Cleaning Your Paint Brushes After an Oil Painting Project

An artist’s most valuable tools are his or her brushes, and to keep a paintbrush lasting as long as possible it’s important to get all the paint out of the bristles after painting. (It also helps to buy good artist paintbrushes to begin with.)

photo credits: instructables.com

Here are some processes to consider when cleaning your very own paint brushes.

1. First get some paint thinner, turpentine, or mineral spirits—ideally you should already have some on hand to mix with linseed stand oil for painter’s medium. Pour a little bit of the thinner into a small container which you can seal up afterward; you’ll be able to use the same amount of thinner for a long time.


2. You’re also going to need some liquid soap— you can use regular hand soap for this but if you have a brush cleaning agent you can trust, you can use it as well; either way, these cleaning products work well. The only advantage of using a brush cleaner is that you get to have added bristle conditioners mixed in, so it may prolong the life of your brushes better than regular hand soap.


3. Of course, you won’t need the brush cleaner or soap until you get all the excess paint out of your brushes. Here’s where a little finger strength comes in handy. Take your brush with one hand and a piece of newspaper with the other, wrapping the newspaper around the metal part of the brush.


4. Then, just squeeze as tightly as possible, starting right at the base of the bristles, while pulling the brush back through your fingers. Get as much paint as you can out of the brush.


5. Go ahead and do it a few times, and especially try to remove all the paint that’s stuck close to the ferrule (the metal part of the brush.)


6. You should end up with splotches of paint all over your newspaper and a lot less of the paint left in your brush.


7. Next, take your brush over to the small container of paint thinner and dip it in, scrubbing across the bottom of the container to loosen more paint.


8. Repeat the squeezing technique with more newspaper, but be warned that it can get a little messier this time around since your brush will have picked up a lot of the liquid thinner. You should see a quite a bit more color flowing out of the bristles however.


9. Once you’ve squeezed out the thinner a few times your paintbrush will probably have a little more of its original color back, but there’ll still be a paint stain left from the oils.


10. To finish cleaning the brush, pump some liquid soap into the palm of one hand and hold the paintbrush with your other.


11. Scrub the brush back and forth across your palm, letting the soap penetrate the bristles to pull out more oil pigment. When the soap gets too contaminated by the paint, rinse both your hand and the brush with water, then get more soap and begin scrubbing again.


12. Repeat the process until the soap doesn’t change color in your palm, proving that there’s no more oil paint stuck in the brush. (NOTE: If you’re concerned about possible absorption of Cadmium into your skin during this stage, feel free to use disposable gloves.)


13. Rinse out all the soap and use your newspaper one last time to get most of the water out of the bristles.


14. It’s important to clean your brushes immediately after you finish painting, even when you’re tempted to let them sit for a day or two. Letting them soak in paint thinner isn’t a good alternative either; it will just weaken the glue holding the bristles in place.

Although it may seem like a lot of effort, good care and cleaning of your brushes will help them last longer and stay functional throughout their lifespan—keeping you from the frustration of using worn out tools, and ultimately saving you money.

- The Oppidan Escape

The Many Types of Easels and Selecting the Best for You

photo credit: ebay.in

Easels are used to hold or display finished or unfinished artwork, either horizontal or vertical position. Some of these are smaller in size for ease in transport to different locations. Easels range in size, weight, material, shape and complexity.

Make your painting experience easier and comfortable by finding the right type of table top easel and by following these selection tips.

TYPES OF EASEL

• A-Frame Easels – an A shape or triangular easel, has 3 legs. The single leg at the back can allow placement in tight spaces or corners. Also called as lyre easel. There are also various models of lyre easels that differ in the type wood, width, length and flexibility.
• H- Frame Easels – an H shaped easel, sturdy and can hold 100 inch canvas. Usually created with handy paint trays for storage of art supplies. Most of these frames can be tilted or slant forward and backward.
• Giant Easels – specially designed for artist on a large scale. These easels can hold or support a canvas with the length of 244 centimeters or more. These are also fully adjustable to suit the need of the artist.
• Convertible Easels – are also called “hybrid easel”. These can be converted into a table for pastel artist and upright easel for acrylic and oil painters. These provide maximum flexibility and also available with cupboards to hold extra papers or canvas.
• Single Mast Easel – usually used by beginners, affordable and simple. These are also available in different type of wood used, material and sizes. Most of these can be easily stored and are collapsible.
• Table Top Easel – these are usually used by small scale artists. These are compact, portable and affordable. These are also available in various models.
• Portable Easel – are also called “French easel”. These are outdoor designed, usually used by the artist that often transfer locations from one place to another. Other models of this easel have built in drawers and self.
• Bench Easel – are easel with bench, also used by outdoor artist. There are models of this easel that has wheels for easier transport.
• Display Easel – primarily used for display of finished art products.
• Pochade Boxes – are compact boxes, which allows the artist to store art supplies in one place and work on another. Allows artist to work on 12 inch canvas.
• Children’s Easel – are adjustable to grow along with your child. Available with two sides, allowing both child work on their art at the same time.

SELECTION TIPS

Selecting easels are easy but you need to find the right one in order to address your painting needs. Sometimes, the one that you buy seems to be the right one but later on, you found out that the features are not the one suited for you.

• Easels made of wood can fold flat but aren't that accommodating. Aluminum ones aren't that reliable when it comes to folding.
• When it comes to weight, the heavier it is, the more stable it becomes.
• Those with rubber feet are better.
• In relation to canvas and boards, the comfortable size maximum is 2.5 times the easel’s width.
• Easels are can be both cheap and expensive. There are those that only costs $10 and below.

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