Tips and Hints for Tuesday!

• Dip your brush in refrigerated distilled water when floating your shading and highlighting. Your floats will go farther and be much smoother than they would be with tap water.
• Use toothpicks for applying fine details, making tiny dots, or applying color in hard-to-reach areas of your project.
• Keep the card-holder stand that comes with flower arrangements. When painting from a photo, insert the photo in the card holder and place the holder in your brush jar. This not only keeps your picture at eye level but also keeps it from getting messy with paint.
• Ever been in doubt about how a certain color or stroke will look on your painting? Place a piece of clear acetate over the painting, then apply the stroke or color to the acetate. Voilà! It’s just like having a crystal ball.
• When setting up your painting space, keep a bar of soap on top of a paper towel, next to your water container, for washing out your brushes as you finish using them. This saves you many trips to the sink, plus it keeps brushes clean and helps you avoid paint buildup.

These tips were from the June newsletter of the Society of Decorative Painters.  An organization that many painters from the OFG Team belong too.