I’ve never tried this method, but am intrigued. I wipe my brushes with paper towel and clean in solvent. If I’ve missed a brush that then has gotten hard or ruined bc it dried with oil paint or whatever, I just dip it in a cup of a Murphy s Oil soap without any water for a day or two, then rinse and they’re as good as new. I’ve saved many of my brushes this way over the years.
The best system I have found is to wipe them with a towel, swish in a container if sunflower oil with a wire screen, wipe and then store in a paint roller pan on it side with sunflower oil. Never had an issue. Then just wipe before you use,
I just stand my brushes in water, make sure the oil paint is well worked into the brush stock first. Just wipe them off in a rag when you want them. They will stay soft for many months even longer. Oil paint needs air to dry, no air underwater.
Sounds good, but I hope you’re not standing them on the hairs but rather are suspending them in water? As a side note, when I was into printmaking I learned to preserve the (oil) printing ink in cans by filling the can with water. Just tip it out when ready to use.
@@ruudratajczak2240 so many people comment with good intentions, and then I see a comment like yours refuting it. It is kind of tiring to not know what's best.
2 года назад+1
Thank you for your advice, I will try to learn about that 😊
When I am painting ,always before to change of color, clean in solvent, tottally remove the last color in right time. I `ve brushes from 8 years ago and still continues to paint with them, and are perfect.
Thanks, Mark. Unrelated, can I paint one day, and continue the next? I've always heard you have to let the paint dry to the touch to continue (for me usually takes a few days). Is this true? What happens if you continue on a not totally dry canvas?
That is a common technique, referred to as wet on wet painting or Plein air painting. Some artists prefer to produce complete paintings before any of it dries. You just have to learn how to apply the paint overtop of wet paint. The general rule is a thinner paint will more easily stick to a thicker paint. The easiest way to understand the technique is to watch some Bob Ross videos. There are many many other examples of wet on wet painters which should also be considered, but Bob Ross made it very accessible to the everyday beginner and easy to understand. Many Wet on wet painters go about it much differently and use more standard/common brushes, whereas Bob Ross only used a handful of brushes including large 1 inch and 2 inch brushes, which may not be the way that you actually want to go about painting. But, his instruction is easy to understand and grasp. Then you can move on and expand your horizons. It worked for me… I believe that Mark Carder of this channel often paints wet on wet so I’m sure his tutorials will also be useful. I also like a channel called Walcott Fine Art. He paints wet on wet and has a unique style which I enjoy to watch. He also likes to teach about pigments and colors of all varieties, which has been extremely valuable to me as I have learned to oil paint. There’s a lot of great content here on RUclips… Now, as far as continuing on with a painting that is partially dry and partially wet, well that creates another set of challenges but anything can be done if you practice it and gain experience. Best of luck.
I thoght he is soft in the head at first. You dont clean your brushes, oil paint dries hard, you have to buy new ones. Period. No way to remove dried oil paint. It's durable for a reason. The only way this works is you buy brushes in bulk quantites and throw them out every time. A half decent brush would be about $4 each considering some sort of bulk discount. Then i figure, he means not to clean the brush off while you are working. Yes this makes sense. To a certain extent. If you think you can soak a brush thoroughly in dioxazine purple and then dip the same brush directly in cad yellow, and you'll get a beautiful yellow out of it... best of luck.
I just dip them in linseed oil, dry them with paper towel and leave them for the next day. It has been working for me, better than cleaning with turpentine. turp made me lose many brushes. Might try this brush dip recipe.
Great advice especially for those of us with allergies . . . I don´t like using solvents either. Oil is such a w o n d e r f u l invention of nature. There are also oils which n e v e r dry (like peanut oil) this all should prevent every beloved brush from hardening. . . .
When ships were made of wood, I was thinking of being a sign-writer. I was taught to get Vaseline and work it into the ferrul of a new brush before it's ever been used. Then no paint can get down there. Sign-writing brush hairs are very long and need to flex for long clean lines. Sign-writers don't use dirty brushes. Different art form.
Even more interesting than the info in the video itself are the comments on this one. This is one of those topics that have less to do with art, personal expression and techniques, but very much with personal habits and traits in general. There are so many ways to clean your brushes (and make no mistake: even what Mark describes here is a way of cleaning them, despite the title to the contrary). Just use what works for you, what fits your way of doing things. If cleaning up after work is part of your routine in general whatever you do, cleaning brushes will not feel like a waste of time. If you feel like it, experiment with other methods. I myself use different methods for different brush types, sizes and shapes and depending on if I expect to use the same brush the next day or probably not.
If I watched this 10 or 20 years ago I would have disagreed with this but the last few years Ive learned so much about desaturating colours that this makes perfect sense. thanks for the tip
Sometimes I think I cleaned my brush enough and go for a hard stroke only to get a few streaks of nasty color that were deep in my brush. I feel like the paper towel trick is for a light hand. I may be a novice but this doesn’t always work for me because I press hard when I go for a block in or whatever I’m doing really
I was thinking "but what about the artists that really scrub the paint into the canvas?" during the entire video. That's how I do my first layer and it really brings out all the paint that's hiding between the bristles. The tiniest bit of residual paint can ruin your color and value...
