How to Clean Oil Paint Brushes (2021) – Guide

Even professional artists often face a problem when their brushes have suffered from lack of care or external influences.

Improper storage, insufficient cleaning of the brush from paint, wrong drying – all of that can contribute to the fact that your favorite working tool will be quickly disabled.

What if I use a brush every day?

If you paint a picture for a long time, returning to work every day, then it’s better not to rinse your brushes too much. It’s important to wash off the paint on the top, leaving the rest.

The only wish is to use the same paint color with a brush, if possible, so that you don’t have a messy mixing of different colors shades.

Use paper towels and warm water to remove the top coat of paint from the brush without damaging the tool. Dip the brush under the tap, rinse off as much paint as possible with a jet of water.

After the paint is washed off, blot the brush with a dry paper towel, it will help to collect the remaining paint. Next, dip the tips of your brushes in a long-drying, clean oil (such as linseed oil). It will remain in the villi and will not dry out in the next two days at room temperature. This means you can safely return to drawing the next day.

What if I need to store my brushes for long?

In this case, it’s necessary to carry out a more thorough cleaning so that the paint in the deep layers of the pile doesn’t dry out and doesn’t damage the pile structure.

For a thorough cleaning you need:

• paper towels
• thinner for oil paint
• laundry soap

First, follow the same procedure as above to remove the top layers of paint. Then use the oil paint thinner as instructed and give the brushes a little time for the paint to come off the lint.

This mission isn’t over yet – you have to get even the most hard-to-reach paint residues.

Take a soap, wet it with warm water until foam appears. Then, using a pulling motion, lather the brush tip well.

Don’t bend the brush too much to avoid damaging the tool!

After your brush has absorbed enough soap, gently loosen the bristles with your fingers to allow the soap to penetrate the brush base. Then rinse off the lather with warm water.

If this was not enough, simply repeat the procedure 2 or 3 times.

What if I don’t have a special paint thinner?

In this case, you have to spend a little more time, but the same linseed oil will come to the rescue. It perfectly removes paint in one layer, just use it for the first paragraph of the instructions above.

When your brushes are clean, it’s time to put them away for storage.

How to store brushes?

You should understand that the brushes must dry well before you put them in a special case or wrap them in canvas. To do this, blot the brushes thoroughly with a paper towel, without bending the tips of the nap.

Then place the brushes on a small stand (you can use a book) so that the pile hangs in the air and doesn’t touch objects around.

Give the brushes a little time (about an hour and a half) to dry well enough. Then you can put them in a special case or wrap them in a clean cloth to put away for long-term storage. Just keep it dry.

Summary

So now you know that cleaning your brushes isn’t a difficult process, but this easy procedure will help you to prolong your favorite tools life. And, of course, save your money.