What do I do with my PAINT WATER?

Hello everyone! Today's video is a shorter one than usual, but it addresses a questioned I'm asked all the time here on YouTube: What do I do with my paint water?

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[erinedison]

I actually do work in water resources so I have a little bit of insight on this. My concern with folks dumping heavy metal pigments down the sink would be in situations where their graywater is not being treated at an actual wastewater treatment facility. Here in MN, if you’re connected to City sewer, all that sink water is being treated at a facility before being discharged back into the environment. Each facility treats for heavy metals differently, so you can always do research into your City’s treatment processes. On the other hand if your area handles graywater differently or you aren’t connected to a municipal sanitary sewer, that’s when I would really be very careful about what is going down the sink drain. And for heaven’s sake please don’t dump paint water (or anything else) into the storm drains on the streets because those are typically directly connected to waterways without any treatment.

[olgahein]

For those who want to go a step further to keep dangerous pigments out of your envitonment or your tabwater: Filter it. Give your used face mask (bei it FFP2 or a hospital mask) another purpose after you have worn it to death, and pour your water color into a bigger jar through this mask. Do it carefull though, but once you are done, the pigments are pretty much all in the mask. The filtered water can be poured away now and the mask can be left to dry before next use. Once you can't use it anymore, store it inside a container or smth (I use an old acrylic paint bucket that also has some leftover dried acrylic paint which needs to go to the hazardous waste facility anyway) and dispose of it in a safe way that is possible in your area. Of course those will have to be replaced frequently, but for that you can be sure that far more of the dangerous pigments don't end up in the environment and waterways.
You can alternatively filter through used paper towels or coffee filter bags after they are dry, but they will need to be replaced even faster. You can of course use unused ones, but i prefer to take what would go into the trash bin anyway.
Or you can just try to stay away from those pigments of course, but it's hard. It really is. Once you tried Schminckes Cobalt Turquoise though, it will be impossible.

[SuperUsername]

I only use non-toxic pigments, but honestly, non-toxic to humans doesn’t mean non-toxic to wildlife so I should probably start doing this as well.

[marigasudaisuki]

This might sound a little silly but I actually like using my leftover paint in palettes to do mini paintings and wash exercises! i try my best to get creative so i clean my palette less often and use up as much paint as i can on it until i need to do some really big wash that'll take a lot of space; sometimes letting the colors of my palette define my inspirations for the day when ive hit art block too! and i think practicing flat and gradated washes are watercolor fundamentals that we usually tend to ignore once we hit the intermediate/advanced stages of our painting journeys but i find its very nice to go back to the basics sometimes and doing it whenever my palette gets too dirty is therapeutic and a good way of making sure i do it regularly too! of course this frequency may change depending on your types of paintings/palettes so it might not be for everyone, but thats my method

[kreativeReise]

I have smaller jars and let the water evaporate almost complete and then fill the pigments in a pan. I got amazing greys and browns out of this practice. Especially when I used metallic paints too.

[berolinastrassmann]

Thanks for this. I use a tea or coffee filter to catch pigments from my decanted dirty water (like you, I let the dirty water sit overnight after use). After pouring the rest of the dirty water through the paper filter, I let the filter dry. I collect them and dispose of them together with special garbage (paints, solvents) for which my city offers a special container in their recycling facilities. Tea and coffee filters are inexpensive and easy to use; they collect all small particles, so I am confident nothing horrible goes to the water disposal. Thanks for offering these tips, Denise, much appreciated.

[LanaGoesArt]

A much needed video. It's exactly what most brands suggest to do with leftover paint or water. ❤️

[azzuparis]

I was actually thinking about how to dispose paint water. Although I don't use any real cobalt or cadmium paints, I would still love to avoid to dump the water down the drain (as I did so far). This video comes in handy, even though I need to do a little research as I live in France. Thank you Denise 💕

[grannysmithart]

so glad to find this video! for several years now my process has been nearly identical to yours, old teeshirts are cut up for rags, ( i share these with my students to get them in the habit). Really dirty rags get used for palette cleanup then disposed of. Over the years i have managed to reduce use of the heavy metal paints, but when i do use them the wash water goes into a 2 quart tub, after 2 years it is nowhere full. For those skeptics out there, a friend killed her houseplants by watering them with her wash water!

[ineiii]

Thank you for this! I’ve heard of others doing something similar but at the end clean the deposited pigment with a paper towel and disposing it. Although currently I do not have the conditions to do this this is definitely something that I will look into doing in the future. Perhaps pierce some holes on the lid to let the water evaporate but prevent access by small kids or accidental spills

[mjpete]

Very good ideas Denise, rather like Lindsay's Frugal Friday Tips she has been posting! When I was living at home we were on a well and I had a Terra Cotta pot I had gravel in, Bigger stones on the bottom gradually getting smaller as it went up! I would just dump my paint water in this pot that sat out on the back porch. It never filled up and all I got were colorful rocks! I do not believe I ever had troubles with it. Honestly I have no idea what my Mom ended up doing with it, as it is no longer at the ol' homestead and now I do the ever reducing gunk at the bottom of the pigment jar, like you. So good to see you posting, I look forward to more content from your ever capable hands!

[corvus]

This was a great video to post. I try to do my part as much as I can, even if I do sometimes fall short and one of them was the paint disposal. I always thought that the place to drop all of these items off was far away (being in a smaller city that relays heavily on a bigger city for everything). And after looking at the city website, I found so many local places to recycle items and paints I wasn't even aware of! So thanks for this and for making me look deeper into my city and my artist waste.

[ogposhgeek]

You can also try pouring the paint waster into fresh kitty litter and disposing of that in a bag. I do this when painting outside.

[fizzlestyxx]

I'm new to my art path and just started learning to use watercolor paint. Thank you so very much for this video!

[artericson]

Thanks for the reminder on how to safely dispose of our watercolor paints!

[pk]

Thank you for the heads up on this issue. I also try really hard to consider my impact on the environment. I had not considered the hazard of my paint water. I try to minimize the harmful pigments that I use, but I still have some tubes of cadmium pigments purchased when I was just starting out in watercolor painting and did not understand the toxicity of these pigments. Again, thanks so much for the information and practical solutions.

[brushedfantasies]

I remember when you cleaned your paint palette, the idea of using paper towel to clean up excess colors was amazing. I have well water so it was revolutionary to me. So simple. Thank you for sharing this information 💜💙

[bujofm]

Thank you so much for making this video 😊. I'm a beginner in watercolor painting and the main reason why I chose watercolor is that a little goes a long way and the fact that watercolors don't expire except for when molds grow. Whereas other mediums like acrylic are cheap but since they don't last that long bcz you need to use large amounts of it I didn't want to get into acrylics. And oil painting EXPENSIVE so I decided to go with watercolor and seeing your video made me realize it's a good decision. Thanks again Denise 🤍

[.]

I use one of those filter carafes with a charcoal filter to filter pigments and reuse water as I paint. Probably not perfect but the water comes out pretty clean and I don’t need to get new water from the tap as often.
I think there’s also something like sand to harden and dispose of paint water but I’ve never tried it.

[b.lab.__blab_colors]

It’s the part I’ve always been thinking about while using watercolor paint. I’m trying to reduce waste as much as possible for a number of reasons, but I found a new solution in your video. Thank you 😊