@@RamoArt Yeah I like to tone my canvas too and I usually want the colour to be pure. any residue of old paint would taint it. Also depends how you paint. I find the less you mix in medium, the easier it is to avoid colours getting dirt. I'm thinking if you usually tone the canvas with same colours you could again keep a large brush just for that. Or always wash that one, keep others dirty.
Well. I might say that be Very careful for paint drying in the brushes. Keep em dirty wet all you want but if they dry. You will never get it back. Even if you clean it. It will open its hairs due to paint shoved under the metal so i would advice two things!! Never use the whole brush hairs leave a space at the start of the hairs where is pressed by the metal case. You dont want paint there. It will dry and force hairs to open. Thinner wont get in there enough. I got old flax seed drys fast and cant leave paint for more than 2 days. My set up its not good but its what i have now.
SO YOU DIDNT WATCH THE WHOLE VIDEO DID YOU???!!!! HE EXPLAINS THE IMIPORTANCE OF USING BRUSH DIP WEEKLY TO KEEP YOUR BRUSHES FROM DRYING OUT. *EYE ROLL*
I no longer clean my brush ever since I saw one of your videos similar to this. Clearly my brushes last longer with no cleaning method. I can only think of the benefits and no disadvantages. One dip into safflower oil and it lasts for about a month in my case.
I still have my signwriting quills for 35 years...Use them for oil gold sizing too...Always cleaned in white spirit , spun by hand and then petroleum jelly (Vaseline) to keep the shape......Worked for 35 years...Signwriting quills are pretty expensive and there are ways to make them last a life time...
Thank you for all your comments, you are my favorite contemporary artist. But I have a question for you...When you are mixing the paint it gets all the way to the ferrule part of the brush sometimes, how do you clean that part without using turpenoid?
My counter point would be... good luck on trying to get rid of phtalo blue with a paper towel well enough to not green your yellow. It is jsut faster to "wash it " in some solvent.
@@paintingsbypenelope Yeah, it depends on the case. How small or big our brushes are, the strength of each pigment, the mediums ( If they're fast drying like liquin ). In general, there is not a single perfect recipe for everything.
Crap advice. Brushes can be cleand with sunfloweroil if you want to protect the hair from solvant. No need for the expensive product you are trying to sell here. Soap and water is also not bad. It works just fine keeping all sorts of brushes top shape!
Love it, thank you. I’m a bit of a novice; what are your thoughts on wrapping the brush head loosely in cling film to prevent drying? This may be artistic blasphemy, but decorators use this method to prevent brushes drying out.
I was thinking that just laying them out and putting plastic wrap over top would be enough. Or a piece of wax paper on the bottom and a piece on the top.
I do never use to clean my brush “Just manipulate the colour”, I leave my brushes in oil and wipe the brush on a rag in one direction, I always painted with the results being of the mother of pearl look This has a muddy looking out come, But then with the use of clean brush and colours as over paint I achieve my oil paintings for I like painting from my imagination.
I enjoy your color mixing clips, but I feel this is bad advice. Paint trapped or that had reached the brush ferrule will destroy any brush. Even in a 8 to 10 hour painting sessions colors like ultra marine blue, cobalt blue and burnt umber has a tendency to setup fast. After a painting session it is essential to get paint out of the brush especially it’s ferrule. After a painting session a good brush cleaning regime should take a person less than a min per brush and end with a dip in brush conditioner/ restorer to reshape the brush. I have 20 year old bristle brushes that are still good.
I just want to be able to tuck away my brushes without worrying about tipping anything over/spilling, or having to come back to them on some set schedule, for ease of mind. So I'd rather clean them since it only takes 2min (thanks to those silicone makeup brush scrubbing bowls). If i painted more often i prob wouldn't clean them everytime
It's interesting to observe the different techniques used n the United States. In Europe, we use solvents and specialized art cleaners, and linseed oil is even banned by law in some countries. Its excesive rigid follow any "how to paint bible" but its always helpfull check other aproachs.
Very informative video on a technique I've never heard of before. Thank you. An artist once recommended cleaning brushes in 'Baby Oil' ( which is a petroleum derivative). I found that it cleans brushes really well but I've always wondered if traces of the Baby Oil might interact badly with the oil paints. The brush dip sounds like a good alternative when I know that I won't be able to paint for a week or two. (NB: Baby Oil, in Australia, is a very light oil that can be used on the body... makeup removal, 'moisturising', massaging etc. I don't know if it has the same name in other countries; it may sound a little weird without context.)
I worked with an old-time sign painter and he would use Motor Oil at then end of the day. I adapted this to baby oil, but any non-drying oil should work fine. I do tend to clean with solvent first, and use the baby oil to prevent any oil paint from ever drying in the brush.
Do you have a video for brand new oil painting artists? I started with watercolor , then went to acrylic which i settled into nicely. I have been doing it for 2-3 years now. However, I have zero experience with oil painting. I would like to give it a try. I don’t know where to start though. The most part if the chemicals needed to clean or add liquid to the brush and paint the way you would with water using acrylic. So, tools, and then technique. I know that the oil doesn’t dry as fast as acrylic so it needs to be blended and used differently. Do you have a video for oil painting beginners? If not can someone recommend a good channel for me for beginners? Thank you
so - not to clean the brushes until they look new, after each use? I honestly did it until now and IT DID get the fun out of using oils for me, I enjoy it, but the upkeep was very annoying. I used to paint daily. with this knowledge, I will change things with my workflow for sure. thank you for sharing and wish you (all) a great week :)
It’s just that you have to have a turpentine to break up heavy chunks of monthly non-use. Sometimes brushes get that chunk that a paper towel just can’t break up. Hidden within the forest is the stone.
