How To Clean Your Brushes and Keep Them Like New

I promised a few people that I would re-post this blog so here goes.....

I use a product I found through my lovely plein air teacher, Brigitte Curt. This product is amazing. The best part is that it is ecologically safe and harmless to your brushes. It even gets out dried oil paint in your brushes and clothes. This means I don't have to make all my clothes into paint clothes, ha! I will tell you how to use it on your clothes and dried up brushes that you thought you'd have to throw away at the bottom of this post. But first, let's go through my procedure for regular brush cleaning.

I've also had some of my students tell me that Murphy's Oil Soap works very well and is available in most stores. 

Cover the bottom of a small bucket, can or jar with Brush Flush.

Now, dip your brush into the Brush Flush and get it saturated well.

Usually I've been using the same brushes all week, and I do clean them with mineral spirits, but to get them in good shape you need to remove all of the paint. 

Next, take a leftover kitchen sponge and wipe your brush into it, back and forth. You will be amazed how much paint is still in your brush.

Rinse, and repeat until the brush and suds are paint free. The soap suds will turn white.

Rinse with warm running water.

Then wipe to make sure all the paint is removed. Be gentle with your brush. Alway wipe away from the ferrel. 

Now your brush is clean. It might be stained, but the paint has been removed and your brush will last you! Wipe it dry, gently.

Lie flat on an absorbent surface.

After you have cleaned all your brushes, dip your fingers into the Brush Flush. Now wipe your brush with your fingers, shaping it.

Squeeze the tip, and the hairs will stick together and dry correctly.

Give them a day to dry in a sunny place if your can. If the paint is dry because you forgot to clean it at all, just saturate the brush hairs with the Brush Flush and let is set for a day, dip again, loosen into the soap and let it set again. When the hairs are nice and soft, follow the above directions.

If you have dried paint on your clothes, pour a little Brush Flush into the paint, scrub, and let set. Repeat until the paint loosens up. Then wash as unusual.

PLEASE NOTE

When you are in the middle of a painting and you are cleaning paint from your brushes, take care not to cram you brush into the mineral spirit can. 

BE GENTLE and swipe it back and forth inside the spirit can to remove the paint. NEVER push your brush into the can and never leave it in the can. The MS will dry out your bristles and make them brittle. 

When you take the brush out of the can after a few swipes, sop up the extra moister with your rag or paper towel. One more tip, if you will get into the habit of wiping your dirty brush with a paper towel BEFORE you dip into the can you will save on Mineral Spirits. 

See ya next time.....

Keep Your Brushes Like New!

I use a product I found through my lovely plein air teacher, Brigitte Curt. This product is amazing. The best part is that it is ecologically safe and harmless to your brushes. It even gets out dried oil paint in your brushes and clothes. This means I don't have to make all my clothes into paint clothes, ha! I will tell you how to use it on your clothes and dried up brushes that you thought you'd have to throw away at the bottom of this post. But first, let's go through my procedure for regular brush cleaning.

I have a little bucket that I put a small amount of Brush Flush into.

Now I take my first brush that I've been using all week, just cleaning off between paintings in the odorless mineral spirits. This means it is NOT clean. It is only a little cleaned off from the mineral spirits. Then it usually will sit around until I make time to do the real cleaning.

Now, dip your brush into the Brush Flush and get it saturated well.

Next, take a leftover kitchen sponge and wipe your brush into it, back and forth. You will be amazed how much paint is still in your brush.

Rinse, and repeat until the brush and suds are paint free.

I will put the brush and sponge right under the warm running water to rinse.

Then wipe to make sure all the paint is removed.

Now your brush is clean. It might be stained, but the paint has been removed and your brush will last you! Wipe it dry, gently.

Lie flat on an absorbent surface.

After you have cleaned all your brushes, dip your fingers into the Brush Flush. Now wipe your brush with your fingers, shaping it.

Squeeze the tip, and the hairs will stick together and dry correctly.

Give them a day to dry in a sunny place if your can. If the paint is dry because you forgot to clean it at all, just saturate the brush hairs with the Brush Flush and let is set for a day, dip again, loosen into the soap and let it set again. When the hairs are nice and soft, follow the above directions.

