Wonderful way presented. Simple. Straight to artist, who uses oil painting brushes. No more hidden secrets & bla bla bla. Thks Alex

Thanks Alex. As a beginner it is great to see the basics explained so well.

Baby shampoo is a good, gentle brush cleaning soap as well. I've used Murphy Oil Soap to get dried paint out of a brush rather than acetone; it's not as harsh or toxic as acetone.

Just the other day, I met a painter who told me he learned about Zest-it on the Internet. I bet he watched this video, Alex. The closest art shop now stocks it, following his request. Very good information on maintaining brushes.

Many thanks for this advice... I haven't been using oils for very long and have already been doing a lot of the things you mentioned, but I will now remember to wrap my brushes in a plastic bag after using solvent, and also use the tip about nail varnish remover. Baby oil is also great for cleaning paint off the hands... I am a messy painter!

Thanks a million Alex! Always nice to learn from your experience. Greetings from Mexico City!

Thank you for excellent advice!

It wasn't entertaining, but surely informative, as it needs to be. Thanks, Alex!

So helpful. I've been doing it wrong and have stiff brushes. Thanx!

That's a great tip about wrapping the tips of the paintbrushes in paper. Simple, yet very effective. Thanks

Love the sustainability approach ❤. Thanks for the advice.

Thanks, This was so insightful. a lot of tips on shaping the brush back to its original state. and cleaning with oil was brilliant. it make so much more sense, to clean with oil, being that i paint with oil. again thank you so much

Thank you for making this video. I do all of these things except the trick with wrapping the brush with some paper towel. I will do this from now on.

I've tried so many techniques, keeping it simple sounds good

Turpenoid is a very good way of rejuvenating and keeping brushes in good condition.

Thanks Alex, you're a lifesaver, well brushsaver actually. Great advice. 🌻♥️🌻

Thank you for a simple explanation.

Thank you so much for this. I hate claeaning my brushes and always wondered the best way to do it.

Thats great advice, ill be washing my brushes like that from now on,thanks so much 😃👍👍

Thankyou for sharing your valuable experience here in this video. For me this was also as interesting as your demo videos. Besides interesting this was a very useful video especially for beginners who look forward to having oil painting as a source of earning bread and butter. Thankyou once again for posting this video.

Thank you for the video! ( For half a year, I am using a method I've learnt from Mark Carder (yt: "easy way to take care of oil paintbrushes"), which is basically a method without the tedious cleaning: after removing the excess oil paint with a paper towel (I am also using solvent...just to make sure) I just dip my (natural hair) brushes into a special mixture (2 components (oils) only - details in his video, he gives it for free) and put them aside, that's it. They are ready to be used at least for a week, then I just re-dip them if necessary.) All in all my brushes are always filled with oil. I even do plein air painting with the same technique (very small jar of turpentine + jar of "brush dip" with me all the time). So far, it is working perfectly, my brushes are nice and smooth (thanks to Mr. Carder). )

Hi Alex I really enjoy your videos, they are so well done. Regarding brush cleaning I first clean the excess oil paint, as you do, with a paper towel then wash gently in the palm of my hand using a bit of very mild liquid soap then immediately wash each again in my palm using Jack Richeson’s LINSEED Oil Soap after which I dip each in the 99 cent store’s Baby Oil and shape each quickly and place each horizontally in a rack I made using foam core. This works for me and my brushes remain in very good condition. Just thought I’d share my method with you. Thanks for sharing your acquired knowledge.

thanks alex for a good lesson hope too see your next panting demo

Thanks

If you find baby oil too expensive or smelly you can also use mineral oil. It's the same stuff. A bar of ivory soap cuts through oil paint really well as does kirks castille soap. They will remove all the oil though so use a little human hair conditioner on the brush to keep a clean brush soft afterwards and to prevent split ends.

I’ve used Zest it for years, I love it.

I dip after every session say 9-10 brushes in poppy oil after I wipe the excess paint off and leave them on the brush holder. One week they easily will do fine even untouched. You can add to the poppy oil a few drops of oil of clove just to lengthen the drawing time. I use the brushes for a month or so in this manner, and once that I find one or two brushes splayed (or used it for a really long period of time, I follow the method you've nicely described to clean them). Baby oil is not good for dipping, as it is not a drying oil, and if one pays not enough attention when using the brush without wiping it throughly before painting it could get in the mix.

Its very helpul.... Thank you Alex.. 🙏🙏🙏

I’ve heard a great tip on washing watercolour natural hair/sable brushes: Wash them with baby shampoo and then give them a treatment with mild hair conditioner once in a while, to keep them from drying out too much. I should think this method would apply to natural hair brushes for oils as well.

Some days I get lazy... wrap oily brushes in plastic wrap and toss in freezer. Will be ready to go next day or weeks later. Excellent site!

For many years, I have been using conditioner on my brushes after washing them. I will let them rest with the conditioner on for hours, and rinse and dry them afterwards. I find they are springier and last longer. Of course, this is only for natural hair paintbrushes.

Thank you so mush for your great information ❤️🙏🏻

I am a fan of clove oil, it will not only soften hard paint, but can also keep the pigment on a closed pallet tray nice a moist for the next session. I am thinking of getting into safflower oil to use as a brush dip, though I have not gotten around to that yet. I always use Dawn dishwashing soap, adding it directly to the brush removing the oils left behind, then rinsing them out after vigorously working out what ever is in the bristles.

thank you for sharing this useful video.