I still don't get how to mix clean colors. If i want to paint white clouds and i have red/orange in my brush, it'll look awful. I feel like I need to wipe with paper towel forever and use gamsol. then when i'm done, i still need to clean my brushes or else they will get hard
Truly terrible advice. First thing I have to do when teaching is getting students to clean and respect their brushes. Most of their brushes are in such a state they will not perform.
what i do is; each session, i clean superfluously with spirits. whenever i have to stop painting for a week or two, i clean both with spirits and then baby oil deeply.
I clean my brushes with a nice oily soap - hog hair at least weekly, sable after every session. Some are now thirty years old - bristles a little shorter than they used to be, perhaps, but all still holding their shape and in excellent condition. Pretty sure that wouldn't be the case if the ferrels were all clogged with ancient oil paint.
@@sandiegriffiths1469 Hi. The problem is that it will dry. If given enough time, oil paint (and medium, incl safflower oil) doesn't require air in order to stiffen and eventually dry, so unless regular removed the stuff up by/in the ferrule will sooner or later start to misbehave, steadily wrecking the shape, springiness, capacity, etc, of the brush. Carefully washing them isn't the most exciting job in the world, but I'm not going to try fixing something that ain't bust at the risk of ruining my lovely (and expensive) brushes. Mine last until they're worn too short to use - which takes years and years.
I’ve finally gotten the studio built- now I’m searching for the video (I think I remember you having on lighting) - I’ve got to have installed electric and lighting, then walls. Building is 10 x 20 and 8ft ceiling.
Be careful what lights you buy. The CRI of LEDs is abysmal. If you can afford a fluorescent setup, that's the way to go. Otherwise you won't get any of your warm colors right (some led are 95 cri but even that is not as good as fluorescent)
i just bought a goat brush... never had one before and i didnt even used it yet but it smells like wet dirty dog. the smell was so bag i had to put in a box after trying desperately washing with soap :(
I generally agree with you on most things, but if you're a person who can't paint regularly or switch mediums often, you need to clean your brushes. If you're using a longer drying paint and painting daily, then I might agree. However, that doesn't fit all situations. But as usual, I still enjoy your videos!
I've been using this process for about 3 years. I've gone almost a year without painting and I just needed to re-dip from time to time. Not only is it a massive time saving, but it also encourages me to be less lazy about using the right brush for the job. I'm more prone to use any brush I want since I don't need to bother cleaning it. (I'm busy, so every little brush is a few minutes I'd rather not spend cleaning.) I keep about 25 brushes oiled and ready to go. Sometimes I paint daily, sometimes not for several months. Just dip from time to time and that's it. I use Mark Carder's slow-dry medium recipes and various other mediums, no problems with any of them.
Alternative: I have a cup of walnut oil I keep all my brushes in. I haven’t painted in weeks, and just picked up a brush still “wet” and ready to go with the paint it had on it. A couple passes in a paper towel and it’s good as new
To keep my paintbrushes supple for a long time, I use plastic bags or aluminum foil. I also use a cotton swab to blend the color without getting in with the brush.
I hear that ... I just wipe em' off and I'm done ... just buy a ton of cheap brushes, and use them til they get too hard... throw them out, or just use them to stir mediums or something. I don't understand artists who spend a lot on 'fancy' brushes.
I don’t know about this. I use liguin and Galkyd drying compounds to speed the oil painting process. Cleaning brushes makes the painting process more streamlined, at least to me.
A lot of advice on the internet, and in books, directly conflicts. Virgil Elliott and George O'Hanlon tell us to avoid clove oil, and have, at the least, doubts about safflower oil - yet you're recommending dipping brushes into a mix of the two.... I tend to agree with them rather than with you, and also with Rella Ingram: if you're not painting all the time - I still think you need to clean your brushes, because if you don't they'll harden and turn into a useless tool; whereas if you soak them in the mix you suggest, even drying them out by pulling through a paper towel afterwards, you're introducing mediums to the paint which will at the least cause it to take an age to dry. Now - you're a paint-maker and an artist with long experience, so I have to grant you know what you're talking about - but while I'm not a paint-maker, I've been an artist for some 50 years, and I would not use these methods. So we're going to disagree, which is fine - but I should be interested in your observations.
Safflower oil is ok. Most manufacturers are using it regularly for some colours, along with linseed. I'm not sure about clove oil, though.. I agree that from time to time cleaning with soap and water is necessary, but not everyday, especially if we're painting on a frequent basis. Personally, I'm using different methods, depending on the brushes and the mediums ( how big, synthetic or natural, mediums like liquin etc .) Common linseed oil is ok for cleaning ,along with paper towels. At the end of a session some further cleaning with a bit of solvent , then a tiny amount of oil and that's it! Every 4 or 5 days I'm cleaning with soap and water, though. I don't want my brushes to get sticky..
If you use so much black in your painting no wonder the colors lose intensity. It does not solve your problem by using one brush only for black, it is likely you use too much black.
That's interesting. One thing I do when changing colours and want some purity is pull the brush through a paper towel and then dip it into a little bit of the new colour, work it in a bit and then pull it through the towel again.
