No Paint Wasted! Painting Minis en Plein Air

'Creek View I'      2.5 x 3.5     oil on canvas  
$40 paypal

'Creek View II'     2.5 x 3.5  oil on canvas

'Creek View III'     2.5 x 3.5    oil on canvas

I don't like to waste paint.  With pastels there is no waste. When you are finished painting for the day you put your pastels away or like me leave them out for the next painting.  There is no worry about the pastels drying up. Sure you use them up as you paint but there is no leftover pastel to worry about.

I am trying to get used to the idea of clean up and what to do with leftover paint with oils.  I know you can save the paint and there are different ways to do this.  I have been covering my palette with press and seal saran wrap.  That works fine for a couple of days but what happens when you want to clean your palette and start fresh?  Or what if you have only a little paint left...not enough to save but too much to scrape off?  I know some artists like to mix it all into a nice grey but I decided to use up my paint by painting some quick miniatures.

I used the small 2.5 x 3.5 stretched canvases. I lay them on a paper towel on a table and used the piles of leftover paint from my morning session.  The paintings are loosely based on the marsh I was looking at. It was fun to interpret it on a smaller scale.  I didn't want to waste a speck of paint so I even took out a small palette knife to lay the paint on thick!

The end result....I had three little studies and a clean palette!  Yesterday I had to clean my paleete to get ready for the Marc Hanson workshop (tomorrow)  So I used the paint in another way. Come back tomorrow to see what I did!