A quiet pleasure

There is satisfaction to be found in the small things. They help one find a stillness yet still give a sense of achievement. This morning I think I finished an oil painting; it was the last thing I've been finishing up before breaking from painting for a couple of weeks and had been dragging on longer than I'd hoped; even now my opinion is changing with the light so I won't declare it officially done until I've slept on it for a few days. With the next few weeks devoted to linocuts and the development of the next batches of paintings I will not be touching oils for a while. This meant I could deep-clean my brushes this morning. I can't do it that often as the brushes end up wet with water, not solvent, and so can't be used for oils again until completely dry which takes a while for large brushes like my hake.

Its a slow, leisurely process, especially as I own quite a few now. Any that aren't already clean and dry are cleaned in white spirit as far as possible. Then each brush is used to work brush cleaning and conditioning soap (I think mine is Da Vinci but the writing wore off a long time ago) into a lather. This is worked deep into the bristles. The brush is then rinsed in water, then back to the soap until no more colour comes out and the brush feels as supple and springy as I want it. One final rinse, then remove most of the water with tissue and reshape the brush while its damp. Finally leave to air dry. It all ends up as a slow and soothing rhythm if you can do it uninterrupted.