Remains of the Day

My palette at the end of the day

One of my grandmother's favorite sayings was "Waste not, want not". And since I was raised by parents who grew up during the depression, the discipline of thrift was definitely part of my upbringing! As a result, I hate to let any of my painting supplies (most of which are very expensive) go to waste.

I learned years ago from Kevin Macpherson that he scrapes up all the remnants of paint from his palette at the end of the day, and makes a big puddle of "mud". This "mud" is a usually a mid- to dark- toned neutral (an example of mine appears above). It is perfect for blending with other colors! Neutrals like this add a richness and depth to colors from the tube, and help reduce their value and lessen their intensity. These are good things to do, because much of a landscape painting is composed of midtones that are not brilliant in intensity. You can see some examples in the color wheel below. It shows what happens when a midtone gray is added to a pure yellow, orange, red, violet, blue or green.

Photo courtesy Gamblin Oil Colors

If you are so inclined, you can purchase ready-made tubes of various mid-tone grays, such as one of the Portland Grays, manufactured by Gamblin. But I find that the puddles of mud scraped up from my palette stand me in pretty good stead as neutrals. I even save mine by storing them in empty tubes that you can buy in art supply stores. 

Another benefit of saving the "remains of the day" is that it encourages me to squeeze out plenty of paint at the beginning of the session. Many painters (including me) have a tendency to scrimp on paint, which definitely have a negative impact on the painting process. Since I know that none of my paint will go to waste, I feel free to squeeze out liberal portions. So here's to thriftiness and a low waste process!