I am often giving my students advice about what to do and not to do with their watercolor brushes so I thought I would see if I could create a list of 10 things which will damage a watercolor (watercolour)brush. It took a bit of thinking but here is my list which you may find helpful with the care of your brushes.

Figure 1: Do not leave you watercolor brushes sitting in your water container

1. Leaving them sitting in your watercolor container while you paint or worse still all day. This will force the hairs of your watercolor brushes out of shape and also make the wood of your handle swell which could result in it loosening the ferrule (the metal bit that connects the brush hairs to the handle)with the result that the hairs can fall out or the wood could rot.
2. Letting the paint dry on your brushes. The paint builds up down low near the ferrule which can be very hard to remove. Will cause the point on the brush to be lost.
3. Storing wet brushes point up – this allows the water to settle in the ferrule causing the wood of your handle to swell which could result in it loosening the ferrule as in point 1 above.
4. Storing wet brushes with the point bent. The brush will dry in this odd shape losing its point. Depending on the brush this may fix by itself when you rewet the brush but sometimes it just stays in this wrong shape. One thing that can do which sometimes fixes even this problem however is to dip the hairs of the brush in very hot water and then reestablish the point with your fingertips and let the brush dry while laying it flat – I have had success with this technique with squirrel hair brushes but may not help with others – try at own risk!
5. Using them for acrylic or worse still oil painting. Just don’t do this. If you want to use your watercolor brushes for acrylic or oil painting then set some aside just for that. Once you use your brushes for oil or acrylic painting they will begin to lose their point. Any oil or turpentine residue on the brush will make it behave differently then you later try to use it with watercolor.
6. Using your good watercolor brush for apply art masking liquid or frisket. This is probably the quickest way to ruin a good watercolor brush. Once the liquid latex in the masking fluid dries on your brush it is gone. Even if you use the right technique when using masking fluid in time the brush will still finally pick up the odd bit of latex which will ruin it. Save your old brushes or buy some cheap ones and use them for masking.
7. Storing wet brushes in a sealed container. The fibers of your brush will go mouldy if you store them wet without adequate ventilation. It will also keep the wood of the handle inside the ferrule damp which can lead to rod and a loose ferulle and cracked paint on the brush handle.
8. Don’t use a good watercolor brush for scrubbing out color. Just makes good sense, the scrubbing will break down the hairs and in time your brush will thin out. If you want them to last longer then don’t use them for this purpose.
9. Using paint that is too dry. I find this especially when students try to paint with cheap paints that dry really hard. The extra rubbing you have to do to get color out of your dry paint will wear the brush down faster than normal. If my paints have been left to dry without a lid on my pallet for a few days (which rarely happens now days) I just give each paint well a little spray with my water spray bottle and leave them for about 15 minutes, this will make it much easier to lift out paint after that. I use Winsor and Newton tube water colors almost exclusively I find they re-liquefy very easily.

10. Trying to put the round plastic protector back on that sometimes comes with a brush. Just don’t try it! The protector that came with the brush was probably put on by a machine and if you try to do the same yourself you will most likely end up with hairs pushed out of shape permanently. I just throw the protector away once I get my new brush home.

So there you have my list of the 10 things which will damage watercolor brushes. No doubt there are others but the above are the main ones I have come across. Once you get a really nice watercolor brush it is well worth your while taking the extra effort to look after it as it should keep in good shape for many years. A good brush will help you paint your watercolors while a bad or damaged brush will hinder you.

For this demonstration I am using Winsor and Newton’s Art Masking Fluid which I have been using for about 14 years without any problems.

What you need to apply masking fluid

Here is a list of the tools you will need when applying masking fluid to your watercolor paper.

Figure 1: Masking fluid, water container and range of old watercolor brushes

• Bottle of masking fluid, also known by various brand names.
• A water container filled with about3/4” of water – for use with cleaning the latex from your brush
• Old watercolor brushes, do not use your good brushes as any latex left in the brush will destroy their good point very quickly. I have a number of such brushes with varying shapes, one has quite a fine point (obtained over time as hairs have worn away) for masking narrow lines and shapes.

Figure 2: Concentrated dishwashing liquid

• Dishwashing liquid.

Figure 3: Crepe eraser to remove dry masking liquid

• Crepe eraser for removing the dry masking.

Steps for apply masking fluid

The first step after you have completed the drawing for your painting is to give your bottle of masking fluid a good shake. I do this about 15 minutes before I need to use it to allow all the bubbles thus generated to settle back down, otherwise you get masking fluid up the side of your brush when you dip it into a half full bottle.

While waiting for the bubbles to settle down add some dishwashing liquid to the container you will use for cleaning the masking from your brush. Stir it all up so the liquid soap is dispersed evenly throughout the water.

Figure 4: Add some dish washing liquid to the water container

Figure 5: Stir up the dish washing liquid

Start by dipping your brush into the soapy water. Drag the brush over the rim of the water container to remove some excess water and then dip it into the latex masking.

Figure 6: After dipping your brush into the soapy water dip it into the masking fluid

Now you can paint the masking fluid onto your dry paper over the areas you need to protect.

Figure 7: Paint the masking fluid onto your dry paper over the areas you want to protect

Between every one or two times that you pick up fresh masking liquid rinse the brush out in the soapy water. If you fail to do this the masking will start to dry on your brush and you will end up throwing it out!

