This landscape painter loves her paint brushes! Most of the painters I know leave their brushes for a good soak in a solvent after a session painting. Most just retrieve the brush from the soaking pot and wipe it dry before starting to paint again. Not me!
To set the record straight, I've had some of my brushes pushing 20 years now. Still have a few Edgar Degas by Grumbacher that must go back to at least 1990! Now that was a great brush: hog hair bristles from China (back when an import from China had a different meaning and they were known for the very best hog hair bristles) and a wooden shaft that fits the hand like a glove. Too bad I can't get those any longer.
Now I really like Isabey's Special made in France. They keep their shape well and can take a bit of abuse if I want to scrub in a wash to start a painting. The shaft is pretty good but not quite as curvy as the Edgar Degas. I did have one ferule (the metal part that holds the bristles to the shaft) separate from the wood... but Super Glue worked fine as an instant fix.
Good brushes are expensive! And with the cost of everything creeping up now it pays in the long run to take extra good care of your investment in brushes. Here's my method.
After a painting session I wipe as much of the oil paint from the brush as possible. The most difficult bit of paint to get at - and the one that will make your brushes lose shape fastest - is the paint that creeps up to meet the bottom of the ferule. If it dries there it pushes the bristles apart and that causes loss of good shape in the brush. So I wipe and scrub as best I can in that area... think of it as washing behind the toddler's ears;)
Next, I let the brushes soak a while (an hour or two) in Gamsol, an orderless mineral spirit (OMS) by Gamblin. I like it because tests show that it releases fewer solvent particles into the air than others making for a more environmentally friendly studio.
After the soak I again wipe the brushes as best I can with Scott paper towels. A lot of painters prefer Scott because of the low particle leave-behind. They're good!
Next the brushes get a bath using The Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver and warm water. That takes care of removing any left-behind solvent or paint.
It's a complex ritual but it pays... my brushes are always sparkly clean and ready to preform as well as they did the first day I used them!
So what are my brushes busy doing lately? Catching the rough water of winter before spring takes over entirely... which should be any minute now! Here's the latest two paintings off my easel for your review.
"Winter Waves", 18 by 24 inches, oil on canvas
"After the Storm", 12 by 24 inches, oil on canvas.