Thanks a lot for the useful information.🙏

Very helpful, thank you.

Thanks for this~

I use washing up liquid alone for cleaning my brushes no solvent at all and it cleans them very well, think I’ll try the baby oil from now on 😊

Alex thank you, I use Vaseline on my brushes after washing them to retain their shape. Seems to work pretty well on all bristle types. Obviously you have to give them a rinse in solvent before you next use them.

So useful, thank you:)

For those using M Graham paints, they suggest mostly just using walnut oil (which is the solvent they use in their paints)

I use baby oil as any remaining little bits of paint wont dry and stick to brush. But every now and again I will put them through solvent for what I think is a more thorough Process.

Of course using water miscible oil paint (Cobra) does away with any smelling solvents. Wash the oil off with water and then gently wash with green laundry soap. Used to be Fairy soap. Just a thought Alex. Keep it up your a super star.

Excellent sir

Nice sneaky name drop for RB. :)

I use grape seed oil and gamsol to clean my brushes. First rinse them in gamsol, then dip them in grapeseed

Hi there, I have a brush cleaner that does all you demonstrated in one environmentally friendly, biodegradable soapy solution.

Thanks a lot for all the useful information! I was wondering how you're supposed to store your brushes after cleaning them with baby oil: can you simply store them upright in a jar or would the baby oil drip down the handle and ruin the ferrule? (btw I'm sorry for any language mistakes, English isn't my first language)

thanks

I was told I shouldn't wash my brushes in the sink as it clog it, is this true?

I finally found the answer to waste oil paint in solvent - i'm going to do this mason jar thing - but what do you do with the oil paint once the jar is full?

Great video as always! I actually enjoy cleaning brushes but I also enjoy peeling potatoes so I guess I'm just weird.

Every time I clean my brushes with Chelsea lavender brush soap they splay badly, I have to wrap them in paper towel as you have suggested, and that does work, but I haven’t noticed anyone else address the splaying after cleaning with soap, or if and why that happens to others or at all.

I use velvet soap, not sure if that's ok? Also, do you rinse the baby oil out with solvent when you use the brushes again? I use the inside of a tennis ball cut in half to lather up and work the soap into the bristles

Hi and thanks again :) Question: I was wondering - do you have to remove the baby oil before using the brush again for oil painting, or can baby oil and oil paints go together?

I spoke to a graduate of the Gage Academy Atelier. He showed me his brushes. They looked NEW! This is his brush cleaning method he described to me. Wipe off as much wet paint from your brush as you can onto a cloth or piece of paper kitchen towel. ( if you like, you can dip the bristles into some plain cooking oil to loosen the paint more..then re-wipe.) Place a small amount of *Dawn dish soap in your hand. Press the bristles down into the soap ...first one side, then the other. ( some people use the inside of the cut half of a tennis ball if they don't want direct contact with the paint ) Rinse in warmish but not hot water. Repeat. Last, press bristles again on the surface of a bar of white Ivory Soap until no pigment shows. Rinse well. If you like, you can,then, go through the same steps using Murphy's Oil Soap. Shape the bristles with your fingers and lay the brush on its side until dry. I have been painting with oils for 25 years. NO more solvent !! It's simply not necessary. * Use only Dawn. It is formulated to really dissolve grease / fats / oils !

Will this work for acrylic paint too ?

Thanks Alex, very useful. Do you use the baby oil method instead of soap and water or is the baby oil method just another step in between using solvent and using soap and water? Thanks.

whats the solvent name? it is hard to find: zest it?

Yikes! I better stop using Fairy Liquid...neat

As I have a full time job and several other obligations often I'm not sure if I can continue a painting the next day, two days later or if I have to stop for over a week. So, at the moment I wash my brushes after every session with soap and water. For a while I tried to store them in vegetable walnut oil, but I had difficulties: If I realized I couldn't use them for a longer time I wanted to get them out of the walnut oil and clean them properly - but it was almost impossible to get the walnut oil out of the brush with brushcleaner, soap and water. So my question is: Can I store the brushes washed with baby oil for like 1-2 weeks? And if I decide then to wash them with soap and water, will the baby oil be easy to wash out? Or will i first need a painting session to "substitute" the baby oil in the brush with paint and turps before washing them with soap and water? Anyway, thank you very much for your great and to the point videos - very helpful!!

what do you do with those towels after wiping your brush off after the 'brush cleaner'/ solvent?

I cant find the first video on how to choose the brushes

+++ . nice vid as always !Love the way you talk and try to cover the subject . Thanks ! Do you have experience with a gouache or tempera ,so you can do a tutorial about it ? I even dont really know the difference between both .I cant find a pro level painters tutorial in youtube for it (except James Jurney )But aways nice to see a different point of view about the techniques .I dont care if it will be a portrait or landscape or even stillife :) Probably this will be not a popular tutorial with less views :( , but better to ask than to not :) Sorry for my great english :)

When using non drying oels ( baby oel) for cleaning be sure to wash the brushes with soap - getting non drying oels into your paint is not a good idea - it's just as bad as getting water into your paint -

when you clean them, you shouldnt press them directly down on your palm right?

All that use of solvent is a good argument for using acrylic paint.

No, I don't use detergent on my hair 😅

i wanna clean my brushes with soap in the sink but im scared to do it because i don't wanna be the reason toxic pigments are being introduced into the sever system :(

Have you ever been disappointed with an expensive brush from which you did not get the expected quality?

It's a crime how many brushes I've ruined by not cleaning them properly..