​I've got lots of new students, beginners and not-so beginners, so this is a good time to talk about how to care for your watercolour brushes.

Why?

because they're expensive - my first natural bristle brush cost $300 - I'd better look after it!!

that was close to 25 years ago and it's still a great brush - because I look after it!!

1. Rinse sizing out of new brushes. Some new brushes come with gum-arabic sizing holding the bristles together. The bristles will feel hard and crusty and may be stuck together completely. To remove the glue before first use, simply swill the brush around in clean warm water and use your fingers to gently massage the sizing out of the bristles.
2. Prepare your brushes before you start painting by wetting them and letting them absorb a little water before you start painting. Blot off the excess water and leave them lying flat on a towel (or tip down if you have a brush holder). You want them ready to go when you need them so they'll absorb paint and water when you want to load your brush - it's impossible to paint with a dry brush!!
3. Always squeeze out fresh paint before you start painting, this doesn't seem like brush care I know, however, brush bristles will wear and break if continually used to scrub at dry (aka bird poo) paint.
4. Don’t leave watercolour brushes standing/soaking in water. 
5. When you are finished painting for the day, rinse thoroughly with clear water, blot them gently with a clean towel and leave them to dry flat on a towel. 
6. Don't store your brushes in an airtight container, even if you think they are dry inside the ferrule, they might not be. Remove your damp brushes from rolls or open up brush carriers as soon as you get home. If you transport your brushes to a class or a plein air session in a brush carrier, be sure to unroll or open it as soon as you get home to allow moisture to evaporate and let them dry completely before re-packing, but this may not be practical in a multi-day workshop or while traveling. But do at least take the time to open up your brush carrier and let your brushes dry out.
   In addition to the problems of handles cracking or ferrules loosening, leaving brushes stored in a closed carrier can lead to mold. Many watercolor paints contain ingredients like honey or glycerin to help them stay moist. Once you get mold contamination in your brushes or paints, it can be very difficult to eradicate, so it’s best not to give it a chance to get started.
7. Don’t panic if a natural bristle brush gets schmooshed and dries in a wonky shape, just reshape the brush using warm water. If that’s not enough to do the trick, blot the brush to remove excess water and use gum arabic to reshape the bristles and hold them in place. After the brush dries, rinse out the gum arabic as you would sizing from a new brush and all should be well. On rare occasions, I’ve had to repeat the process a few times to completely reshape the brush.
8. Don’t trim your brushes "to get a better point". Occasionally, you will find a brush hair or two sticking straight out to the side, and the warm-water trick doesn’t fix it. In this case, the brush hair may actually be partially broken, and the best solution is to trim that one hair (or two) off at the ferrule. But don’t try to reshape an entire brush by trimming it. It simply doesn’t work. The reason a brush comes to a point is that there are longer hairs in the middle AND that each hair (even synthetic ones) has a natural taper to it. Trimming the brush removes the natural taper and makes it LESS likely that you’ll get a good point.
   To really understand this—and just because it’s fascinating!—watch this video about how watercolor brushes are made. It helps explain why they’re so expensive, too! Lots of steps done by hand and it’s not a simple skill to learn. (If you liked that one, you might also like this longer series on how traditional Chinese brushes are made.)
   There are three common reasons why a brush won’t come to a sharp point:
   a. It’s a poorly made - sigh! There’s no fixing this. The best way to avoid that problem is to buy your brushes (at least the expensive ones) at an art supply store that will let you try the brush in clear water before buying. Even a high-quality brush can be damaged in shipping or by other customers handling it in the store, so this is especially helpful if the brush does not have any sizing or protective cover. It might still be a perfectly good brush, but trying it out will ensure it hasn’t been damaged.
   b. The longest hairs at the tip of the brush have been broken or split. Depending on your style, a good natural-hair or quality brush may last a few months or a lifetime. You have to be pretty rough with it to break a brush down in a few months, but aggressively stabbing at the paper, scrubbing and dry-brushing can be hard on a brush. My solution to this is to use one of the wonderful synthetics or synthetic-natural hair blend brushes on the market today, paint with abandon, and buy a new brush after 2 or 3 years.
   c.  it wasn't designed to have a point  - my favourite brushes are rounded points.
9. Never use your good brushes for applying masking fluid! Masking fluid dries fast and is impossible to remove! 
10. Before using ANY brush for masking, wet it with soap solution. I simply dip my masking brush in water and scrub it around on a bar of soap. I’m especially careful to get some soap worked into the area near the ferrule, to keep masking fluid OUT!
11. Love them and USE them lots! Yes you might wear them out or even better, your brush miles will make you want a better brush - fantastic!!

ciao cari pittori!!