@Sergej Grigorjev I would love to switch from acrylic to oil paint but I'm just afraid since my studio is in the basement without any ventilation. This is helpful thanks.
Hi Mark, i know you since years and even once won the monthly painting you choose one of my paintings to be the best this month and since i know you and i bought the dvd years ago, its the only way i want to paint and its the only paintings i want to see, like rembrant or singer seargent, and your students paint awesome paintings and i even bought just simple saffloweroil from the supermarket and keep my brushes wet, and for sure you tell the people always the best and effective way to do something in oilpainting, and when i see this video i even dream of a room, my paintings on the wall and brushes everywhere and the desks, my kitchen nearly looks like this and i love it, and i want to say that brushes are really cheap in some stores and buying brushes is a lot of fun too and im pretty sure, if you are an artist you cannot have enuf brushes, so i write this kinda bring people to smile maybe when they see how much i love painting since i met you and maybe even give a shit if my brush dries, coz even me who has really no money, i spent the little money i have for new brushes XD gl to all and youre channel and youre family and all people who manage to run away from any war others start
Hi, I am so happy to be receiving your video once again. Thank you andI hope you will kindly continue to do so. It was quite some time since I received the last one and I missed them a lot. This came as a wonderful surprise. Wish you and your family the best. Tülün Harmankaya
Fantastic advice from you. Thank you very much. I used to clean brushes while doing painting and always whished to be a better way to do that. And your tip is brilliant. It is clicked
I just have several brushes carrying residual oils of all the colours. Yellowish brush, blueish brush, redish brush. One for whites. Im no pro, I just am lazy and didnt want to waste time cleaning brushes when im hopping around from one piece to another.
This is sxactly why I am PAINTING: To a v o i d any labor/work, or - as my beloved art-comrade Francis Bacon once said: "Work is just something for folks who CAN´T PAINT!" 😁
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I have been using your brush dip for years and love it! I recommend it on my channel all the time. The best!
Love to see you here coach ❤️
Nice to see you here paint coach! Lol you’re my RUclips coach and it’s exciting to see you here!
I originally saw the dip on your channel reference. Works & smells great.
Because you recommended it, it’s what I do now, too. What a game changer. Thanks Paint Coach.
Hey paint coach. You da man!
I’ve never tried this method, but am intrigued. I wipe my brushes with paper towel and clean in solvent. If I’ve missed a brush that then has gotten hard or ruined bc it dried with oil paint or whatever, I just dip it in a cup of a Murphy s Oil soap without any water for a day or two, then rinse and they’re as good as new. I’ve saved many of my brushes this way over the years.
Thank you Mark for all the important information I always take your advice to heart. Love your oil paints!
Yeah, your system works for you .
I don’t like having to consider what colour is on my brush before I mix a colour.
You and Stefan Baumann are my favorite Chanels on RUclips!
The best system I have found is to wipe them with a towel, swish in a container if sunflower oil with a wire screen, wipe and then store in a paint roller pan on it side with sunflower oil. Never had an issue. Then just wipe before you use,
I just stand my brushes in water, make sure the oil paint is well worked into the brush stock first. Just wipe them off in a rag when you want them. They will stay soft for many months even longer. Oil paint needs air to dry, no air underwater.
Sounds good, but I hope you’re not standing them on the hairs but rather are suspending them in water? As a side note, when I was into printmaking I learned to preserve the (oil) printing ink in cans by filling the can with water. Just tip it out when ready to use.
if you put your expensive natural brushes in water,those bristles will never get back into shape...i"m not talking about pig bristles.
@@ruudratajczak2240 so many people comment with good intentions, and then I see a comment like yours refuting it. It is kind of tiring to not know what's best.
Thank you for your advice, I will try to learn about that 😊
When I am painting ,always before to change of color, clean in solvent, tottally remove the last color in right time. I `ve brushes from 8 years ago and still continues to paint with them, and are perfect.
Yes. But some folks are allergic against solvents !
@@AL_THOMAS_777 let's not forget solvents may cause harm in the long term if conditions are not secure(good ventilation, mask, gloves, etc)
As always the very best of advice and lots of inspiration 🎶🌷🎵🙏
Where ya been? Thank for the tip!
Thank you so much!
Very helpful!
so after panting just dip the brush in the for example linseed oil and thats just prevent oil to dry on the brush?
need the clove oil
Thanks, I needed that!
I use white cleaned fuel. It includes natural oil. Highly recomended.
Explosives in my Atelier 🤔
Thank you because I’m very lazy
Omg, who knew... awesome
BRAVO!!!
great.. thanks
Thanks, Mark. Unrelated, can I paint one day, and continue the next? I've always heard you have to let the paint dry to the touch to continue (for me usually takes a few days). Is this true? What happens if you continue on a not totally dry canvas?
