“Your water pot should never have any brushes sitting in it.”
This great advice came to me from a painting teacher I respect and it took a while to get out of the habit of using the water pot like I always had before. But it is such a good rule that now I give the same advice. The practice is easier to do if you are a watercolour painter, more difficult if you are trying to keep acrylic paint from drying in your bristles.
The most important thing I can think of when it comes to watercolour and acrylic brushes is to never (really, never) let go of your brush in the water pot. You should get away from the idea that it is a place to put your brush. It is not. It is a place to rinse your brush and pick up water, and then if you wish to let go of your brush you should lay it on the table or your palette. An old facecloth works well to protect the table. (I actually use two water pots, one for rinsing dirty brushes and one for clean water to pick up and mix with the paint.)
Ruining a nice point-
It takes just 5 seconds to ruin the point of a round brush and natural hair, the most expensive kind, is the easiest to ruin. Letting it sit on its point curls the tip to one side and in my experience it takes a lot of re-forming with your fingers, over and over again, and it usually will never be right again.
A curved tip on a round brush is aggravating. It is very hard to control because you are either trying to paint up to an edge with a curved-under hook that then flips up and changes position or with the middle of the hairs because the tip is curved up in the air.
UPDATE:
I have been advised by one of our brush makers that you can often re-shape brush hair with a blow dryer.
Cracking paint on the handle-
My springy synthetic flats don’t seem to be affected in the bristles but the handles are just painted wood and sitting in the water can cause the wood to swell and the paint to crack and then flake off. This cracking handle can happen in just a few minutes n the water. So it is a good idea to treat your brushes well and not let any of them sit in the water.
A natural quill can rot-
Natural quill brushes, a squirrel mop for example, are all susceptible to the quill rotting if it is left in the water. A quill is a natural material, the base of a large feather that is split and used as a ferrule. There are brushes made with synthetic quill, these will not be as vulnerable to rotting in water. But if you never let go of your brush in the water pot you will never have to worry about this.
Since we learned as children to store our brushes in the water pot it is a lifetime habit to break. But you will find it is worth the effort. Your brushes will last a long time if you look after them.
7 thoughts on “Watercolour and acrylic brush care – Rule no. 1”
For acrylic painting, apart from the
problem of turned points on small
rounds, in my view leaving the
brushes in water until thorough
clean-up time at the end of the day
is overall the best strategy. The
most important problem to avoid with
acrylics is the paint drying in the
bristles. This happens very quickly
if the brush is left out of the
water. My brushes have remained
virtually perfect since adopting this
strategy for all but the smallest
round brushes.
Hi Meg
It sounds like you have found a system that works for you!
Turned points is a big problem for many brushes, but leaving them in water will also cause the varnish to crack and peel off and can soften the glue in the ferrule.
I have had some brush handles crack and split after just 15 minutes in water.
The method an artist uses for preventing acrylic paint drying in the bristles might also depend on how they use the brushes – thick like oil or thin like watercolour. Thinner usage allows a rinse where thick paint will require a more thorough cleaning before being left out of the water.
Wow I have been searching for a curved tip brush but not
available anywhere, guess I will have to torture one of my
watercolour brushes.
I am a total beginner and wasn’t sure if I
could use my watercolour brushes I
don’t know what the hair of the brush is.
How can I find out please
Hi Julian
Many brushes say what they are made of on the handle, especially sable brushes.
If it isn’t printed there, then maybe the brand is printed and a name for the brush. An internet search for the brand and name will tell you if it is an animal hair or a synthetic hair used.
If nothing is printed on the handle then it usually means it is an inexpensive unbranded brush, though some of these are fine brushes.
You can sometimes tell something about the fibres used by bending the hairs and then letting go – stiffer, springier hairs are often synthetic. Synthetic fibres are also often shiny.
What is your concern about using the brushes for watercolour?
Apologies for coming so late to the party. My
own solution for the dichotomy between
constantly interrupting work with acrylic to
wash my synthetic brushes or having them
go rigid isn’t perfect but helps.
I use the stainless steel brush pot for oils
with a spring across the top but containing
water and suspend used brushes -not
covering the ferrule and making sure the
bristles don’t touch the base- until I have
time to clean up properly. This seems to
work at preventing distortion and ruining the
handles as long as you don’t leave them for
hours. ( I use lots of glazes and the media I
use seems to dry into brushes very fast.)
Not a perfect solution for very long or big
brushes as they won’t fit but it reduces on
interruptions and works for me so I thought I
would pass it on.
What a great idea! Thanks for sharing!
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