One of the reasons I love watercolour painting is the speed at which I can achieve a painting. If and when I'm clever, I can have a painting today! It took me a long time to get to this point - I've been painting watercolour close to 25 years - it's not an overnight process!!

A huge obstacle for watercolour newbies is allowing the watercolour to have it's way. There's a saying "before I paint, I'm in control, once I put that brush down the watercolour takes over". The secret is, until you let go and stop trying to control the uncontrollable, watercolor, as it should be painted, will be difficult for you.

Embrace "mistakes" and "accidents", runs and bleeds and allow the painting to speak to you and tell you what it wants. 
Have another read of my webpage "About Me" and note the last sentence - "I love watching paint dry!"

Stop fiddling and controlling and start watching what the paint does, you'll start to notice the really cool effects and passages - watercolours will paint themselves if we let them and they'll certainly ​do it much better than we can!

When we're painting watercolour it's also time to stop and smell the roses! 

The scary secret is, you might not get the results you wanted or expected and you certainly might not know what to do next - that's the shock of it!! Use your artist's sense of composition, value structure and design to decide next steps - does it need more darks or lights? are the shapes correct? is it balanced and unified, etc etc.

Make a cuppa and watch the paint dry!!

ciao i miei belli amici!!
​Amanda

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I've been listening to lots of podcasts from artists who love painting en plein air like I do - the interesting thing is, I come from the school of painting what should be there but most of the artists I've been listening to seem very focussed on determining the exact shade of colour (temp and hue) and the exact value of each shape and finding the right scene/subject.

When I discover a scene/subject to paint, I can guarantee you I will feel the need, rightly or wrongly, to shift some things around (lamp posts are never in the right place), and change colours and values to suit my idea. I have 2 thoughts about this, firstly, I am NEVER going to find the perfect scene so I might as well get down and dirty right now.  Secondly, I am an artist, it's my job to make whatever it is beautiful and meaningful and tell my story through paint.

Imagine how many hours I would lose just by simply wandering around looking for the right scene/subject? Most often I have 2-3 hours to paint on location, I better make it snappy. Don't get me wrong I deliberately go to places that I know will please me (crusty, rusty and horrible are the key words here) and I do like it when someone chooses for me and gives me a challenge - its all too easy to fall into the trap of painting the same things over and over.

Back to WHAT SHOULD BE THERE. So what should be there? well that's up to you to develop your skills of observation and your sense of good taste and design. While in Raglan NZ recently, I went to paint the orange dinghy - how disappointing ... i could barely tell it was orange ... back in the day it positively glowed and reflected into the bay, not only that, the fab building behind it doesn't exist!! My biggest problem is I believe my own press ... I really remember the house being an architectural wonder but I think i painted it that way many years ago and the painting is stuck in my memory!! So I decided to paint the old Dairy Factory behind the nasty building, it's obscured from every vantage point so I'm going to have to make it up, there will be ladders and brooms and mops and buckets, maybe a bloke walking by with a fishing rod. What i really need to consider is how important is the Dairy Factory and if i decide it's very important then i will have to decide what elements I will need to help me communicate "Dairy Factory" without getting naff or kitsch!! 

The secret message today is, use the scene/subject/photo as your inspiration, not something to be copied faithfully, just because it's there doesn't make it right for a work of art, if they brought back bell bottoms would you wear them? Give your artistic license a whirl!!

ciao i miei belli amici!!
​Amanda

For more watercolour Paintbox Tips, articles and learning, visit my FREE TO JOIN network for student's of all levels
​

Come paint with me in Italy
Watercolour for Beginners - Auckland New Zealand
Weekly Classes - Auckland New Zealand
En Plein Air - One Day Workshops