How to Clean Up Paint Brushes: The Art of Preserving Your Most Essential Tools

I've ruined more brushes than I care to admit. There was this one sable brush—cost me nearly forty dollars back in 2018—that I left sitting in turpentine for three days because I got distracted by a commission deadline. When I finally remembered it, the ferrule had loosened, the bristles splayed like a bad haircut, and the handle had started to crack. That brush taught me something crucial: cleaning your brushes isn't just maintenance, it's an act of respect for your craft.

The relationship between an artist and their brushes is intimate. You learn how each one moves, how it holds paint, where it tends to shed a bristle or two. A well-maintained brush can last decades. My grandmother's watercolor brushes, which I inherited, still paint like dream after seventy years of use. She cleaned them religiously after every session, and now I understand why.

The Chemistry of Paint and Why It Matters

Paint is essentially pigment suspended in a binder. With oils, that binder is usually linseed oil or similar. Acrylics use polymer emulsion. Watercolors rely on gum arabic. Each of these binders behaves differently when drying, which fundamentally changes how you approach cleaning.

Oil paint oxidizes rather than evaporates. This means it's actually undergoing a chemical change as it dries, forming long polymer chains that harden over time. You've got a window—sometimes days—before this process makes cleaning significantly harder. Acrylics, on the other hand, are water-based but cure through evaporation. Once that water's gone, you're dealing with plastic. And plastic doesn't want to come off your brushes.

I learned this the hard way during art school when I thought all paints were basically the same. Tried cleaning dried acrylic with turpentine once. Might as well have been scrubbing concrete with a feather.

The Oil Paint Cleaning Ritual

For oil painters, the process starts before you even dip your brush. Keep a rag nearby—old t-shirts work brilliantly—and wipe excess paint off throughout your painting session. This simple habit reduces the amount of paint that works its way up into the ferrule, where it causes the most damage.

When you're done painting, start with the wipe-down. Get as much paint off as possible using your rag, working from the ferrule toward the tip. Some painters stop here and move straight to solvent, but I've found that a preliminary cleaning with oil makes a world of difference. Sounds counterintuitive, using oil to clean oil, but it works on the principle of "like dissolves like."

Pour a small amount of vegetable oil, baby oil, or even olive oil into your palm. Work the brush through it, feeling for paint deposits with your fingers. The oil breaks down the paint binder gently, without the harshness of solvents. Wipe clean, then repeat if needed.

Now comes the solvent stage. Turpentine, mineral spirits, or odorless paint thinner all work. I prefer odorless mineral spirits these days—the fumes from traditional turpentine gave me wicked headaches in my twenties. Swish the brush in a small amount of solvent, but here's the key: don't let it soak. Prolonged exposure to solvents weakens the glue holding your bristles in place.

The final step is soap and water. Use a gentle dish soap or, better yet, brush soap specifically made for artists. Masters Brush Cleaner has been my go-to for years. Work up a lather in your palm, rinse with lukewarm water, and repeat until the water runs clear. Shape the brush back to its original form and lay it flat to dry.

Acrylic Paint: The Race Against Time

Acrylic paint is unforgiving. Once it dries on your brush, you're in for a battle. The key is never letting it get to that point. Keep a container of water next to your easel and rinse your brushes frequently during painting sessions. Even a few minutes of neglect can start the drying process.

When you're finished painting, immediately rinse the brush in cool water. Hot water can actually set the paint faster—learned that from a conservator friend who specializes in contemporary art restoration. Work the bristles gently with your fingers under running water until the water runs clear.

For stubborn acrylic residue, I've had success with rubbing alcohol. Soak the brush for a few minutes, then work the paint out with your fingers. Some artists swear by fabric softener for dried acrylic removal. Mix it with warm water, let the brush soak for an hour, then scrub gently. The surfactants in fabric softener can break down the acrylic polymer bonds.

There's also a product called Winsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer that's specifically designed for dried acrylic. It's saved several brushes I thought were goners. But honestly? Prevention beats restoration every time.

