Oil Painters Can Clean Up Green and Save Some Money
The issue with using paint thinners is what do you do with the paint thinner after you have used it? I store it after a few weeks, the heavy pigment of the paint settles to the bottom of my jars.
All the paint left in whatever you use to clean your brushes is toxic and requires proper disposal.
Even at recycle centers you will have to pay to dispose of this material, why not get your money's worth.
After the pigment has settled pour the semi-clear paint thinner though a paper coffee filter*, after a while you will have a jar full of black/brown/gray pigment.
I take one or maybe sometimes two jars a year to the recycle center, costs me a few bucks for it to be properly disposed of.
Here is the plus, you are recycling your brush cleaning product (paint thinner, I use mineral spirits) and doing the right thing properly disposing of your waste pigment.
And here is how you are again saving, I went from using four or five gallons of mineral spirits a year (I paint a lot) to less than one gallon per year, saving money and taking care of our earth, feels good! * If you have someplace to store the paper filter you can use them a few times before they are too dirty to use again, dispose of them when you take your jar to the recycle center.
Now you're thinking to yourself I am really a starving artist, how can I stretch my dollars even more? Well after carefully draining off the semi clear paint thinner you are left with what is really just paint pigment and yes you can paint with this.
I would suggest that you add another layer of gesso to your canvas to protect the canvas from the trace amounts of mineral spirits still in the pigment.
Add linseed or stand oil to the pigment to suit your needs and you have workable oil paint.
Now understand that what you have does have some limitations as it is going to be dark, remember it is the leftover pigment from your brushes.
It can be lightened up some with light colour paints mixed on your palette but you risk losing the dark earth tones to a gray wash with too much light paint added.
Practice with this material on a blank canvas, get a feel for how it handles I think you will be very much surprised with all that you can do with this pigment.
This is really squeezing every penny out of your pigment budget.
All the paint left in whatever you use to clean your brushes is toxic and requires proper disposal.
Even at recycle centers you will have to pay to dispose of this material, why not get your money's worth.
After the pigment has settled pour the semi-clear paint thinner though a paper coffee filter*, after a while you will have a jar full of black/brown/gray pigment.
I take one or maybe sometimes two jars a year to the recycle center, costs me a few bucks for it to be properly disposed of.
Here is the plus, you are recycling your brush cleaning product (paint thinner, I use mineral spirits) and doing the right thing properly disposing of your waste pigment.
And here is how you are again saving, I went from using four or five gallons of mineral spirits a year (I paint a lot) to less than one gallon per year, saving money and taking care of our earth, feels good! * If you have someplace to store the paper filter you can use them a few times before they are too dirty to use again, dispose of them when you take your jar to the recycle center.
Now you're thinking to yourself I am really a starving artist, how can I stretch my dollars even more? Well after carefully draining off the semi clear paint thinner you are left with what is really just paint pigment and yes you can paint with this.
I would suggest that you add another layer of gesso to your canvas to protect the canvas from the trace amounts of mineral spirits still in the pigment.
Add linseed or stand oil to the pigment to suit your needs and you have workable oil paint.
Now understand that what you have does have some limitations as it is going to be dark, remember it is the leftover pigment from your brushes.
It can be lightened up some with light colour paints mixed on your palette but you risk losing the dark earth tones to a gray wash with too much light paint added.
Practice with this material on a blank canvas, get a feel for how it handles I think you will be very much surprised with all that you can do with this pigment.
This is really squeezing every penny out of your pigment budget.
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