Helpful Tips for Acrylic Painters
Tip #1
When filling your water container for painting, always use LESS than a couple of inches of water. Why? So the level of the water is lower than the ferrule (the metal part that attaches the brush to the handle). Water seeping in under the ferrule will help dissolve the glue holding it to the brush's wooden handle. Eventually, the top part of your brushes will come off the handles. (Were you wondering why that was happening?) |
Tip #2
After cleaning your brushes, let them dry lying down horizontally. Why? Just as in Tip #1, if you stand your brushes upright while they're still wet, the water in the bristles will run down inside the ferrule, and, ultimately, dissolve the glue. When the glue is dissolved, the top of the brush comes off the handle. |
Tip #3
While you're painting, don't set the brushes you're not using down (on the palette, or on a paper towel) until you want to use them again. Why? As the brushes sit there, the paint is drying on them. It is much harder to get dried, caked acrylic paint out of a brush than it is when the paint is moist and wet. Also, if you're using gesso, or a gel or glazing medium of any kind, the acrylic binder will act as a kind of glue, and basically glue the bristles of your brush together. Now that's hard to get out! Exception to this: if you clean your brushes after you use each one, you won't have that problem. There are other reasons why you may not want to clean your brush immediately after painting with it, though, having to do with color harmony! |
Tip #4
While you're painting, it's fine to leave the brushes you are using sitting in the water. But don't leave them there for too long! Why? If you do, the tips of the brushes may curl, depending on what kind of brush you're using. (That can also give you an interesting effect for future painting, however, if you like it.) |
Tip #5
Waxy paper plates make a handy palette. They're small and lightweight enough to hold easily in your hand as you mix your colors, they're inexpensive, and when they're dry you can throw them away. Once dry, the pigment is caught in the acrylic binder and will not escape into the environment. |