Murphy Oil Soap - an Artist's Friend

ART TIP -  Removing Paint from Your Brushes and Clothes

Brushes are expensive so you don't want to accidentally ruin one.  It happens to everyone...You meant to clean your brushes later and get busy doing something else.  Its a shame to have to throw them away or even put them in the "old" brush container if they aren't a solid mass.   The solution is to buy brush cleaners that will remove dried paint from your brushes. 

Winsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer.   I wrote about it in an earlier blog.  It is reasonably priced and works like a charm to clean both oil and acrylic from your brushes.  It has saved many of my brushes.  Just make sure you only use a little of the cleaner in a jar so that it doesn't get the wooden part of your brush in the solution.  Remember...it removes paint so you will have a naked brush if you get it on the wooden handle.
  

Murphy's Oil Soap:  A less expensive alternative for removing oil and acrylic paint is Murphy's Oil Soap.  Unlike the Winsor and Newton cleaner, it can also be used on your clothes.  Who hasn't gotten paint on their "good" clothes?   You walk by a painting in progress and decide it just needs a couple more strokes and the paint seems to migrate to your clothes every time.  Murphy's to the rescue.  Carefully rub a little at a time into the paint on your clothes with your finger or a clean rag until the paint looks loose.  Then gently wipe/drab as much as you can off and throw the clothing in the laundry.  For brushes, put about a 1/4-1/2 inch into a glass bottle and swish your brushes around.  Unless the paint is really harden (then let them soak) it shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to have your brushes clean and in working order again.  Once the bristles are pliable, rinse them in cool water (never hot).  Don't forget its easier when you leave a little soap in your brushes for them to dry and hold their edge. 

Loving Life + ART TIP

These gals always make me smile. 

Loving Life oil on canvas, 16x20"

Art tip: Cleaning & restoring paint brushes

Winsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer is a great tool for your studio.  The brush cleaner/restorer costs about $5.00 for a small bottle, but you only use a small amount at a time and hopefully you won’t need it very often.  My feeling was if it saves just one brush it paid for itself.  I try to take good care of my brushes, but every once in a while I forget to clean my brushes when I get home or one brush somehow gets missed.  I’ve even used it to clean old palette knives.   Pour some cleaner in a small jar.  Make sure it doesn’t go above the bristles.  Remember, it dissolves paint so it will take the paint off the handles.   I wrote “brush cleaner” on the jar lid to remind me it’s not medium.  The cleaner can be used multiple times before replacing.   Cleaning brushes.    Everyone has their own way of cleaning their brushes.  I was taught to clean most of the paint off with Turp (of course I now use Turpenoid or Gamsol) then use a bar of ivory soap with water to do the final cleaning.  Once clean gently swipe the bar to leave a little soap on the brush.  Pull the bristles through your fingers to bring them to a point. The soap helps them keep their shape.  I was taught to do this by a teacher when I was 13 and have been doing it that way all these years.  My brushes usually live a long healthy life.  Winsor & Newton product description:  It completely cleans dried acrylics, oils, and alkyds with no damage to the brush head or loss of fibers. It can be used on natural or synthetic brushes. The cleaning solution is effective within minutes for oil colors (hours for dried acrylics), and leaves no oil residue. This water soluble cleaner is non-toxic, biodegradable, non-flammable, and has low vapor.