If you have dried paint on your clothes, pour a little Brush Flush into the paint, scrub, and let set. Repeat until the paint loosens up. Then wash as unusual.

I am a Brush Flush distributor and sell it to my students for $12.95 for the 32 oz size. This will last a long time and save your brushes. If you want to order from the company it is $9.95 plus tax and shipping. About the same price in the end.

Happy painting!

Just a Few Tips

By doing a few things different while painting, you can save yourself a lot of trouble and who needs trouble when painting is hard enough?  (It's not that I"m an expert on these matters, but along the way I have learned ways to make my life easier.)

It may seem like a small thing but cleaning brushes correctly is going to save your brushes. This goes for me too! If you want your brushes to last, it's important to take the time to keep them clean and conditioned. There are many ways to go about this, and I'm not saying mine is the best but this is how I do it (with very good results):
When I'm painting in the studio I use my brushes starting with the large ones and moving to the smaller ones. When I clean them, I start with the smaller ones and move to the larger ones. When I'm finished painting, I wipe each brush and squeeze out the paint with a paper towel. Then I dip it into the mineral spirits. The first dip (and this goes for during painting also), doesn't touch the bottom of the can. It will get the brush wet enough to get more paint out of it with another squeeze of the paper towel. The next dip is the swish into the tray inside the spirit can. Try to  gently wipe the brush back and forth inside the can to remove the paint. Wipe again with a paper towel. Do this one more time. Now dry the brush with the towel as much as you can to get the mineral spirits off. Mineral spirits, when left in the brush will dry the brush and make it brittle. After a brush gets brittle, the hair will break, and you will be buying another new brush before you know it. If you are going to clean your brushes with soap when you get home, you can put them away. If you are not going to get to it, take another step before you pack up. Invest in some walnut (or other)  oil and dip your brush into it, wipe again with your paper towel. As you wipe shape it and put it away. This will keep your brushes conditioned until you can soap them. When you use soap, use a gentle soap. http://www.brushflush.com/
I use brush flush. It will get paint out of anything and everything, even dried paint. It is very important that you don't let the paint dry in your brush. When cleaning with the soap, dip it into the soap and a little water, suds it up in your (gloved) hand, rinse. Repeat this until there is no more color coming out in the rinse water. Now wipe a little bit of the clean suds onto the bristles, shape with your fingers and lay flat to dry.

I am always trying to find ways to keep my mineral spirits clean while I'm painting. This in turn will keep my painting clean because my paint will stay cleaner. Also, if my mineral spirits aren't too mucked up, my brush will be cleaner and I can paint a brush stroke with clean color.
So let's say I've been painting in my studio, as I'm painting I wipe my brush after every brushstroke or two with my paper towels. I use as many paper towels as I need in order to keep the paint from getting all over everything. It is well worth going through a bunch of paper towels in order to get good results. It does you no good whatsoever to continue to try to use a paper towel if it is covered with paint! So, don't hesitate to throw away your paper towel, even if it is not half way used. You won't be sorry and your paint won't be all over you and your hands. (And everything else!)

It is also very important to keep your palette clean. After I've laid in my painting, I clean my palette. Scrape it with your palette knife, save your piles so you can use them in your painting, and wipe it down. If you need to you can dip your paper towel into your mineral spirits and wipe. A baby wipe works well to, but be careful because it may leave a little residue on your palette. Now you are ready to continue painting. This will save you considerable greif! Repeat as many times as you need. At the end of a session, use your razor blade scraper and scrape down your palette. I move my piles of paint at this point, into a clean area, clean underneath the area where the paint sits, and them put the paint back in it's place. I am now ready for my next session with clean juicy paint (and brushes). Put a lid on your palette. If you don't have a lid, wrap it with saran wrap, tightly. When you get home, put it in your freezer. It will last longer and be fresh the next day.

Photos from July in Paris. Isn't she beautiful? Tomorrow I'm driving to the Bay Area again for my Plein Air class with Brigitte Curt.  http://www.classart.org/  I'm hoping for a good painting day, and I'm beginning to feel like maybe I can really be an artist some day!