I did this little 9×12″ watercolor across a two-page spread in my Fabriano Venezia sketchbook to show you what my new blog looks like! If you’ve enjoyed seeing my sketches, hearing my rambles about the artistic process, and looking on while I varnished paintings, primed panels, mixed paint, and built foamcore pochade boxes, most of those things will be posted only on the new “Sketches” blog from now on. That blog is at http://HudsonValleySketches.blogspot.com. You can click here to head over there now, and subscribe there to continue to receive all my posts online.

Don’t worry; this This Hudson Valley Painter blog isn’t going away! It will still be here, and will contain my completed paintings that are available for sale. The sketches, product reviews, and thoughts on the artistic process will be on the new site.

There are many reasons for tubing your own paint:
Mix leftover paints when a session is done and save it as a neutral “mud mix” for future paintings;
Make your own paints out of binders and pigments;
Mix various values of grays and tube them;
Premix favorite color mixes;
Purchase quality paints that come in jars, like RGH brand, then tube them yourself;
Buy your favorite paints in very large tubes, and transfer to smaller tubes for travel/plein air work.

I made up a dozen tubes yesterday of various reds, taking photos along the way to show you how to do it. Most artists will find that they already have most of what they need, except perhaps the tubes themselves! Those can be ordered from online sources such as Dick Blick, Jerrys Artarama, and ASW.

Supplies I use are:
Paint tubes (of course!)
Long, straight palette knife. (Width depends on your tube size.)
Pre-cut strips of paper towel
Rubber gloves
Wooden craft sticks
Tube wringer
Canvas pliers
Sharpie marker/marking pen
Packing tape
Little colored dots (optional, but really handy)

Put on your disposable gloves. Holding the open end of the tube upright, transfer paint into the tube with the palette knife. Place it as far down into the tube as you can. Tap several times as you transfer, so that the paint settles down in the tube and you don’t get air down there. Try to keep the sides of the tube free of paint. When you get 1.5-2″ from the top, scrape out around the side of the tube above the paint level to remove as much paint as possible.

Squeeze the end flat with your fingers, making sure you get out all the air. Use a wooden craft stick on a small piece of paper towel to press out as much paint as you can that remains in the flattened section of the tube.

Next you’ll use the tube wringer to crimp that end and prevent paint from escaping. I find that by folding a few thicknesses of paper towel over the tube end first, I can avoid a lot of mess on my tube wringer! That saves me a lot of cleaning time too. If you do happen to get a lot of paint on it, just fold a piece of paper towel and wring it through a few times to remove the paint.

Fold the tube end tightly with your fingers, crimping it with the canvas pliers as you go.

I like to use these little labels on the tubes that I can prepare in advance, but if you prefer, you can just write the color directly on the tube with a sharpie. The little colored dots make it easy for me to recognize color family when sorting quickly through a bunch of tubes in my box. I put a small dot on the back side of the tube as well.

Surround the label and dots with clear packing tape. That will prevent the name from coming off. If you’ve written the names directly on the tubes with a Sharpie, it will protect it from rubbing off.

All done. It’s a cinch!

I started making some of my own oil paint a few years ago when I was in search of a higher quality Ultramarine Blue. In using a limited palette at that time, I was dependent on the ultramarine for providing the basis for the dark side of my palette. I needed the deepest, darkest, most heavily-pigmented ultramarine I could find. The best solution to my problem was to make my own. I stay away from cadmiums and toxic pigments, and just buy those in the store. Some pigments mix up easier than others. Ultramarine is a cinch!

The photo above shows the materials I use for paintmaking. I made this batch of Ultramarine Deep today and took these photos as I went to show my process. Making paint is my version of playing in the sandbox.

I begin with a nice big pile of pigment (above) on a 1/4″ glass slab, and make a crater in the center. I fill the crater with alkalai-refined linseed oil.

I work the oil into the dry pigment particles. I add more oil a little at a time as needed. I suppose I could do this more scientifically by taking careful measurements, but as in cooking, I prefer to adjust as needed rather than following a recipe. Now it’s time to take out the glass muller.

Contrary to what you might think, the paint becomes runnier as it is mulled. The glass muller crushes the clumps of pigment particles apart, so that the individual particles will be surrounded by the oil binder.

Since the paint tends to liquify as the oil surrounds the individual pigment particles, you may find it gets too runny and you need to add more pigment. There is actually quite a fine line between too much and not enough.

You may think you need quite a bit more pigment to increase the body of the paint, and then in a flash the entire mass becomes dry and unworkable. (above) A little more oil does the trick.

This is what I consider mulled to perfection. The pigment is well mulled into the oil. You can tell from the sheen that there is enough oil so that the paint won’t be underbound. If I add more pigment at this point, it will likely clump together again.

I’m done! I store these small containers of homemade paint in the freezer, and clean up the implements with mineral spirits or Windex. The paint containers will keep in the freezer indefinitely, as the cold slows the oxidation of the paint and the containers are airtight. I could put it into tubes if I preferred. Ultramarine pigment can get stringy when left sitting in oil, and since I don’t use wax or other additives in my paint to counteract that tendency, I find it keeps a better working consistency in the freezer.

Now it’s time to go paint!

Edit: I have removed the step of adding any mineral spirits at all, even in small amounts. I have done it both ways, and I think it is easier to gauge the proportions of oil and pigment without additional ingredients. Mineral spirits can result in underbinding of the paint, and it’s better not to take that risk.