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Rikard Lindby

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I have a beginner question about the water supply. While watching youtube videos from Andrew Pitt and Alan Owen I noticed that they don't seem particularly concerned about using muddy/dirty water while painting.  I try to use two buckets; one for dirty and one for clean. The dirty one for cleaning the brush and the clean one for picking up water for the palette. Am I being overly cautious about this thing? 

Alan Bickley

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Dirty water will give you more chance of muddy or certainly less clean and pure washes! That’s not rocket science but obviously for some watercolour artists, this is less of a problem… I adopt the same method of having two jars, albeit I haven’t felt the need to progress to buckets just yet!

Sylvia Evans

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I must admit buckets sound excessive...though I am assuming you use water colour.   I also use two small pots of water  but also regularly renew them both. Unless I am sketching outside and take a small bottle of water with Ut of curiosity do you paint very LARGE paintings ?
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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Alan Owen is around 90, and not likely to be overly keen on getting up and down to change his painting water.  I don't think it matters THAT much - however much THAT is....  I change the water between sessions, and used to employ two pots, one for swishing the brush into, the other for using with the paint; I stopped doing that out of laziness, and noticed so little difference that I stopped bothering. Muddy paint comes from over-mixing with too many colours, especially with those that don't harmonize with each other; you would think that muddy water, containing traces of those different colours, would make a deleterious difference, and perhaps it does.  But I can't say I've noticed it. There is of course a difference between dirty and filthy; if you employ clear, limpid washes, you're likely to want to have your two pots of water (and to remember which is which: another problem I had); but I don't mind a bit of dirt; in its place. 
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Rikard Lindby

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Thanks a lot for your thoughts. I suppose when doing landscape work, one does not care too much about the muddy water possibly subduing the intensity of some colours. It might even be wanted. Botanical painters might have a more rigorous approach I suppose. I will continue to experiment. And I too use jars, not buckets. Language mixup :)
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Paul (Dixie) Dean

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I only paint in watercolour and use two jars for water , the idea is to use one for the cleaning brush and one for clean water to mix the paint I would not like to count the num of time a day I dip into the wrong one .  It’s difficult to notice any difference in the colours when I do but I dare say it would if using very dirty water and very light colours. By the way I even have pots that have painting water and not painting water written on they but when you focused on painting the hand wonders to the wrong one . What is god is to give your brushes a good clean between sessions and let them dry properly as it prolongs the life of the brush and definitely help keep its shape and suppleness. 
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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Thanks a lot for your thoughts. I suppose when doing landscape work, one does not care too much about the muddy water possibly subduing the intensity of some colours. It might even be wanted. Botanical painters might have a more rigorous approach I suppose. I will continue to experiment. And I too use jars, not buckets. Language mixup :)
Rikard Lindby on 09/11/2023 11:52:03
That's a good point - yes, it might even be helpful to have slightly tainted/tinted water when painting landscape.  I'd be a little more careful when painting skies, but as I invariably paint those first, the paint water won't have had a chance to get too murky.  
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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Good point from Paul, too, about brush care.  My most recent masterpiece - we're using the word loosely here - was painted with a goat-hair mop (a gift from Alan Owen) and it does appreciate a good clean between sessions, and being allowed to dry in its own good time. 
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Rikard Lindby

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I have painted my jars differently to help me differentiate between the two. One is decorated with a devil's head in red, and the other with the profile of a young woman. The dirty water goes to the devil and the pure to the maiden. Unless I'm in a foul mode. For cleaning the brush I have purchased something called "The masters brush cleaner and preserver". I think it works pretty well. 

Sylvia Evans

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I am so sorry this post is giving me the giggles...trust it to be three men....
With Sarah, Phil, Ellen, Rose the dentist, and the granddaughter whose name I forget.

Robert Jones, NAPA

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I am so sorry this post is giving me the giggles...trust it to be three men....
Sylvia Evans on 09/11/2023 16:34:32
Sexist.

Sylvia Evans

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Yup....
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