A Warning about Artist's Paint Brushes

I'd like to tell you about a major mistake I made this summer.

I'd a longer than usual summer vacation and decided that it would be a good idea to “properly” tidy away all my painting equipment (for a change!). I usually leave my paint brushes with their tips soaking in a little water as dried acrylic paint will ruin the brushes.

So I carefully cleaned all my brushes and shaped the tips into nice pointed shapes before putting them handle end down in a jar. All properly done and went away on holiday.

I thought it would be better than just leaving them in water - but this was a huge mistake.

Oh NO...

All my brushes, including all my favourites, are not the same. They look alright but when I paint with them they are different. Instead of going to a lovely point they seem to have a mind of their own. They'll be handy for foliage I suppose. :-(

Needless to say I'm really disappointed. However you can learn from my mistake, and I can learn from my mistake too!

A Better Way

Looking back I should have given them a proper clean and left them in some water. I was concerned that the water would dry up before I came back and the brushes would be ruined.

In hindsight it would have been better to put them (and the container I store them in) into a flat air tight box. Some of the boxes for storing food would have worked well for this.

You can get Seconds?

Anyway I've been to buy some more brushes and found that my local art store sold paint brushes that are seconds. Many of the brushes are of excellent quality with a bash in the handle or a couple of the bristles out of alignment.

I bought a couple of brushes to try and they're really good. I've not seen paint brush seconds before but I am delighted with them. However unlike my old favourites I will need to get used to them.

I hope this stops you from making the same mistake with your brushes!