Painting in oils is probably the most exciting and rewarding medium there is, but the downside is the tedious cleaning up process at the end of the day. Brushes are expensive so it’s worth spending a bit of time looking after them. Once paint dries in them it’s difficult to get it out. I tend to use Art Clean (an Art Spectrum product), rather than turps – it does the job and it’s not quite as toxic smelling. This gives them a general clean up on a daily basis and once a week I use a product called Incredible Brush Cleaner (made by Chroma) which is brilliant. It’s a liquid cleaner which you just use with water and it does a great job. One more useful tip – instead of using a palette for mixing paint, which has to be scraped clean, I use heavy duty baking paper clipped over a large square of thick cardboard. When you’ve finished, unclip and throw away. Much quicker and less messy.
