GETTING ALL THE PAINT OUT

Since I don't have any new work to post yet, I thought I'd do a quick entry on paints, and one of my favorite painting supplies: the Tube Wringer --a very simple device with gears that will squeeze every last drop of anything from a tube. [it's that blue thing in photo below.] Oil paint is expensive -- and some colors are really expensive, so it's important to get your money's worth (because if you are an artist, you likely have very little of it). plus, wringing the paint out of tubes with one of these things is super gratifying and even therapeutic...for me anyway. I almost feel like i'm getting away with something when I use mine. simple pleasures I guess.I also use it for toothpaste.

Once a paint tube was all rolled up, I used to use a razor blade to slice the top of the tube off to get that last bit of paint. there's actually quite a bit that gets left in there. a while ago, I found out that with a little effort, you can use the tube wringer to break the top off paint tubes -- just keep wringing until it breaks, then go to town. It can get a little messy if you wring too much though, so gloves might be a good idea.**

I realize this all may sound a tad obsessive,  but I promise I don't act similarly with anything else...no licking the inside of food containers for this guy. but buy a small tube of cadmium or cobalt anything, and you'll understand.

*speaking of paint, see that tube of Windsor Newton Cad. Red in there? I've had it for almost 3 years, and have used it on every single painting i've done in that time. amazing! no wonder that stuff costs so much.  (conversely, I've probably been through about 20 tubes of Naples Yellow Italian in the same amount of time).

**I've actually been wearing gloves whenever I paint for the last 6 months or so, in an attempt to minimize direct skin contact with the more carcinogenic pigments and mediums I can't do without. It took some getting used to, but now it doesn't bother me at all.