That is a common technique, referred to as wet on wet painting or Plein air painting. Some artists prefer to produce complete paintings before any of it dries. You just have to learn how to apply the paint overtop of wet paint. The general rule is a thinner paint will more easily stick to a thicker paint. The easiest way to understand the technique is to watch some Bob Ross videos. There are many many other examples of wet on wet painters which should also be considered, but Bob Ross made it very accessible to the everyday beginner and easy to understand. Many Wet on wet painters go about it much differently and use more standard/common brushes, whereas Bob Ross only used a handful of brushes including large 1 inch and 2 inch brushes, which may not be the way that you actually want to go about painting. But, his instruction is easy to understand and grasp. Then you can move on and expand your horizons. It worked for me… I believe that Mark Carder of this channel often paints wet on wet so I’m sure his tutorials will also be useful. I also like a channel called Walcott Fine Art. He paints wet on wet and has a unique style which I enjoy to watch. He also likes to teach about pigments and colors of all varieties, which has been extremely valuable to me as I have learned to oil paint. There’s a lot of great content here on RUclips… Now, as far as continuing on with a painting that is partially dry and partially wet, well that creates another set of challenges but anything can be done if you practice it and gain experience. Best of luck.
@@82camino96 Yeah. Bob Ross is the c o o l e s t . . .
Sounds like cleaning brush is more complicated then painting 😢
😁
Doesnt clove oil have drying issues?
Never happen!!!!!!
Awesome:)
I thoght he is soft in the head at first. You dont clean your brushes, oil paint dries hard, you have to buy new ones. Period. No way to remove dried oil paint. It's durable for a reason. The only way this works is you buy brushes in bulk quantites and throw them out every time. A half decent brush would be about $4 each considering some sort of bulk discount. Then i figure, he means not to clean the brush off while you are working. Yes this makes sense. To a certain extent. If you think you can soak a brush thoroughly in dioxazine purple and then dip the same brush directly in cad yellow, and you'll get a beautiful yellow out of it... best of luck.
Absolutely. This advice is a non sense
I just dip them in linseed oil, dry them with paper towel and leave them for the next day. It has been working for me, better than cleaning with turpentine. turp made me lose many brushes. Might try this brush dip recipe.
Great advice especially for those of us with allergies . . . I don´t like using solvents either. Oil is such a w o n d e r f u l invention of nature. There are also oils which n e v e r dry (like peanut oil) this all should prevent every beloved brush from hardening. . . .
When ships were made of wood, I was thinking of being a sign-writer. I was taught to get Vaseline and work it into the ferrul of a new brush before it's ever been used. Then no paint can get down there. Sign-writing brush hairs are very long and need to flex for long clean lines. Sign-writers don't use dirty brushes. Different art form.
Even more interesting than the info in the video itself are the comments on this one. This is one of those topics that have less to do with art, personal expression and techniques, but very much with personal habits and traits in general. There are so many ways to clean your brushes (and make no mistake: even what Mark describes here is a way of cleaning them, despite the title to the contrary). Just use what works for you, what fits your way of doing things. If cleaning up after work is part of your routine in general whatever you do, cleaning brushes will not feel like a waste of time. If you feel like it, experiment with other methods. I myself use different methods for different brush types, sizes and shapes and depending on if I expect to use the same brush the next day or probably not.
Why is no one talking about how his window looks like it's painted!? What kind of glass is that??
If I watched this 10 or 20 years ago I would have disagreed with this but the last few years Ive learned so much about desaturating colours that this makes perfect sense. thanks for the tip
Just clean your brushes with a good soap like Aleppo soap. It's easy cheap and fast.
Sometimes I think I cleaned my brush enough and go for a hard stroke only to get a few streaks of nasty color that were deep in my brush. I feel like the paper towel trick is for a light hand. I may be a novice but this doesn’t always work for me because I press hard when I go for a block in or whatever I’m doing really
I was thinking "but what about the artists that really scrub the paint into the canvas?" during the entire video. That's how I do my first layer and it really brings out all the paint that's hiding between the bristles. The tiniest bit of residual paint can ruin your color and value...
@@RamoArt Yeah I like to tone my canvas too and I usually want the colour to be pure. any residue of old paint would taint it. Also depends how you paint. I find the less you mix in medium, the easier it is to avoid colours getting dirt. I'm thinking if you usually tone the canvas with same colours you could again keep a large brush just for that. Or always wash that one, keep others dirty.
Well. I might say that be Very careful for paint drying in the brushes. Keep em dirty wet all you want but if they dry. You will never get it back. Even if you clean it. It will open its hairs due to paint shoved under the metal so i would advice two things!! Never use the whole brush hairs leave a space at the start of the hairs where is pressed by the metal case. You dont want paint there. It will dry and force hairs to open. Thinner wont get in there enough. I got old flax seed drys fast and cant leave paint for more than 2 days. My set up its not good but its what i have now.
SO YOU DIDNT WATCH THE WHOLE VIDEO DID YOU???!!!! HE EXPLAINS THE IMIPORTANCE OF USING BRUSH DIP WEEKLY TO KEEP YOUR BRUSHES FROM DRYING OUT. *EYE ROLL*
HE EVEN EXPLAINS THAT IF YOURE USING A FAST DRYING MEDIUM OR PAINT THAT USING BRUSH DID AFTER WILL ALLOW YOU TO KEEP THE BRUSH WET.
@@picklesdill9138 What else do you dip in his brush dip. Take it easy with the capslock buddy.
Beware any advice telling you to "never" do something or to "always" do something.
I no longer clean my brush ever since I saw one of your videos similar to this. Clearly my brushes last longer with no cleaning method. I can only think of the benefits and no disadvantages. One dip into safflower oil and it lasts for about a month in my case.
And more time for painting.
@@NickNicometi Yes, most importantly!
what safflower oil do you use. will refined food grade safflower oil work?
