Scribblemom.com
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Gallery
  • scribble mom.com

Something irritating you? 

8/26/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Here is one of my favorite paint brushes.  


Well, former favorite brushes, I should say.  


It’s actually been rather irritating lately.  But in the past years, we’ve been through a lot together.  Just about a year ago, in fact, this brush was doing amazing work on a rather large project.


I completely relied upon this brush, and it lived up to the task;  responsive, soft, flexible.  I could load on the thick oil paint, and this brush always smoothed things out just how I wanted it.


But not any more.  


Time has passed, and it’s grown crusty.


Stiff.  Uncompromising.  Unhelpful. 


This brush became so irksome that I wanted to cast it aside and forget about it.  Give up on it.


But the truth is, I still need it.  I love it.

So I decided to give it one last try.  After a quick soak in solvent, I turned on the warm water, and started in with the soap.  Just some hot water and a bar of regular soap.  


And an hour of my time.


Gently, patiently, I dabbed and pressed and painted on the bar of soap until the old crustiness began to melt right out of this beautiful brush.  I could not believe how much red oil paint was still stuck within the bristles!  No wonder it had been so ill-behaved!  Warm water, soap, dab, brush, rinse.  Warm water, soap, dab, brush, rinse.  Warm water, soap…


And persistent gentleness.


What if I treated other people with the same care and concern that I reserve for my paintbrushes?  What if every crusty, irritating person was gently soothed with warm water and soap?  What if I was willing to spend an hour with each grump, gently soothing away thier crustiness?  


What if?


You will be happy to know that my old brush is in perfect shape now.


No crustiness.  No stiffness, no wounds.  


It is pure and soft and gentle.  It's been restored.  
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Alzheimer's
    Art
    Birds
    Camping
    Cartoon
    Christmas
    Comic Books
    Craft
    Down Syndrome
    Family
    Flowers
    Food
    Gratitude
    Health
    Hope
    Joy
    Kids
    Kindness
    Love
    Mom
    Mud
    Oil
    Or Lack Of It
    Paint
    Peace
    Pets
    Photography
    PTSD
    School
    Sky
    Snow
    Spring
    Sunday Bouquet
    Sunrise
    Transplant
    Veterans
    Winter
    Work

    RSS Feed

    Love
    Joy
    Peace

    Found in the 
    small things...

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2022
    December 2021
    July 2021
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

All content  © michellemahnke.com  2021