Brushes and acrylics

Click on photo to enlarge

This is what acrylic does to brushes, I don't know why. It might be that the acrylic causes the bristles to become brittle so they break more easily. Such wearing-down doesn't happen with oils. For this reason I use cheap brushes for acrylics and replace them often. Just today I got four flats, sizes 7 to 9, for less than one US dollar each.

There are times, though, when the job needs a good brush, and for those times I have the set shown below, which I think are made of nylon or something similar. They have lovely spring and precision and are a joy to work with. They were far from cheap so I'm taking the very greatest care of them.

Acrylic tips

Here are two things about dried acrylic paint I haven't seen elsewhere:

1) When acrylic paint dries it becomes more transparent than it looks when first put on. Most sources say it dries darker, which is probably true, but it's also more transparent and therefore streakier. The reason is that the binder or glue that holds the pigment together is opaque or semi-opaque when wet (whitish), but it dries clear. This is merely my own observation, not a scientifically proven fact.

2) A brush ruined by acrylic paint drying and hardening in the bristles makes a good stick for stirring cans of paint.