When your Reservoir Starts to Dry, Here’s What You Must Do …

This time a quick tip about your brush's tip

Hello again!

Thanks for coming over.

Yes, your reservoir of paint – by which I mean the paint you’ve diluted from your lump to whatever consistency you need for the job in hand. For example, light paint for tracing, medium-dark for strengthening, thick for flooding …

If it’s just two or three strokes of paint you need, it’s easy to judge how much to prepare.

But if it’s a lot – like the coat of we did for Hampton Hall – then it’s not so easy to get it right.

Now I know how a few weeks ago I suggested making more than enough, which I still say is the right thing to do.

But suppose you don’t make enough? Suppose it’s hotter than you thought … so the paint dries out sooner than you expected?

Then – you need to add more water to the reservoir.

And yes you can use your palette knife.

But I want to tell you what to do if you choose to use your brush.

It’s this.

The answer

Just dip your tip.

Don’t soak the whole brush.

Just dip your tip.

Hold it in the water for a few seconds. Believe me, the brush will soak up water.

Just dip your tip to soak up water, then add it to your palette and mix it in

Just dip your tip to soak up water, then add it to your palette and mix it in

Then mix it in with the paint on your palette. Maybe you’ll need to do this twice or three times.

But it’s best to mix in water a little at a time, because this guarantees the consistency of the reservoir.

Also, when you just dip your tip, you can guarantee you won’t water-log your brush (a water-logged brush is useless to paint with).

Like we often say, you need control. Of course the problem is, you also need water. The more water there is, the less control you have. That’s why you keep your brush as dry as possible, and just dip your tip.

I hope this helps.

Best,

Stephen

P.S. This is the kind of “tiny” thing which never gets included in most “how to” books because no one thinks to say it. That’s why those books aren’t much good. But our movies aren’t like that. And our new book won’t be like that either. (The publisher knows this and she can’t wait to get our finished text.)