Brushes

[ReNae Stueve]

View www.trekell.com. I've purchased many of these now and they are a great value. The site also has brush care info as many do. I've found that if I don't leave them soaking cause I'm too lazy to clean up right away I'm better off. I use Liquin type mediums at times and this stuff really needs a harsh solvent to get them clean also, so I clean them right away after a session.

As Mike has cautioned against, I also "Push my paint around" in the first few sessions almost as if I was modeling clay, until the likeness appears. But thankfully, I'm finding as I become more confident, I'm employing a wide variety of different brush stokes, with paint on the brush! I get where I'm going much faster these days.

[Matthew Severson]

Is Winsor & Newton a nice brand of brush? I would guess it would be- their oils are certainly satisfactory.

M.S.

[Kimberly Dow]

I clean my brushes out in mineral spirits to get most of the paint out - then wash them in dishwashing soap and water. I rub the soap in with my fingers gently and then rinse til clean. I kind of shape them before the set them down to dry also. I have heard better care, but this works for me when I am short on time.

[Geary Wootten]

Matthew..... et al,

As well as being a picture painter.....I'm an ol' sign painter from "way back" and use the care and cleaning method I was taught in the early 70s. I've got lettering brushes made from squirrel hair to hog hair. Some of them I've used for oil paintings as well. I have several brushes that are 30 years old that I just love. Of course, there have been many I have worn out , too, especially the ones used on brick walls.

All I've ever done was thoroughly clean them by swabbing the brush back and forth in a mineral spirits filled can that has another can (slightly smaller diameter) submerged upside down with holes poked through it to rub the brushes on.

After getting all the paint out of the ferrule I dip the brush in motor oil and keep them lying flat until I wash the oil out to begin a new painting.

-Geary

[Allan Rahbek]

Hi Mathew.

Don

[Michele Rushworth]

I'd be concerned about cleaning my brushes with any substance that I didn't want to have incorporated in the painting later. It might be nearly impossible to wash strange solvents and oils out of brushes, and who knows what those chemicals will do in an oil painting that we want to last a long time? I just use mineral spirits and nothing else.

[Allan Rahbek]

Hi Michele.

I am not sure if you refer to me. But if it is so, then there will be no chemicals left over. Just some water, if you are fast.

Highly relevant, by the way.
Allan

[Ken Smith]

I just finished a fairly large oil painting (on masonite), and toward the end of the painting, I seemed to spend more time fishing errant brush hairs out of the paint than I did painting.

I've read through all/most of the forum brush discussions, but I still have a few questions:

I suppose my brushes wouldn't fall apart if I cleaned them better (I've read the several notes on that), although most of the disintegrating brushes (Utrecht sables) had only been used in this one painting---and they're not completely falling apart--just a hair here and there.

I've read the techniques involving baby oil, shampoo, etc. But here's the question: are you all using a dozen similar size brushes at once for a painting (I read one note that said Marvin Mattleson used 20 in his demos)?

I'm using about four or five different style brushes so consequently, I'm cleaning them a lot (using turpenoid and "the masters" brush soap). Is it the norm to have a lot of similar size brushes with different colors, so that there's only one major clean-up at the end of the day? Or might there be some other critical tip here that I'm missing?

Thanks in advance for the info!

Ken

[Geary Wootten]

Hi Ken,
I see what you're saying. Your "mileage may vary" takes on a whole new meaning with using just a few brushes throughout each painting.

Based on what you've shared.....I'm going to go with the belief that lost hairs are due to a daubing technique. If you're pushing and daubing so hard that the hairs are being bent backward to the ferrule....then it makes sense that you're creating a scissors effect with the motion. Especially with such a hard surface as masonite.

The current natural brushes I'm using are Isabey Mongoose and I LOVE them. Do a google search on them to get a close up view and explanation of the material.

Hang in there, we're pullin for ya!
Geary