Artists' Essential Guide: Proper Cleaning and Care for Oil Paint Brushes

You have finished oil painting for the day and now it's time to clean and care for your brushes. But how...? When we first start there are a ton of unanswered questions and questions we don't even know to ask yet, such as: "Is there a different way to clean natural bristles compared to synthetic?," "Should you use turpentine or odorless mineral spirits?," "Can you use an artist oil to clean?," "Can you use dish soap?," "Is there a way to restore older worn-down brushes?" Let's answer these and many more questions together.

In this video, I discuss and demonstrate the materials and procedures to properly clean, restore, and care for your oil painting brushes. I go through temporary cleanings all the way through long term cleaning and storage. Also, I demonstrate the materials and procedures of how to restore and reshape a hardened or damaged frayed brush.

At the end, I walk you through my favorite oil painting brushes that I use the most. They are listed below.
- Utrecht Manglon Synthetic Brushes
- Robert Simmons Signet Bristle Brushes
- Connoisseur Hog Bristle Brush

This video is meant for all skill levels.

Here is the chapter list...
00:00 - Introduction
00:29 - Anatomy Of A Brush
01:26 - Cleaning Materials
03:42 - Temporary Clean
05:08 - Temporary Storage
05:34 - Long Term Clean + Care
07:00 - Brush Restorer
08:08 - My Favorite Brushes

Enjoy and thanks for watching!

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GREAT NOVELS... I might have illustrated the covers...

Music:
- "Homer Said" by Dyalla
- "Okey Dokey Smokey" by Audionautix
- "No.1 A Minor Waltz" by Esther Abrami
- "Blue Cream" by Cheel
- "Robots a Cometh" by Dan Lebowitz
- "Music Box" by Brian Bolger

[michaeljohnnolan]

Learning how to oil paint? Check out my playlist, "Oil Painting Basics"

[yaromcohen]

Btw man, 600subs?! U need to make more vids
and push more content cause with this quality vids you make,
A lot of people would like to know and see!
I’m on YT only for oil painting vids and in the past year never came cross
Your channel which is a shame, cause it’s awesome.
Any way, I suggest to play the YT algorithm more cause
You have gold in your hands. And others deserve to enjoy u.

[caitlynswift]

A great video I never knew I needed. 🙌🏻

[christophermahon]

I like the oil soaking for brushes that will be used again soon. Agreed that you don't want to spend your time cleaning up when you don't have to.

[fl]

The production value of these are great

[MayFire]

I had no idea I could just Not use solvents! Even odorless ones make me feel sick and it drives me away from oil painting. This is great to know! Also, I think I'm going to be saying "remove this modernity from me" for the rest of my life lmao

[MotorCentaur]

Decent tips.

I just clean my brushes in turpentine in a Silicoil jar. I don't wash them with soap at all. If they are stiff when I go to use them again, then I will soak them in turpentine for a few minutes, and they will loosen up and be ready to go . This works even if the brushes have sat for years without use.

[DeaDerV]

Very informative vid bro! I didn't like terpentine, too much husle and danger, so recently i bought this eco thinner. No fumes, safe for the environment and cleans my brushes well. Green for oil it's nice brand if someone looking for eco products!

[lizestefaniayenquequispe]

I wish I had been taught cleaning brushes this way before! Thank youu!!

[bumblebee]

ThanK you for all the effort you’ve put in this video. 😊

[AutumnForestFox]

Absolutely perfect guide! Just bravo! <3

[BrandiMcDermott-eb]

Learned some great new tips and alternatives to what I've been doing, thanks for sharing!

