One of the best ways to reduce paintbrush cleaning time is to stop it from completely filling up with paint. This is done before painting.

Steps

1. Make sure the brush is dry and clean.
2. Using duct tape, tape around where the bristles join the handle, making sure the tape covers about half an inch or more of the bristles.
3. Cut across the duct tape at about 45 degrees, as this will make it easier to find the end of the tape when it’s time to remove it.
4. Soak the taped brush for a few minutes in water or mineral spirits (depending upon the type of paint). This will stop the paint from entering the ferrule area against the handle. When it is time to clean the brush, just remove the duct tape and there will be no paint to clean out from the ferrule area which effectively reduces cleaning time.

Tips

Paintbrush

Here is a simple way to make your brush hang on paint bucket. Take a nail or screw (or even better a C shaped screw) and just insert it in the handle of the paint brush. This allows you to hang the brush in the bucket.

Alternatively when using latex or acrylics, before you paint, dunk the brush in a bucket of water ensuring the filaments or bristles are submerged past the ferrule (metal portion), allow bubbles to escape from between the brush filaments. Remove the brush from the water, squeeze the water out, then lightly holding the handle of the brush, tap the ferrule gently on the tip of your work shoe. This process will splash water under your shoe and behind you, be sure to do this outside or over a dropcloth. It is not your goal to fully remove the water as this water will remain between the filaments allowing easier cleanup.

Things You’ll Need

• Paintbrush
• Duct tape
• Scissors
• Water or mineral spirits

Make A Paintbrush Last Forever – For more amazing video clips, click here

Abstract painting might look easy, and it might look as if the artist did not know what they were painting. It might look like it; however, this is far from the truth. Abstract can be more difficult than landscape or scenery, because there is nothing to copy from, and nothing like it has been painted prior to the moment that the artist picked up the brush.

Buy a ready made canvas in a craft store. Buy any size that you feel you would like to work on. A smaller one, 10×10, or 12×12 might be best, if you are just learning and experimenting. The canvas will be ready to work on as is, but if you prefer a colored background, buy a jar of Gesso, to prime the canvas and give it a touch of color. When doing this however, you will have to wait about 24 hours until the canvas dries before you can paint on it.

Decide whether to use acrylics or oil paint. Acrylics have no odor, are easy to wash off surfaces and clothes, dry faster and can be painted over if you make a mistake. Oils are the complete opposite.

Buy a color chart and an easel and paints and brushes. Buy the basic colors at first, and use the color chart to determine which colors belong together.

Start your painting by thinking of an object, or a scene. Do not think of the actual drawing of each, just dwell on the thought. Look at a vase, not at how it actually would be sketched, but how you would think it would look. Your imagination, and your feelings will create what you paint on the canvas. Remember, you are interpreting, not drawing.

Allow the brush to take over painting with one color. When your thought process stops, you stop. Add another color, shade it, make it lighter at any part, or heavier at another. Improve what you see on the canvas and of what you think should be added.

Add a bit of yellow, to a part of the red, blend it and make various shades of orange. Some areas will be darker, some lighter according to the brush strokes.

Remember once you feel that the painting is finished, stop . Do not go back to improve or touch it up. Do not overwork your painting, but learn to finish it, the moment you feel it is finished.

Tips

Experiment with adding textures to the canvas, and painting over them for added depth to the painting.

Use colors according to the feeling you wish to paint. Read about colors and how to use them to express emotions. Reds and yellows will be happy, while blues, blacks, and browns will signify darker feelings. The feeling you wish to convey will depend on the colors and brush strokes you use.

Don’t be afraid of drips and splatters. At times drips might add texture to your painting and so will splatters especially of a blending color.
Don’t wear nice clothes. Wear something you don’t mind getting paint on.

Sometimes the best pictures you make are the ones with your eyes closed. So don’t be afaid to close your eyes and just have fun with it.

Warnings

Wash your brushes with a cleaning solution after you are finished painting to keep your brushes soft and usable.

You can also wrap your brushes in clear film or a carrier bag and they will stay fresh for weeks.

Have fun

This article will explain how to mix your paint to create realistic looking flesh tones for people in your artwork.

1. Start with several colors of paint. In order to make the wide range of possible flesh tones to reflect the community of humanity, you will need several different paint colors. Prepare a blob each of:

• white paint
• red paint
• yellow paint
• green paint.

1. Take your brush and take a tiny amount of red. Add it to the white. Mix. You should have a very light pink.
2. Add a tiny bit of yellow. Mix. You should have a peach color.
3. Take the smallest dot of green paint and add it to the peach color. Mix. Now you should have a light flesh tone.
4. Add red and green to get a darker flesh tone.
5. Add yellow to get a yellowish flesh tone.
6. Adjust each flesh tone by adding more white, red, yellow, or green to it. If it gets too dark, just add white; if it gets too light, add darker colors bit by bit.

Tips

• Red + yellow makes orange
• Red + green makes brown
• Adding yellow will make the color look warmer.
• Adding red will make the color look rosier.

Warnings

• Start with the smallest amount of green you can; you can always add more. You don’t want your flesh tone to look green!
• Don’t be too scared of green. Touches of light green can bring shadows alive and will make the red areas appear warmer. The best way to brighten a colour is to introduce a little of its complimentary, even if it seems counter intuitive at first. A touch of green makes reds brighter. A touch of purple/violet does the same for yellows

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil — especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called ‘varnishes’ and were prized for their body and gloss. Other oils occasionally used include poppyseed oil, walnut oil, and safflower oil. These oils confer various properties to the oil paint, such as less yellowing or different drying times. Certain differences are also visible in the sheen of the paints depending on the oil. Painters often use different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves also develop a particular feel depending on the medium.

Although oil paint was first used in western Afghanistan sometime between the fifth and ninth centuries, it did not gain popularity until the 15th century. Its practice may have migrated westward during the Middle Ages. Oil paint eventually became the principal medium used for creating artworks as its advantages became widely known. The transition began with Early Netherlandish painting in northern Europe, and by the height of the Rennaisance oil painting techniques had almost completely replaced tempera paints in the majority of Europe.