Leonard Nimoy once starred on stage as Theo Van Gogh, the brother of the well-known artist Vincent Van Gogh in the appropriately titled "Vincent." One of my favorite stories he tells as Theo is how his brother was keen to teach him how to paint. To add context to this story, one of Vincent's mantras was "Clean your brushes!" I would imagine this was very important even back then, as artists usually couldn't afford just to buy another brush. Theo wasn't too thrilled about learning to paint, but he soon succumbed to his brother's request, and soon Theo was off and painting a scene that included a donkey and other parts of town life. Finally finishing the work, he presented it to Vincent. The artist looked at it thoughtfully and then said rather sternly "You did not clean your brushes!"
It's my guess the result wasn't that great, but dear old Vincent had an excellent point. Yes, you need to clean your brushes. All that acrylic, oil, or whatever else you use will gum up the works, and if you don't have disposable income like me, taking care of them is paramount. Louise Fletcher, an artist who has a podcast with Alice Sheridan on Heart radio, had mentioned that there are brushes that are a bit scrubby in her collection, and they can make the art more interesting by being dirty. For an abstract artist, that's great, but I'm more into detail. But if I think about it, perhaps a scratchy looking brush could bring out a cat's fur better. Who knows? I think I'll still make it a point to clean them, and yes, that is the soap I use to get all of the crud out of them. It's just one big bar of soap inside a plastic tub, and boy does it work. I have clean brushes in no time. Which is good, because I have a lot on my plate these days.
Cheers and don't forget to clean your brushes!
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