That’s interesting. I use poppy oil and it lasts a while but I’m not sure it lasts a month
Last longer? I have no idea how people wear away brushes. I paint with the same brushes I bought 30 years ago (and I wash them every single time).
I still have my signwriting quills for 35 years...Use them for oil gold sizing too...Always cleaned in white spirit , spun by hand and then petroleum jelly (Vaseline) to keep the shape......Worked for 35 years...Signwriting quills are pretty expensive and there are ways to make them last a life time...
Thank you for all your comments, you are my favorite contemporary artist. But I have a question for you...When you are mixing the paint it gets all the way to the ferrule part of the brush sometimes, how do you clean that part without using turpenoid?
you sure can. clean up good and then deep in the oil when not using
My counter point would be... good luck on trying to get rid of phtalo blue with a paper towel well enough to not green your yellow. It is jsut faster to "wash it " in some solvent.
I agree. I'm sure the no wash method works for some but my brushes are 20 years old and still work great with the solvent wash method.
@@paintingsbypenelope Yeah, it depends on the case. How small or big our brushes are, the strength of each pigment, the mediums ( If they're fast drying like liquin ).
In general, there is not a single perfect recipe for everything.
It's easy: just use another brush for yellow and lighter colors, then you don't need to wash the blue out that extremely well
Crap advice. Brushes can be cleand with sunfloweroil if you want to protect the hair from solvant. No need for the expensive product you are trying to sell here. Soap and water is also not bad. It works just fine keeping all sorts of brushes top shape!
I thought vegetal oils rots in the long term. Doesn't it?
Or you could just clean them with soap and water. It's not the end of the world.
Love it, thank you. I’m a bit of a novice; what are your thoughts on wrapping the brush head loosely in cling film to prevent drying? This may be artistic blasphemy, but decorators use this method to prevent brushes drying out.
I was thinking that just laying them out and putting plastic wrap over top would be enough. Or a piece of wax paper on the bottom and a piece on the top.
Put them in freezer
I do never use to clean my brush
“Just manipulate the colour”,
I leave my brushes in oil and wipe the brush on a rag in one direction,
I always painted with the results being of the mother of pearl look
This has a muddy looking out come,
But then with the use of clean brush and colours as over paint
I achieve my oil paintings for I like painting from my imagination.
You have to stop your brush from going hard when not used, by cleaning,then add the oil.
I enjoy your color mixing clips, but I feel this is bad advice.
Paint trapped or that had reached the brush ferrule will destroy any brush.
Even in a 8 to 10 hour painting sessions colors like ultra marine blue, cobalt blue and burnt umber has a tendency to setup fast.
After a painting session it is essential to get paint out of the brush especially it’s ferrule.
After a painting session a good brush cleaning regime should take a person less than a min per brush and end with a dip in brush conditioner/ restorer to reshape the brush.
I have 20 year old bristle brushes that are still good.
GREAT advice Johnny. Makes sense
Whaaaaa? I always spend ages cleaning them haha
I just want to be able to tuck away my brushes without worrying about tipping anything over/spilling, or having to come back to them on some set schedule, for ease of mind. So I'd rather clean them since it only takes 2min (thanks to those silicone makeup brush scrubbing bowls). If i painted more often i prob wouldn't clean them everytime
Great to see you back. Have your brush dip, it's great.
It's interesting to observe the different techniques used n the United States. In Europe, we use solvents and specialized art cleaners, and linseed oil is even banned by law in some countries. Its excesive rigid follow any "how to paint bible" but its always helpfull check other aproachs.
Very informative video on a technique I've never heard of before. Thank you.
An artist once recommended cleaning brushes in 'Baby Oil' ( which is a petroleum derivative). I found that it cleans brushes really well but I've always wondered if traces of the Baby Oil might interact badly with the oil paints. The brush dip sounds like a good alternative when I know that I won't be able to paint for a week or two.
(NB: Baby Oil, in Australia, is a very light oil that can be used on the body... makeup removal, 'moisturising', massaging etc. I don't know if it has the same name in other countries; it may sound a little weird without context.)
his brush dip is safflower oil and 2% clove oil by volume, just make your own.
@@omnesilere Thanks. I'm going to try it out.
Baby oil is mineral oil.
Little did they know, outside of Australia they use actual babies 🤷♂️
I worked with an old-time sign painter and he would use Motor Oil at then end of the day. I adapted this to baby oil, but any non-drying oil should work fine. I do tend to clean with solvent first, and use the baby oil to prevent any oil paint from ever drying in the brush.
I have just seen a video about Michael Harding miracle medium. He says it does not remove natural oils from hogs hair brushes. I might try it.
Will the brush dip protect a brush even longer if you wrap it in plastic wrap to prevent oxidization?
YOU BET Rob - since it keeps away grossly the oxygene !
I ´ll soon try it together with some p e a n u t oil (non-drying!)
Do you have a video for brand new oil painting artists? I started with watercolor , then went to acrylic which i settled into nicely. I have been doing it for 2-3 years now. However, I have zero experience with oil painting. I would like to give it a try. I don’t know where to start though. The most part if the chemicals needed to clean or add liquid to the brush and paint the way you would with water using acrylic. So, tools, and then technique. I know that the oil doesn’t dry as fast as acrylic so it needs to be blended and used differently. Do you have a video for oil painting beginners? If not can someone recommend a good channel for me for beginners? Thank you
I would simply purchase an infinite amount of brushes, so I would have a brush for every possible color. Mixing is a real bear though.
ive been. using baby oil and baby wipes and it works wonders
hope it helps
What if I’m using Liquin ? Will brush dip stop the liquin from drying on the brush ?
no. liquin wins that fight.
