One of the keys to successful decorative painting is knowing how to use your tools -- your paint and your brushes -- properly and efficiently. It doesn't get more fundamental than loading (or putting) paint onto a brush. This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to load a single color onto a flat brush.
1. Pour Out Some Paint
Image © Marion Boddy-Evans
The first step is to pour out a small quantity of the color paint you wish to use. Just how much depends on what you're painting and is something you learn from experience. Initially, rather pour out less rather than more, to avoid wasting paint by having it dry before you've used it. You can easily pour out some more if you need it, but it's not easy to put it back in the container!
2. Pull the Brush Towards You
Image © Marion Boddy-Evans
Put the brush in the middle of the puddle of paint, push down slightly, and pull it towards you a little way. This loads paint onto one side of the brush; the next step is to load paint onto the other side.
3. Pull the Brush Away from You
Image © Marion Boddy-Evans
To load paint onto the other side of the brush, pull it back through the paint, away from you. Do it in a quick, definite way, pushing down slightly on the brush, enough to bend the bristles (hairs). Don't stress about it though -- if you don't get enough paint on it, you can always do it again. It's something that will quickly become natural, something you do almost without thinking.
4. Don't Overload the Brush
Image © Marion Boddy-Evans
Your aim isn't to get paint all the way up the bristles into the ferrule, or to have it soaked in paint. Aim to have about half of the bristles loaded with paint. As you learn to load a brush you may feel a bit like Goldilocks, getting either too little or too much, but with time you'll get it just right.
5. Ready to Paint
Image © Marion Boddy-Evans
Once you've got paint loaded on your brush, you're reading to start painting! When you've used up the paint on the brush, you simply repeat the process.
