Decorative Painting Classes

New Brushes

Most new brushes, synthetic or natural, have sizing in the bristles to help keep their shape in the store while awaiting a customer like you to come and purchase them. It is important that you are careful to not attempt to bend the bristles with your fingers the first time you are ready to paint with them. Some bristles, particularly natural bristles, may have so much sizing that the bristles can actually break off from the ferrule; it's rare, but it can happen. The best way to remove the sizing is to place your new brush in warm water and gently massage the bristles until the water soluble sizing has dissolved away ..... then hop to it and begin painting !!!

Cleaning Brushes

There are many opinions from artists in the way they choose to clean their brushes after using them in acrylic or oil painting. As you know, the cost of a good brush is not cheap and taking time to take care of them will insure a longer life for your brush. The following is the way I like to clean my brushes:

Acrylic Paint: Following a decorative painting session in acrylic, I generally use ordinary dish soap to clean the bristles of my brushes. If I am going to an art class seminar outside my studio, I take along a commercial cleaner, either liquid or solid, and just leave the soap in the bristles until I return home (I should mention that after putting the soap in the bristles, I stroke the bristles to put them back to their natural shape). Periodically, I will deep clean the bristles with Murphy's Oil Soap. To dry my brushes, I place them hanging bristles downward in my brush holder or placed at a downward angle on a towel with the handle end slightly elevated so that water may easily flow out of the ferrule. Another way to dry your brushes is to clip a small towel on a clipboard; then clip the handles of your brushes on the clipboard and place it in a vertical position so that the bristles are facing in a downward position to allow the water to flow away from the bristles and absorbed into the towel.

Oil Paint: After oil painting, I gently dip or swish my brushes in odorless paint thinner being very careful to not drag the ends of the bristles on the bottom of the container as this can easily destroy a fine chisel edge. Pinch out the paint with a paper towel. Do this repeatedly until all the paint had been removed. Occasionally, I will wash the brushes with Murphy's Oil Soap. When traveling to a decorative painting session outside the studio, I take along a tiny plastic container of MOS, odorless turp and/or a tube of Grumbacher's Gel. To dry my oil brushes, I again tease the bristles back to their natural shape and do the same drying process as above for Acrylic Paint.

Special Tip for those who have accidentally left acrylic paint in the bristles of their brushes (who would do such a thing?) or to occasionally deep clean the bristles: If you have accidentally allowed your brush to dry with acrylic paint in the bristles or if paint has collected around the ferrule of the brush, you can let the bristles and ferrule set in rubbing alcohol for several hours; then wash the brush thoroughly with soap and water. The alcohol may remove the paint - It may not. It will depend on how long the paint has been left in the brush and the type of bristle; but if it's one of your favorite brushes, it's well worth a try. It would not be a good idea to always use alcohol to clean your brushes, as it may be too harsh on the bristles. (By the way, alcohol is also great for removing acrylic paint from the plastic protective sheeting you may use on your painting table.)