First!
Have you ever been to a circus? Not as an attendant but as a performer? Specifically the CLOWN?
So glad to see you back.
I completely agree! Your brush dip changed my painting life! 10 out of 10 highly recommend 👌
so - not to clean the brushes until they look new, after each use?
I honestly did it until now and IT DID get the fun out of using oils for me, I enjoy it, but the upkeep was very annoying. I used to paint daily.
with this knowledge, I will change things with my workflow for sure.
thank you for sharing and wish you (all) a great week :)
This is either the chaotic neutral or chaotic evil method of brush care.
I have the brush dip and love it ! Not only saves time in the studio but I have noticed the life of my brushes last longer .
It’s just that you have to have a turpentine to break up heavy chunks of monthly non-use. Sometimes brushes get that chunk that a paper towel just can’t break up. Hidden within the forest is the stone.
I still don't get how to mix clean colors. If i want to paint white clouds and i have red/orange in my brush, it'll look awful. I feel like I need to wipe with paper towel forever and use gamsol. then when i'm done, i still need to clean my brushes or else they will get hard
what about drying brushes with oil in it? I think you are talking only about cleaning brushes in the process of painting, not afterwards
I never ever clean my brushes, just pick some brushes for dark colors and others for lights.
Truly terrible advice. First thing I have to do when teaching is getting students to clean and respect their brushes. Most of their brushes are in such a state they will not perform.
what i do is; each session, i clean superfluously with spirits. whenever i have to stop painting for a week or two, i clean both with spirits and then baby oil deeply.
I clean my brushes with a nice oily soap - hog hair at least weekly, sable after every session. Some are now thirty years old - bristles a little shorter than they used to be, perhaps, but all still holding their shape and in excellent condition. Pretty sure that wouldn't be the case if the ferrels were all clogged with ancient oil paint.
He uses brush dip when storing them which keeps the paint in the brushes wet. As long as it doesn't dry it won't clog the brushes ☺️
@@sandiegriffiths1469 Hi. The problem is that it will dry. If given enough time, oil paint (and medium, incl safflower oil) doesn't require air in order to stiffen and eventually dry, so unless regular removed the stuff up by/in the ferrule will sooner or later start to misbehave, steadily wrecking the shape, springiness, capacity, etc, of the brush. Carefully washing them isn't the most exciting job in the world, but I'm not going to try fixing something that ain't bust at the risk of ruining my lovely (and expensive) brushes. Mine last until they're worn too short to use - which takes years and years.
I’ve finally gotten the studio built- now I’m searching for the video (I think I remember you having on lighting) - I’ve got to have installed electric and lighting, then walls.
Building is 10 x 20 and 8ft ceiling.
Be careful what lights you buy. The CRI of LEDs is abysmal. If you can afford a fluorescent setup, that's the way to go. Otherwise you won't get any of your warm colors right (some led are 95 cri but even that is not as good as fluorescent)
i just bought a goat brush... never had one before and i didnt even used it yet but it smells like wet dirty dog. the smell was so bag i had to put in a box after trying desperately washing with soap :(
I generally agree with you on most things, but if you're a person who can't paint regularly or switch mediums often, you need to clean your brushes. If you're using a longer drying paint and painting daily, then I might agree. However, that doesn't fit all situations. But as usual, I still enjoy your videos!
I've been using this process for about 3 years. I've gone almost a year without painting and I just needed to re-dip from time to time. Not only is it a massive time saving, but it also encourages me to be less lazy about using the right brush for the job. I'm more prone to use any brush I want since I don't need to bother cleaning it. (I'm busy, so every little brush is a few minutes I'd rather not spend cleaning.) I keep about 25 brushes oiled and ready to go. Sometimes I paint daily, sometimes not for several months. Just dip from time to time and that's it. I use Mark Carder's slow-dry medium recipes and various other mediums, no problems with any of them.
Alternative: I have a cup of walnut oil I keep all my brushes in. I haven’t painted in weeks, and just picked up a brush still “wet” and ready to go with the paint it had on it. A couple passes in a paper towel and it’s good as new
@@ImNotThatInt3resting Yep Charles. Peanut oil could also make this job . . .
So I should go from Cinnabar to Lapis and not worry about the obvious interaction?
To keep my paintbrushes supple for a long time, I use plastic bags or aluminum foil. I also use a cotton swab to blend the color without getting in with the brush.
Every artist has his or her own way to work, cleaning your brush is something a kid knows.
I hear that ... I just wipe em' off and I'm done ... just buy a ton of cheap brushes, and use them til they get too hard... throw them out, or just use them to stir mediums or something. I don't understand artists who spend a lot on 'fancy' brushes.
someone who dont use waste pile its just waste of paint. Better have two, three brushes the same size to use with clean colours
Good to see you posting again. Hope you are well.
I don’t know about this. I use liguin and Galkyd drying compounds to speed the oil painting process. Cleaning brushes makes the painting process more streamlined, at least to me.
