Inspiration...and some paintbrush cleaning tips

After a long and joyful game with aclylic paints, I ended up with a finished project, a big mess, a few orange and blue {permanent} stains on my shirt, rainbow hands and a lot of dirty brushes!

I always start cleaning my painting tools with the palette, as the remains of paint dry fast and sometimes they need to soak before washing. A little bit of warm water, a slight rub on the dry paint...and there it was! The color peels were so beautifully arranged in my sink, that I run to grab my camera!  I thought it was pretty inspiring and I had to share. :-)

Next person in cleaning queue is The Jar. Throw away the dirty water and wash it thoroughly. You can also clean the colors with dish soap on a sponge and make it as good as new. Well...I'm not that kind of person...the one pictured bellow is my favourite jar in the whole world. We've been painting together for about five years and I love every single dash of color on it!

Then the paintbrushes. You can just rinse them with water and let them dry. My way though, includes a bar of soap. If you are using water based colors, rinse away all the paint until the water comes clean and then rub your brush on a bar of soap. I'm using traditional olive oil soap because I think it keeps the hair more soft and flexible. You can also use liquid hand soap or really any kind of soap. Most of the times you will see that there was more paint hidden in there and the foam helped it come out. Massage it for a sec with your fingers and then rinse the foam. Dry it with a towel (your moves should follow the hair direction) until all the water traped in there is absorbed. ALWAYS keep in upright position with the wooden stick downwards and hair facing up (make sure that there's no more water close to the metalic parts that holds the hair, to avoid rust). Another way is to lay them flat or place them on a special brush stand that keeps the brush upright and hovering. 

If you are using oil paints, clean the brush with white spirit or thinner first and then use the same procedure. You might need to soap it more than once to clean all the oil.
This way you can clean every kind of paint brush or roller, even the ones used to paint the house.

Do you get easily inspired from everyday things as I am? I would love to know! Please share in the comments below.
What was the last crazy thing that gave you a flash of inspiration?