Paint Brush Cleaning Basin

There are several reasons why I feel the brushes in this basin work the best and the basin stays the cleanest.  The photos pretty much explain it all.

1.  There are 3 sections to the basin.  Two have brushes.  The largest section is for wash, the next section with the brush is rinse, and the 3rd section is clean, clear water.

2.  The bristles on these brushes are like slender delicate fingers.  They are super soft, but as you can see they come to a delicate point which allows them to go through the bristles of your paint brush and separate to clean "oh so well" adding additional life to your brushes and money in your pocket.

3.  The bottom of these brushes are flat and vented.  This means NO GUNKY PAINT RESIDUE BUILD UP.  The basin itself is smooth not porous so there is no staining or paint adhearance.  Just wash with some dishsoap and a sponge and presto....good as new.  HONEST. And look at the soft rolling grooves on the bottom of the basin in all 3 sections.  HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. AND...you can use warm water.  I add just a few drops of my brush cleaner in the large section so I have the added cleaning power.

4.  The glue used is super strong so brushes don't lift and with the flat bottom there is a good tight bond.  If one should come out you can easily peel the glue and reglue the brush back in.  Many of the other brushes have no vents, the bristles are on both sides so gunk builds up, the water gets to the glue as the brush is not flat to the basin, and the nylon bristles ARE NOT tapered so brush damage can still "happen". Also it is not if the brush comes out  with these "other brushes" but when the brush comes out.  AND there is NO way you are going to be able to reglue....whoops another brush basin purchase.  I also like the size of this basin...

5.  Look at the length of the bristles on the brush...hmmmmmmmmm.  Nice and long to do a great cleaning job huh?  AND no splayed brush edges as the brush is in ROWS....hmmmmmmmmmm or use the other way for wider brushes.......hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.   

6.  I have one brush basin that I use just for mixed media work....for those glue brushes, etc.  

I pretty much concentrate the selling of my basins to painting classrooms and schools/colleges in our area and surrounding areas. 

So what do you think?  Pictures say a thousand words?  Make sense?  It is not the OUTSIDE COLOR of the basin that matters but what is on the inside...the workings of the basin...the quality...and the performance. I like to show you up close and personal what is working and why.... 

P.S.  Works great on sponges too.....

I rest my case.

Mixed Media Victorian Fan

I belong to a great online Yahoo group called ArtfortheCreativeMind.  Our moderator keeps us REAL busy with swap exchanges and really calls out the
muse in the members. 

The theme for this swap was simply "Victorian Fan".  We could use whatever we wanted for our support, chose our own colors, etc.  WHAT FUN....I loved this one.
Seeing the photos I think I am going to go back and distress the edges of the torn

bits of paper and then call it "DONE".  It was fun choosing the items to use.

Now I must go backwards a bit and work on the simply "Sardine Can"... for the swap due before the victorian fan. 

Beaded Feather Necklace

I love creating things that are different, and challenging my artistic muse. She really had a workout on this piece.

I purchased the marbled/painted feather from Ely (see below for additional information on this artist) and then ordered some natural ones she had on her site for "filler feathers" and it worked great.

One side of the necklace is red and turquoise blue seed beads, lampwork beads, and Tierra Cast spacer beads, and the other side is a brass colored chain. When I went to Cosmetology school years ago my teacher told us that if we would look at each side of our face we would see that it "looked" different and that we should do each side of hair differently....I have never forgotten that and it is something that carries over into my creative, artistic license when working on a painting, piece of jewelry, altered art, etc.

This was a lot of fun and worked up quickly....and exactly as I had invisioned this first piece to be. I am now looking forward to another one, done different, and know what I want to change to get a bit more dimension.... When painting you work from top to bottom, with this piece I had to work from bottom to top.

Thanks Ely for such gorgeous feathers to play with........achoooooo.

Koosah and Sahalie Falls Oregon

Koosah and Sahalie falls are located here in Oregon and they are awesome no matter what time of the year you visit. It is a place I never tire of going to and I take photos galore each time and see it through virgin eyes each time it seems. The magnificent views, smells and sights stay with me for days, and I anticipate each visit like a small child on Christmas eve. If there were ever a heaven on earth it would HAVE to be here. I have painted my rendition of one of the "views" my camera and I took but it doesn't do anything justice except maybe the gorgeous blue of the water, and the hanging moss. This will go to the gallery on Saturday. This will be my last month there so what doesn't sell will come back and show up on Artfire for sale. I painted this on a 9 x 12 portrait grade canvas, matted and framed. I was actually wishing this canvas had more "nubb" which is unusual for me. I guess next time I order I will request the medium grade vs
portrait to try for certain landscapes.

Brrrrrrrrr.

My daughter emailed me a wonderfully detailed, sharp, clear photo of this robin.

I first painted it on the lid of an oval shaped box which was published in PaintWorks magazine.

Everything about this photo was an artists dream so I decided to upscale it a bit.

It has been painted with more detail, and because it is larger than the box lid I was able to bring out more of the coloring in the trees and was amazed at the colors "that worked". Trees, bushes, and animals look "different" different times of the year as I could readily see just in the color of these aspen trees which are more saplings than full sized. The new growth also is much darker with nubs where the new growth is beginning. I may decide to paint this again jumping to a larger sized canvas. Notice the "indications" of additional trees way in the background which help create the depth in this painting.

I chose a 5" x 7" portrait grade canvas and then close to use a black frame. This

was really a fun piece and a delight to watch it come together to the finish point.

Who DOESN'T LOVE a GREAT FIND?

When I opened up this little case and saw the inside I KNEW it was going home with me....and that it did. My little Humane Society Card was full of punches so this little gem didn't cost me a penny so that made it even sweeter.

It was stained so I cleaned it up real good with Awesome, glued down some molding around the bottom that was loose and put the little drawers into my dishwasher to come sparkling clean.

It is going to be used on my mixed media table downstairs to hold tools I use and small misc

embellishments. I have set aside tomorrow as Clean it up, throw it away day. YIPEE. Such a little thing to evoke such a burst of energy .. long overdue energy.