A lot of advice on the internet, and in books, directly conflicts. Virgil Elliott and George O'Hanlon tell us to avoid clove oil, and have, at the least, doubts about safflower oil - yet you're recommending dipping brushes into a mix of the two.... I tend to agree with them rather than with you, and also with Rella Ingram: if you're not painting all the time - I still think you need to clean your brushes, because if you don't they'll harden and turn into a useless tool; whereas if you soak them in the mix you suggest, even drying them out by pulling through a paper towel afterwards, you're introducing mediums to the paint which will at the least cause it to take an age to dry. Now - you're a paint-maker and an artist with long experience, so I have to grant you know what you're talking about - but while I'm not a paint-maker, I've been an artist for some 50 years, and I would not use these methods. So we're going to disagree, which is fine - but I should be interested in your observations.
🤮
I think you can clean them in OMS right before you start painting
Safflower oil is ok. Most manufacturers are using it regularly for some colours, along with linseed. I'm not sure about clove oil, though..
I agree that from time to time cleaning with soap and water is necessary, but not everyday, especially if we're painting on a frequent basis.
Personally, I'm using different methods, depending on the brushes and the mediums ( how big, synthetic or natural, mediums like liquin etc .)
Common linseed oil is ok for cleaning ,along with paper towels. At the end of a session some further cleaning with a bit of solvent , then a tiny amount of oil and that's it!
Every 4 or 5 days I'm cleaning with soap and water, though. I don't want my brushes to get sticky..
I use Gamsol… don’t ‘clean’ the brushes anymore. It works well, no need to fiddle around.
If you use so much black in your painting no wonder the colors lose intensity. It does not solve your problem by using one brush only for black, it is likely you use too much black.
Good to see you again. I recently bought your paints and love them!
That's interesting. One thing I do when changing colours and want some purity is pull the brush through a paper towel and then dip it into a little bit of the new colour, work it in a bit and then pull it through the towel again.
Which is pretty much what he said in the video…
Can you do a session on painting indoors without ventilation? I'm sure you have some good ideas here.
Eh….open a window and use odourless mineral spirits what else do you expect him to say?
@Sergej Grigorjev I would love to switch from acrylic to oil paint but I'm just afraid since my studio is in the basement without any ventilation. This is helpful thanks.
Would buy a starter set from Mark if I can use the paint safely in my room.
Just be sure to have a current will.
If you have no window keep door open and have a fan to move the air
Use water mixable oil paint and medium, so there is no need for solvents.
Hi Mark, i know you since years and even once won the monthly painting you choose one of my paintings to be the best this month and since i know you and i bought the dvd years ago, its the only way i want to paint and its the only paintings i want to see, like rembrant or singer seargent, and your students paint awesome paintings and i even bought just simple saffloweroil from the supermarket and keep my brushes wet, and for sure you tell the people always the best and effective way to do something in oilpainting, and when i see this video i even dream of a room, my paintings on the wall and brushes everywhere and the desks, my kitchen nearly looks like this and i love it, and i want to say that brushes are really cheap in some stores and buying brushes is a lot of fun too and im pretty sure, if you are an artist you cannot have enuf brushes, so i write this kinda bring people to smile maybe when they see how much i love painting since i met you and maybe even give a shit if my brush dries, coz even me who has really no money, i spent the little money i have for new brushes XD gl to all and youre channel and youre family and all people who manage to run away from any war others start
Oh man I thought you were dead
don't cut us off
Why don't you start a series on acrylic?
What do you think about Rosemary brushes?
everyone loves them
Thanks
this dip doesn't work that well if I use liquin. I dont want to use any solvents... how do I take care of my brushes if I use liquin?
See my tip above dear Isabel: Just use a NON-drying oil - like peanut oil !!
Please make a demonstration video. It's been so long since you uploaded one. It's a delight watching you paint. 🙏
Putting brushes in water stops drying.
Hi, I am so happy to be receiving your video once again. Thank you andI hope you will kindly continue to do so. It was quite some time since I received the last one and I missed them a lot. This came as a wonderful surprise.
Wish you and your family the best. Tülün Harmankaya
Great help for new artist sir mark,THANK YOU! GOD BLESS.ALHAMDULILLA
Fantastic advice from you. Thank you very much. I used to clean brushes while doing painting and always whished to be a better way to do that. And your tip is brilliant. It is clicked
Welcome back!:)
Dawn dish washing liquid until the water is clear and squeeze it flat . For small brushes, use Ivory or Kirks bar soap.
I've been doing exactly that for over 30 years and my brushes are still in a very good condition. l
Wow! Tnx for this Golden tip master👍🙏😊🎨
I never clean my brushes more than a rinse off and put them into oil
i love my old messy dirty brushes! love ur brush tips! lol
. . . the wonderful traces of the happy painter years
Not dirty, seasoned 😂
I just have several brushes carrying residual oils of all the colours. Yellowish brush, blueish brush, redish brush. One for whites. Im no pro, I just am lazy and didnt want to waste time cleaning brushes when im hopping around from one piece to another.
Brushes are cheap anyway
@@AL_THOMAS_777 the ones I use Im sure are
Great title. I'm always looking for reasons not to do something.
🙌 👏 🙏 🤝 👍 This is "american" pragmatism . . . AND chinese WU WEI: Doing by NON-doing !!
This is sxactly why I am PAINTING: To a v o i d any labor/work, or - as my beloved art-comrade Francis Bacon once said:
"Work is just something for folks who CAN´T PAINT!" 😁