Investing in a high-quality paintbrush is a wise decision in painting, and professional artists know this fact. If you can afford to get a quality paintbrush, it will serve you much better than several poor-quality ones. In the least, you will not have to buy a paintbrush every other week. Another important tip is that no encounter lasts forever. So it depends on how you handle them that determines how long they serve you.
In other words, the paintbrush may not be as bad as you thought; it was the artist’s bad habits that probably damaged it. Therefore, this article discusses some of the artists’ standard practices that reduce a paint brush’s lifespan. In many cases, it may even cause permanent damage that necessitates buying a new brushes. Let us begin.
- Waiting to clean your Brush may soon escalate
Knowing the right time to clean your Brush is a skill that every artist should develop. On the other hand, you always take your time before cleaning your Brush when you are done painting which is another issue. Invariably, an artist, especially after a long session, feels too tired. However, thinking of the value of cleaning the paint brushes on time, you can still manage to do that before resting. It is, therefore, essential not to put of resistance to that need.
Furthermore, remember that the longer you delay, the more the paint dries up, which is more difficult to clean. In addition, taking your time indicates that you need to be more thorough to altogether remove every lodging particle from the bristles. They gather at the ferrule and build up over time to wedge the strands apart if you leave them. Over time, your favorite Brush can become a nightmare as it breaks up into pieces that you can no longer use.
How to Replace the habit
There are 2 things to do instead of delaying the process of paintbrush cleaning
- First, develop the habit of washing your paint brushes immediately after use, no matter how tired you are. If you take it seriously, you may save yourself a lot of headaches and loss of investment.
- Consider the time each type of paint takes to dry up and respond accordingly. For instance, oil paint gives you a little space before it dries up, but acrylic paints dry up more quickly. Therefore, after using acrylic paints, you should know you have a shorter time to clean the brushes before the paint dries up. Also, during long painting sessions, you may take regular breaks to rinse your brushes well.
- The risk of soaking your paintbrushes for several hours
Professional artists should understand the involved risk of soaking their paintbrushes for a long time. The need for thorough cleaning makes people tilt more towards this habit, but the truth is that it does more harm than good. Whether you are using mineral oils or water as your cleaning agent, avoid the process of soaking for long before you wash. In other words, keeping water and other solvents away from the paint brush crimp and handles is a good habit.
On the other hand, submerging the brushes erodes any glue holding the brush parts together after use. It may cause the bristles to shed across your canvas in a bad situation. You can dip the Brush in water every now and then but not up to the ferrule. You may also have heard of using hot water. Still, the advice is warm water because the higher temperature may damage the paintbrushes.
Instead, do these
As a replacement for the habit of soaking your brushes for long, take the following steps
- Invest in a brush holder that can help suspend brushes to keep them dry and drained. In addition, it helps to keep the weight of the entire Brush on the bristles, which could otherwise damage the follicles.
- Use warm water to clean your brushes and not warm water
- Keeping the Brushes before they dry up
When you are in a hurry, there are certain things you can do out of impatience. One of such things is hurrying to wash your paintbrush and dump it somewhere without waiting for it to dry. If you pack away your paintbrush without allowing it to dry, there are some involved risks. Water flows into the ferrule if you are fond of hanging such brushess vertically with the bristles up. Over time, the water finds its way to the crimp, causing damage.
On the other hand, the moisture can also gather up very quickly as you store damp brushes in a closed drawer. Such water can allow the brushes to harbor harmful materials. Keeping them where natural air can dry them up is always better.
How to overcome the habit
- Keep your paintbrush flat on a horizontal surface until you are satisfied that the moisture is gone.
- You can also transport the damp brushes before they are dehydrated. Only that you should use plastic cases with perforations that allow air exchange.
- Regular thinning of your paint
When you regularly thin out your paint use, you are tempted to apply much pressure to the Brush. Over time, the brush bristles will change shape at the tip in response to that habit. This habit is common among watercolor artists who prefer to use thin washes to reduce the water flow in the paint. However, they may also encounter difficulty mixing dark colors because they have to rinse the Brush in between.
Moreover, the painting process requires adding more water to the paint each time. And since watercolors can dry up lighter than they appear when wet, there is a need to apply some pressure strokes. The beauty of the process is understanding the best thickness for what you want to achieve in the least number of strokes.
How to overcome this habit
- The solution is to keep the work fresh even after applying washes after painting
- Secondly, allow the paintbrush choice to show your expertise rather than using similar brushes for different purposes.
Conclusion
On a final note, we hope you have learned one or two things that can help you overcome this old lousy habit that harms your paint brushes. More so, working is vital if you hope to achieve your painting dreams, and that is why you need the best paintbrushes. When you acquire them, you must not leave out a good maintenance culture to maximize their values.