Friday, January 16, 2015

Simple Trick worth 1000$


15 cm x 15 cm, Oil

In the first two years I have cleaned my brushes after use with sunflower oil and plenty of kitchen paper. That took me about 10 mins each day. I have stopped that a few months ago. Now I simply keep them in a glass of sunflower oil without prior cleaning. I keep all the brushes i have used that way and never expose them to air (oxygen). The result is not only that i save a lot of time but that the brushes stay in good shape much longer. I can do approximately twice as many paintings before I have to replace a brush. Cleaning means stress, for me and the brushes!

Mathieu, thanks for your comment! I see your point and reply within the post to avoid anyone's brushes being harmed upon the trick. I had the same concern and thought of hanging the brushes into the oil so that the bristles are not affected by the weight of the brush. It turned out it is not a problem for my conventional oil painting brushes (mostly flats and filberts, brand: Boesner by da Vinci). I would definitely avoid to leave soft brushes like sables standing on their weight.

1 comment:

Mathieu Sanches said...

I tried this with linseed oil, but the brushes would get misshaped from resting on the hairs. How do you prevent that from happening? Or don't you have this problem?