Figure 8: Frequently clean you brush in the soapy water

Continue this procedure till you have finished applying the masking fluid to your watercolor painting.

Figure 9: Continue applying masking fluid to the watercolor painting till finished

Let the masking fluid dry completely. Once dry you can lay your watercolor wash over the unprotected areas of your painting. In my case I have used the masking to protect the flowers and branches of my painting so I can easily lay in the background watercolor wash. The masking will protect the paper underneath from staining, though sometimes you may find you have missed a spot leaving you with a small patch of watercolor where it isn’t wanted. This will need to be removed with some light scrubbing after the masking is taken away.

Figure 10: After the masking is totally dry you can lay your watercolor wash

After your watercolor wash has totally dry (this is very important) then you can proceed to the next step of removing the masking. The easiest way to do this is to use a crepe eraser. You do not have to press very hard as the latex of the masking fluid seems to be attracted to the rubber of the eraser and comes off quite easily.

Figure 11: After the watercolor wash is totally dry you can remove the masking with the crepe eraser

You now have the background done and can concentrate on the details in the areas which were protected.

Figure 12: The painting with the dry masking fluid removed

If you had left a gap in your masking now is the time to remove as much of the unwanted watercolor paint as possible with a barely damp stiff brush. You can also use this same brush to fix any edges that you feel are not correct or too sharp before proceeding to the next step.

Hey points for using masking fluid with watercolor paper

Make sure you only apply masking fluid to watercolor paper which is totally dry. Do not apply it to wet or damp paper or the masking fluid will be absorbed into the paper and will damage it when you remove it.

Do not use it on soft sized watercolor paper. This means watercolor paper with very little sizing on it. I mainly use Arches paper and have never had any trouble with it. The problem with soft sized paper is that the masking may be absorbed by the paper and not be able to be removed properly without damage.

Clean you brush in the soapy water very frequently.

Don’t use your best watercolor brushes for applying masking fluid or they will be damaged.

Wait until the masking is fully dry before painting over it.

Wait until you watercolor wash is totally dry before removing the dry masking with a crepe eraser.

You can apply masking fluid over a dry area of watercolor wash before laying another wash. However a little of the watercolor being protected is likely to be lifted and may need to be reestablished anyway with more watercolor.

I only use masking when I really have to as it slows down the whole painting process rather than letting me get right into the painting – but there are times when it just must be used.

Hopefully this information will allow you to use art masking fluid successfully with your future watercolor and acrylic paintings.

So what is the difference between simple watercolor (watercolour) paintings and difficult ones? The biggest difference is often the size of your painting. The smaller the painting the easier it is to paint with watercolors. The reason for this is because the greater the area of paper you have wet at any one time the faster you will usually have to paint before the paper dries so much that you risk creating mud if you keep working on it.

So if you are just beginning as a watercolor artist and you have found yourself struggling then why don’t you try painting at half the size of your current paintings? This is a quick way to give yourself a whole collection of simple watercolor paintings for you to work on.  If you have been trying to paint on a quarter sheet (14.5” x 10.5”) then try working on an 8^th sheet (about 7“ x 11”) or smaller. You will be surprised at how much easier you find it.

When I have new students, their first few paintings are actually about 16^th sheet size ( about 5.5” x 7”) then once they are comfortable with that size I move them up to 8^th sheet before going on to quarter sheet size. If I find them struggling at a larger size I encourage them to work smaller again for a while.

Simple watercolor painting demonstration

I have a demonstration painting on this site of a boat and sea scene which can be either a simple watercolor painting or a more difficult one purely based on the size of painting you want to tackle.

Fig 1: Simple watercolor paintings vs size

Try painting it at 16^th sheet and then again at quarter sheet size and you will see what I mean about the relationship between the size of a watercolor painting and its difficulty. Painting the water component of this painting is done using the side of my brush to create the texture needed to give the impression of glitter on the water. This is done without too much water on your brush which means that the risk of the surface of your watercolor paper drying too quickly increases dramatically with size. The demonstration can be found at this link: Watercolor painting of boats and water .

This is also one of the reasons larger watercolor paintings are usually priced quite a bit higher, not just because they are bigger and have larger frames but because they genuinely take more skill to be successfully completed.

Painting small also makes you less concerned  about the time and materials (watercolor paints and paper) you feel you will waste if the painting does not turn out to your liking, though really no painting is ever wasted as you can learn as much from your failures as your successes!

Obviously there are other things which can make up simple watercolor paintings, such as fewer objects and colors, simpler shapes, less detail, restricted tonal variety, etc. However the biggest factor I have found which makes certain paintings more doable for beginner watercolor artists is reduced size! So if you are finding your watercolor paintings a challenge why not try painting them quite a bit smaller for a while and see how you go?

Happy painting,

Joe Cartwright

Bankstown Art Society Inc
Bankstown Art Centre
5 Olympic parade Bankstown
NSW 2200
Start Time: 13:00
Date: 2012-04-27
End Time: 14:30

If you would like to have a look at the demonstration you can click on this link: Dramatic Venetian sunset watercolor demonstration

Happy painting,

Joe Cartwright