Watercolor Brushes: Delicate and Demanding

Watercolor brushes, especially those made from natural hair like sable or squirrel, require the gentlest touch. These brushes can cost a small fortune—a good Kolinsky sable can run over a hundred dollars—and they're worth babying.

The cleaning process is deceptively simple: rinse in clean water, gently squeeze out excess moisture, and reshape. But the devil's in the details. Never leave watercolor brushes standing in water; it loosens the ferrule and can cause the wooden handle to swell and crack.

After rinsing, I like to give my watercolor brushes a gentle wash with a tiny amount of hair conditioner. Sounds weird, but natural hair brushes are just that—hair. The conditioner keeps them soft and prevents brittleness. Rinse thoroughly, reshape, and lay flat or hang upside down to dry.

The Forgotten Step: Reshaping

This might be the most overlooked aspect of brush care. After cleaning, while the bristles are still damp, reshape them to their original form. For round brushes, twirl them to a point. Flats should be gently pressed between your fingers to restore their chisel edge.

I keep a brush shaper on hand—it's basically a soap-like substance that you work into the damp bristles to help them hold their shape while drying. Some artists use a tiny bit of hair gel for the same purpose. The goal is to counteract the bristles' tendency to splay as they dry.

Storage: The Final Frontier

How you store your brushes matters almost as much as how you clean them. Never store them bristles-up in a jar while they're damp—water runs down into the ferrule, loosening the glue over time. I learned this from an old-timer at the art supply store who'd been selling brushes since the sixties. He showed me brushes that had been stored improperly, their bristles falling out in clumps.

Ideally, brushes should be stored flat or hanging bristles-down. I built a simple rack using a piece of wood and some wire that lets my brushes hang freely. For travel, brush rolls or cases with individual slots protect both the bristles and your other supplies from rouge paint.

When Good Brushes Go Bad

Sometimes, despite our best efforts, brushes deteriorate. Bristles splay, ferrules loosen, handles crack. Before you toss them, consider their second life. Old brushes make excellent tools for texture work, dry brushing, or applying masking fluid. I have a collection of "zombie brushes" that I use for techniques that would destroy good brushes.

There's also the option of restoration. Loose ferrules can sometimes be re-glued with epoxy. Splayed bristles might respond to a deep conditioning treatment. I once saved a favorite flat brush by trimming the damaged bristles with nail scissors, essentially creating a smaller brush with the same handle I loved.

The Meditative Quality of Brush Care

There's something deeply satisfying about cleaning brushes properly. It's a ritual that marks the end of a creative session, a transition from the chaos of creation to the order of maintenance. I've come to see it not as a chore but as part of the artistic process itself.

In Japan, there's a concept called "omotenashi"—hospitality that anticipates needs before they arise. I think of brush cleaning this way. By caring for our tools today, we're showing hospitality to our future creative selves. Tomorrow's painting session will start with clean, responsive brushes ready to translate our vision to canvas.

The time spent cleaning brushes is also thinking time. How many artistic problems have been solved while standing at the sink, working soap through bristles? It's a moving meditation, hands busy while the mind processes the day's work.

Final Thoughts

Good brush hygiene isn't about perfectionism or following rules for their own sake. It's about developing a sustainable practice that honors both your tools and your art. The methods I've outlined aren't the only ways—every artist eventually develops their own quirks and preferences.

What matters is consistency and attention. Clean your brushes like you're preparing them for your best work yet, because you probably are. That painting you'll create next week, next month, or next year deserves tools that are ready for the task.

The forty-dollar sable brush I ruined taught me an expensive lesson, but it was worth it. Now, cleaning brushes is as automatic as washing dishes after dinner. It's just what you do. And my brushes—some now decades old—continue to serve me well, ready for whatever creative adventure comes next.

Authoritative Sources:

Gottsegen, Mark David. The Painter's Handbook: A Complete Reference. Watson-Guptill Publications, 2006.

Mayer, Ralph. The Artist's Handbook of Materials and Techniques. 5th ed., Viking Press, 1991.

Smith, Ray. The Artist's Handbook. DK Publishing, 2003.

Saitzyk, Steven. Art Hardware: The Definitive Guide to Artists' Materials. Watson-Guptill Publications, 1987.