for their hair for sumi-e brushes.
The slaughter of animals for their hair for brushes is what I’m howling about. Pain for beauty is not a fair trade.
Great artists can work miracles with lesser grade art materials. There is no need for cruelty. Lesser great artists can learn. No one needs to drip blood upon their canvas or fine papers to announce their artistic vision and dexterity. Great beauty comes from within the artist’s soul. The struggle of the artist must include awareness of the materials they use. Materials eventually become part of the artist’s body when in the trance of creativity.
Because I am not a vegetarian, I do buy brushes from companies with humane treatment of slaughtered animals. The “Daniel Smith” watercolor manufacturers are an American brand. When I originally did my research on brushes, they had humane cages and raised sable weasels. The meat was used after the pelt was removed. Nothing went to waste.
But more likely, I buy good quality synthetic brushes. “The Italian Store” primarily sells brushes. Their company brand synthetic watercolor brushes were reasonably priced. And they had snap, water hold and whip. These brushes have lasted 20 years so far and going strong.
Beauty is an energy. Blood on the brush due to torture is not only ugly but it is wrong.