How much garbage do you produce for one painting?

[Nikolai Kraneis]

Hi,

today I found the blog from Kevin Menck with a lot of nice paintings. There are also a lot of photos showing people painting in the fields. And very often, they keep a paper roll in the »non painting hand«. I was impressed by all these huge garbage bag hanging on the tripod.

Check this photo with garbage bags

As plein air painters, we all care for the environment, I suppose. And to store all the garbage in a bag is a sign of good behavior, but why so much? While painting with oil on a panel like 24x30cm, I use 2 or 3 sheets of a kitchen roll and a piece of of rag and thats all. 

So, how much garbage do you produce for one painting?

 

many greetings, Nikolai

 

[Leon Holmes]

I agree, I use one peice of rag about the size of 1/2 a tea towel and a 1/4 cup of turpentine. at the end of the days painting I poor the turps out into the used rag and leave it to dry out and evaporate before binning.

In my studio I have built a recycle unit for my turpintine and clean and reuse all my turps.

[Armand Cabrera]

Why do you care? There is no reason to be concerned about this. Your goal as an artist is to paint the best painting you can paint not worry about how many paper towels you use. Strip mining, dumping toxic waste or clear cutting damages the environment; painting doesn't. There are not enough artists in the world producing enough waste to even matter. Be more concerned about people having too many children and filling up landfills with diapers and plastic water bottles.

[Leon Holmes]

Ok, fair point, there are greater evils in the world than a piece of turpsy rag. my use of minimizing these has come out of a need more than guilt for the environment as disposal of such things can be hard when you are camped out for weeks on end in the wilderness. Saying this, with however billion people are on this planet, we should have some concern and each play our part for the environment..... Shit, I sound like a politician!....Sorry! Happy painting :)

[Tony Robinson]

I very often produce garbage. But I just paint over it and I'm ready to go again. Easy.

[Cecile Hines]

yup, garbge today...not counting the wind taking my easel and the piece that holds tilting part broke..damn it

[Kath Schifano]

I keep a half filled 35mm film can with turpenoid for about 6-8 paintings. It works fine when it's thick as jam but looks ugly. Letting it stand let's the solids settle so I can still use it in studio. I usually use just one paper towel per painting by using a palette knife to clean the brush first. Basically cheap, I also believe we all have a responsibility to protect and preserve what we have in all aspects of our lives. 

[Terri Miller]

What's film?

Just kidding!

I started painting with nitrile gloves on a few years ago, and discovered that my trash production was cut to about 1/3 of its previous level. Maybe because I wasn't quite so worried about where the paint wound up, or perhaps because I can use every square inch of a paper towel when I'm wearing gloves.

I keep my gamsol in a lock-lid brush washer, and it lasts for months, until I have to scrape out the crud - and even then, I can pour it into a standing jar, let it settle, and then pour it back into the brush washer.

 

Kath Schifano said:

I keep a half filled 35mm film can with turpenoid for about 6-8 paintings. It works fine when it's thick as jam but looks ugly. Letting it stand let's the solids settle so I can still use it in studio. I usually use just one paper towel per painting by using a palette knife to clean the brush first. Basically cheap, I also believe we all have a responsibility to protect and preserve what we have in all aspects of our lives. 

[Armand Cabrera]

 

 I use a roll of paper towels per painting. I swap my Gamsol for every painting too I use the largest Brush washer made by Holbein. Since painting well outdoors is hard, I focus on making the best painting I can make which means cleaning my palette every ten minutes or so and keeping my OMS clean. I would recommend if you want to paint well you do the same thing.

 I set my life up so I can be a painter, that’s how I make my living. You want to protect the earth? Don't have children; that actually makes an impact.  I chose not to so I could paint. Being stingy with paper towels and OMS is so miniscule as to be irrelevant.

[Terri Miller]

You have a point there, Armand. I too chose not to have children, so I should probably recalculate my "footprint" thusly! :-D

Armand Cabrera said:

 

 I use a roll of paper towels per painting. I swap my Gamsol for every painting too I use the largest Brush washer made by Holbein. Since painting well outdoors is hard, I focus on making the best painting I can make which means cleaning my palette every ten minutes or so and keeping my OMS clean. I would recommend if you want to paint well you do the same thing.

 I set my life up so I can be a painter, that’s how I make my living. You want to protect the earth? Don't have children; that actually makes an impact.  I chose not to so I could paint. Being stingy with paper towels and OMS is so miniscule as to be irrelevant.

[Sharon Guy]

I save old phonebooks and use a couple sheets of newsprint and one rag to wipe the brushes.

[Armand Cabrera]

I would be the same kind of world we have now. There is no correlation between the two things. My family had zero interest in art most of my artist friends are the same. We became professional artists in spite of our parents not because of them. The greatest threat to life on the planet is over population from humanity. And zero population growth doesn't mean not having  kids at all it means two kids per couple. Recycling and worrying about our carbon footprint is useless in the face of population growth.

[Chuck Marshall]

I love it Armand and agree!

Armand Cabrera said:

Why do you care? There is no reason to be concerned about this. Your goal as an artist is to paint the best painting you can paint not worry about how many paper towels you use. Strip mining, dumping toxic waste or clear cutting damages the environment; painting doesn't. There are not enough artists in the world producing enough waste to even matter. Be more concerned about people having too many children and filling up landfills with diapers and plastic water bottles.