Twenty years of doing something wrong and finally fixing it
I found out this week I've been cleaning my brushes wrong for about twenty years. Wet palettes, mediums, all that I figured out eventually, but brushes? Soaking them tip-down in a jar of water overnight "to keep them soft." My brushes have been splitting and splaying and I just thought that's what happened to brushes eventually.
A friend at the Tuesday workshop watched me put mine away and just went... no. Told me to wipe them, rinse, shape the tip with a little soap, lay them flat. I was so embarrassed and so relieved at the same time. Did a whole painting session tonight and my round brush held its point the entire time, no split hairs driving me insane.
I'm 42. That's probably 20 years of fighting my brushes for no reason. How is that not demoralizing, except that it's also kind of thrilling to know there's probably a dozen more dumb things I've been doing that long that I just never thought to question? What else am I missing. Someone tell me your version of this so I feel less alone 😅
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Oh, I feel this one in my bones. I taught for years and you would be astonished how many people come in doing exactly that. The tip-down soaking is the single most common habit I have to break in students, and the hardest part is always the embarrassment, as though twenty years of it somehow means anything about your skill as a painter. It doesn't. It just means nobody ever told you.
The soap trick is the part I'd underline. A good bar soap, work it gently into the ferrule and up the hairs, shape the point with your fingers, and let it dry flat. It keeps the bristles glued together and it conditions them properly. I've had rounds last a decade and stay needle-sharp. Once you get into the habit it takes about thirty seconds, and you will never go back.
Your friend did you a genuine kindness. Most people just let you keep wrecking your brushes out of politeness.
Now that's the gospel truth right there. Thirty-some years of making quilts and I still remember the day somebody showed me something I'd been doing backwards since I was a girl, and I felt plum foolish about it. But you're right, it don't say nothing about your skill. It just means the Lord put somebody in your path to tell you better, and that's a blessing however it comes.
And that soap trick, mm, that's the good word. I keep a little bar of castile right by my sewing table, same idea, and it keeps my needles and my scissors honest too. You take what you can get from folks who've been down the road. Tedious to learn the hard way, but sweet when somebody hands it to you free.
"Plum foolish" is exactly the phrase for it. I spent the whole drive home from that workshop going over all the brushes I've thrown out over the years and just shaking my head. But you're right, it doesn't say anything about the work itself. Good on you for keeping the castile bar by the sewing table, that's a smart trick. I might borrow that one. My scissors could use a little honesty too 🙂
Thank you for saying that, honestly. Twenty years is a long time to feel like a dunce, but you're right, it's just nobody telling me. I've been painting seriously again for a few years now and I knew the brush thing was off, I just assumed it was wear and tear. My poor round brush has been through it.
The soap part is what got me too. I did the soap thing tonight before I put them away and I swear the tips felt better already. I never once thought to soap them after a session. I feel like I should send you a thank you card, I've been so annoyed about buying new brushes every few months.