From the Joy of Painting with Nicholas Hankins, season 3, episode 7. On a for me big sized canvas, because I wanted to use a new 1-inch brush. My first became very sticky and stiff after using it one time (!), no idea what I did wrong, but it kept me away from using it again. Now I did some strokes with a new one and I returned very fast to my usual brushes. I cleaned the 1-inch brush afterwards with gamsol ( a kind of thinner), went to the garden, took an old broomstick and beated the devil out of it. To my surprise the brush was almost dry after that. I have always thought Bob was making a joke with his brush cleaning, but I've seen now: it is effective.
When I started this painting yesterday I had no idea how a redbud tree is looking. I just followed Nic, but I should have done it different if I had taken a look before. On the photo the red is more dominating then I wanted and it in reality is, but I can't change that. I did it on wallpaper of 50 x 40 cm.
Thank you very much Sandy!
Really nice painting Jos. I don’t know what a redbud tree looks like, but your trees are great! Great detail with all the foliage and really like how you keep the dark in. Path pulls it all together. Nice job!
Thank you very much Dan!
Looking really good Jos.
Yes, beating the brushes does help a lot.
I've been using a brush beater rack which I placed in a bin, making sure I got a good size bin. It has a bottom size that is almost touching the rack on all sides, making it a pretty snug fit so the rack does not jump all over the place when beatign a brush on it.
And the bin is pretty deep as well so I don't splatter myself when beating the brush.
You might be able to save the sticky and stiff brush using a brush cleaning agent.
I like using the Liquid Brush Cleaner by AMI. It's a German brand I think but you can get it in the Netherlands. It also dissolves dried oilpaint and it can be rinsed out with the odourless thinner since it is not recommended to clean the BR brushes with water.
I've saved quite a few of my brushes with it and I also use it on brushes that are not yet stiff but are showing signs of filling up with paint. It just gets old paint residue out of the bristles.
Lovely bushes! I also use a beater rack, at the bottom of a bin with a closing lid. Controls both splash and fumes when inside, stored outside.
Thank you so much for your comments Titia and Larry, Titia; sure I will try that cleaner you mentioned and I probably am going to make a beater instrument from a wooden planter with a post in the middle, Bill Alexander was using something like that. Bob said when cleaning his brushes with water, the bristles will becomes like his hair, that was funny to hear!
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Gorgeous! Looks wonderful!