[Steppes] Paints and brushes, ya-ta-ya-ta-ya-ta

[Elaine]

If you can't use the following now, save the info for later, OK? I've  
got a cup of tears for every helpful hint that follows. No sense in  
our duplicating, right?

I have a ton of supplies and technical books after decades of  
painting, and after I decided I had three lifetimes worth, I stopped  
ordering from John Neal Bookseller. He was my best source-- if I had  
time for it to ship. Asel's in Dallas was for my more immediate  
needs. The expansiveness of choice and their levels are much above  
the national chain stores, for my taste and for whom I was painting.

A student grade PAINT has a lot of filler in it. You won't need as  
much paint if you use artist's/professional grade. Watercolor and  
gouache are both water-based with a kind of glue as a binder. Acrylic  
has a plastic binder. Egg tempera has an egg binder, usually the yolk  
for greens and yellows and oranges with the white used for blues and  
true reds and some purples. Casein paints use a part of milk as a  
binder.

Pay attention when you are experimenting with paints. There are TWO  
KINDS OF MEDIA. Some are ground up minerals, and some are dye-based  
paints. If you have to lay on several colors, paint the dye-based one  
first to let them soak into the paper or skin. Next, use the ground  
up ones, which will sit on top of the surface. This prevents "MUD"  
from forming, as when you mix a dye color as a second paint on top of  
a ground up one. You'll get a more brilliant effect with dye first,  
ground-ups second.

When you MIX PAINTS, put out your major color first, then add by  
tiny, fractional parts your second color to avoid the second one's  
ruining the whole batch. The worst I have found for taking over are  
the dye colors Alizarine Crimson and Winsor-Newton's phthalocyanine  
colors such as Winsor Blue and Winsor Green.

Also when mixing, pay attention to the PERMANENCE (non-fading  
characteristics) of the color. You will find the rating like a report  
card---the more A's, the better. The whites will give you fits.  
"Permanent White" is OK by itself, but it will lower not only its own  
A but that of another A color mixed with it. The mix will not be an  
A. If you want to take down the color, use Zinc White.

As for BRUSHES, get the best you can afford. Winsor Newton's Series 7  
is their top of the line. Brushes by the Silver Brush company are  
very close and are typically cheaper.

I have found 2 problems in STORING BRUSHES with the point up: 1,  
Paint that has somehow resisted being carefully washed out after the  
brush has been used, will slide down the hairs, get into the ferrule  
and cause the bristles to break off sooner than usual, and 2. there  
is nothing nicer  in a month's evil mind than to lay its eggs in the  
top of your best Russian Kolinsky male sable brush's tip so its  
larval children can feast on the tip. Take it from one who knows--I  
lost the tip of my $155.00 brush to those nasty beasties. I cried as  
I turned "Nibbled" into a "wash brush" for laying in skies!

My solution to MOTH-PROOFING  brushes is to get a long, flat plastic  
box, & use a hot nail to punch holes in it so any residual moisture  
can escape and prevent mildew. I put the brushes in it flat. An added  
precaution to protect the tips is to bunch the brushes with half  
facing left and the others facing right. Rubber band them together  
with the end of the handles extending past the brushes'  tips on  
either side. This will allow the end of the handle to take any bumps  
and not let the brush tip rest, curved, against the end of the box.

If you do happen to get a CURLED BRUSH for some reason (and there are  
many), work up a thick lather of an oily soap and coat the hairs of  
the brush with it. Shape the brush until it is as straight as you can  
manipulate it. I usually put it into a glass, handle side at the  
bottom, (Yes, I know the tip is up this time.) Let the soaped brush  
dry overnight. In the morning, soften the soap-hardened brush under  
tepid, running water. Carefully coax all the soap out. Rinse  
thoroughly and reshape the brush. Put in a moth-proof area and let  
the hairs dry. Should be good as new!

There is a favorite brush STORER/SAVER I learned to make from a  
matchbook bamboo place mat and some pajama elastic with a technique  
called "bubbling" that I learned from some weavers, but that's  
another story for another time. I made one for my calligraphy pens as  
well.

About BRUSH HAIR TYPES:
Sable hair is unique. It is"springy" (pops back to straight when  
lifted from a stroke) and each hair has a bulbous part as it tapers  
to the follicle on the sable's tail skin. Other hairs have a  
toothpaste shape--the monofilament has all one diameter size. Natural  
brush hairs can come from almost any source--wolf, cattle, squirrel,  
etc. (Camel hair brushes actually are squirrel tail hair. A brush  
seller, Mr. Camel, sold his own designs.) Hogs' ear hair make those  
stiff, blonde brushes like oil painters love. The Chinese  
grandfathers save generations of cat whiskers for the grandchildren  
to have that special, heirloom brush.

Watch the TIP of the brush when you buy one. If you are *really*  
spending the bucks, ask the store guy for a jar of water. Swish the  
brush to get the stuff out of it that the manufacturer puts on it for  
shipping and, like Harry Potter, "Swish and flick." What you are  
looking for are hair tips that come together to make a needle-like  
point. It doesn't matter if it is a round brush the diameter of your  
thumb that is the needle or a fat, flat one that looks like a knife  
edge. You are paying for that precision. If the clerk won't let you  
have water, don't be intimidated. Ask nicely for the manager and  
explain what you are looking for. Don't buy a brush they won't let  
you test.

Among artists, the COMPATABILITY RULE is that acrylic brushes are for  
acrylic paints (plastic for plastic) and natural hair brushes are for  
just about anything else that's natural.

So much for now, Hope this is helpful. I also hope it's not too  
overwhelming for a newbie. I'm just trying to give you some shortcuts  
that it took me a lifetime to discover.

YIS,
HL Lete Bithespring  (Sable Thistle and Iris for C&I, and a ton of  
stuff in the "mundane world")