Practice question · Select all that apply
Why does a brush die at the heel rather than at the tip? Select every statement that is true of the heel.
Hints
- Three describe the heel and what happens there; one confuses it with the tip.
- The heel is the end that never touches the picture.
Show the answer
- B. It is where the hair enters the ferrule and cannot be reached by cleaning the tip
- C. Paint dried in it splays the hair permanently outwards
- D. Solvent standing in a jar creeps up into it and attacks the adhesive
Why
The heel never touches the canvas, which is exactly why it is neglected and why it kills brushes. Once dried paint has wedged the hair apart at the ferrule the shape is gone for good, and a brush that cannot come to a point or a clean edge cannot be repaired by any amount of care at the other end.
Practise Brushes, Tools and the Mark
The app has 6 more questions on this lesson, and keeps your place in the course. Painting I is free to start.
More questions on Brushes, Tools and the Mark
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- Arrange the steps of cleaning and storing a brush in the correct order.
- A brush is best cleaned by standing it tip-down in a jar of solvent overnight.