Exiles Sunday Sermon #2

Brush Care

Anyone who has had a lesson on painting will have been told do not dip your brush in the pot transfer some to a pallet and use that. But has anyone explained why?

If you dip your brush the chance's are you will get paint on or near the metal sleeve, when this happens the capillary action draws paint under this sleeve. This paint then dries (as you can not get to it to clean it out) and the brush loses its flexibility.

Here are a few rules to follow to get the most out of your brush:

1: Always use a pallet (old tiles are good) transfer paint to this and load your brush from that.
2: Use the tip of the brush, do not cover it with paint.
3: Always have clean water to rinse your brush (two pots is best one for metallic one for the rest)
4: If you are using one colour for a long period stop every 5 min and clean your brush (the paint is always drying as you paint this builds up)
5: Clean brush well after every use ( at the end of your session use a brush cleaner if you can)
6: Always use an old brush to dry brush (the quickest way to kill a brush is dry brushing)

I use this brush cleaner which you can get from all art suppliers

good supplier of painting bits

It may sound like over kill but when you start buying brushes at £6-7 a go you soon learn to clean and look after them.

Peace James