[yaromcohen]

Absolutely gold, I loved it.
Now I kindly ask for a bit of clear fixation due to the fact that
Not a lot of oil painters use walnut oil.
As I learned, which obey to the fat over lean rule,
I start premature with solvent, and than, each stage
I add more linseed oil. So let’s say grisale would be 75 thinner 25 oil
And each layer afterward with the same downgrade ratio..75/25 seconded layer 50/50 third 25/75
And so on. So I wonder how walnut oil come to play with those old techniques which I learned.
How does it separate from linseed oil in all the stages and beyond.
I’d love to see a vid of you explaining a-z and comparing it to other solvent or / and other oils.
Sorry for the long message.
Sending love from Israel !
❤

[nicholasdileo]

next brush video, include "cutting old brushes to new forms, (specialty, or just different, ie-say from a flat to a chisel...)
I also sometimes thin out a bristles or nylon to create depper furrows for paint loading, resulting in deeper troughs in the applied stroke. Of course the modification of old brushes can be a creative rabbit hole itself.
Explore this in your upcoming shorts please. I would be interested to see if you have come up with any novel modifications I have not considered. Thanks, I like your straight forward explaination of basics oil principles, that most people, (even Old greybeards with decades of "Oils"experience will sometimes lack those foundational tools, and I see them struggle through transitional phases of a work with brut force.I myself was classically trained in an American University with 16 hours of Figure drawing a week, 4 of which was at the med school morgue, extensive courses based on Ralph Mayers "Bible" of painting methodologies, <Neo-lithic through 1968, and all the chemistry, and molecular reactions, (hygroscopic, emulsion capabilies, etc)which were actually transpiring for all forms of paint, Casein, encaustic, egg Tempera, Oil, etc, etc, ... I was lucky as I ended undergrad in 1983 and all that knowledge was dropped in 1984 from every curriculum with the advent of the Apple Mac, Luckily I then went on to the most progressive art school n the country for my MFA, SFAI and explored the conceptual, (and technical) practices and theories at the other end of the "art instruction", spectrum "Avant Garde/Conceptual" praxis of the time. Just add relocation back east to NYC/Williamsburg after that, (1991 pre-hipster, I was the only person in a 150k sq feet loft building under the Willy B bridge, (The Tung Fa Noodle Factory, ) It was still only commercial spaces, I lived in the corner of a functioning wood shop. (Have you ever heard a West german high end mill saw star up at 6am, .... it is a progression of escalating high pitches until you can find your airport grade earphones in the bed after a night of, "enthusiastic drinking with my female companion" essentially a race against bleeding ears, and a rapidly declining probability that you will be sharing breakfast at the L-Cafe that morning with you new friend.
Anyway that was the last of the "Classical"20th centuries fully rounded 'Art Academy education" completely (defined by its time.)
The lack of those ingrained muscle memory skills does not serve the levity/confidence factor in any painting, and makes the viewer self aware while taking in a painting. (For me that is the moment a painting fails, it is not a question of great or good at that moment, it is, does the painting keep you suspended in a new reality or has aesthetic gravity cut in and you drop to this earthly realm and feel your pictorial coccyx bone suddenly jarred up into your lumbar region. There is no recovery from that, your relationship with that painting has now become that akin (to what I can imagine, ) the sense a permanent quadrapalegic may feel challenged with feeling a connection to their own extended body. ( no disrespect to those physically different and encountering different life challenges.)

[lisavento]

we use OIL TO REMOVE MAKEUP so it's a good thing. I use clove oil and safflower oil to COAT MY BRUSH after wiping and I don't "clean" the brushes until i'm done with the painting. These coated and hanging on a horizontal wrack can last weeks!

[fayee]

Yes thank you very much it helps a lot. What about storing your brushes massage and with Vaseline.? Thank you so much for sharing your expertise . appreciated!

[isabel]

Yikes! I’ve been making a few mistakes with my brush cleaning. Also Hermès needs a scarf or sweater to go with his glasses

[vv]

This vid is an amazing resource, tysm! What do you do with dirty solvent and walnut oils? I’m not really familiar with how to properly handle them

[bunnie]

i have started painting again and sadly my dad is not around for me to ask . thank u .

[diamiaou]

Even the nut allergy is against my advances of being an artist!