I'd be concerned about cleaning my brushes with any substance that I didn't want to have incorporated in the painting later. It might be nearly impossible to wash strange solvents and oils out of brushes, and who knows what those chemicals will do in an oil painting that we want to last a long time? I just use mineral spirits and nothing else.

Hi Michele.

I am not sure if you refer to me. But if it is so, then there will be no chemicals left over. Just some water, if you are fast.

Highly relevant, by the way.
Allan

Matthew,

I have found that I am extremely hard on my brushes.

The Trekell Hog Bristle's spread out really quick for me.

I wear my sables down to a stub and I can actually hurt a Ruby Satin synthetic too.

My favorites are the Winsor & Newton Monarch Mongoose, here is a link: Monarch Mongoose

These are synthetic too, and tend to be a little softer than the ones mentioned above, but they really hold there shape the best for me.

See you are not alone - I have actually used a pair of hair stylist scissors to trim brushes back to shape.

I know there are tons of suggestions on the care of brushes here. One piece of advise I can give you - if you are mixing the color you need with your brush vs a knife, this can really do them in. Get a good, to a point shape palette knife for this, your brushes will love you.

More brush questions
 

I just finished a fairly large oil painting (on masonite), and toward the end of the painting, I seemed to spend more time fishing errant brush hairs out of the paint than I did painting.

I've read through all/most of the forum brush discussions, but I still have a few questions:

I suppose my brushes wouldn't fall apart if I cleaned them better (I've read the several notes on that), although most of the disintegrating brushes (Utrecht sables) had only been used in this one painting---and they're not completely falling apart--just a hair here and there.

I've read the techniques involving baby oil, shampoo, etc. But here's the question: are you all using a dozen similar size brushes at once for a painting (I read one note that said Marvin Mattleson used 20 in his demos)?

I'm using about four or five different style brushes so consequently, I'm cleaning them a lot (using turpenoid and "the masters" brush soap). Is it the norm to have a lot of similar size brushes with different colors, so that there's only one major clean-up at the end of the day? Or might there be some other critical tip here that I'm missing?

Thanks in advance for the info!

Ken

Hi Ken,
I see what you're saying. Your "mileage may vary" takes on a whole new meaning with using just a few brushes throughout each painting.

Based on what you've shared.....I'm going to go with the belief that lost hairs are due to a daubing technique. If you're pushing and daubing so hard that the hairs are being bent backward to the ferrule....then it makes sense that you're creating a scissors effect with the motion. Especially with such a hard surface as masonite.

The current natural brushes I'm using are Isabey Mongoose and I LOVE them. Do a google search on them to get a close up view and explanation of the material.

Hang in there, we're pullin for ya!
Geary