Basics of oil painting: How to clean your palette

Painting with oils is a pretty complicated task, especially if you want to do that masterfully. You can’t even wash your brushes normally – you need a special routine for that. I’ve started my “Dirty brushes” blog with an article about cleaning brushes, now it’s time to move on to the next bathing theme.

I have never thought about how to clean the palette right until I saw the «Das Meisterstück» project by Matthias Schaller. «Since 2007, Schaller has been capturing the beauty of these artists’ palettes as a window into their creative genius» - is written on the website (http://www.matthiasschaller.com/).

When I saw Seurat’s, Pisarro’s and Renoir’s palettes I was devastated – they look so clean as if they were used only once! Since then I was paying a huge attention to the cleanliness of my palette.

Seurat’s, Pisarro’s and Renoir’s palettes photographed by Matthias Schaller

Some unexpected problems could appear when you start to paint daily. For example, when the colors don't dry completely on the palette they have a solid film at the top and soft bottom, so when you mix the paint on the dirty palette tiny bits of the dry film get into the fresh paint. As a result, you will have dirt in fresh paint and, eventually, dirt on the painting. I don’t even mention the fact that the old paint could soil the fresh one.

Hidden treasures

Some artists buy plexiglass or paper palettes, some – seal it with tape and after the session is over just unstick the tape with an unused paint. However, I prefer a traditional way – working on a wooden palette.

Cleaning routine

Bright oiled palette

- After a painting session you need to take off the unused paint – the palette knife is perfect for that. After you'll clean the thick layer of fresh paint you can wipe the palette with a cloth soaked in a thinner (my article about different thinners). Then you can wipe your palette with a dry cloth.

- Before starting to paint you’ll need to drop some linseed oil on the palette and wipe it with a cloth. The layer of the oil should be very thin. The palette will be oiled out so it will not pull the oil out of the paints.

New palette

Some artists have a special treatment routine for new palettes.
Most of new palettes are not lacquered. Many artists lacquer the palette, because it helps the paint not to soak so much into the surface. However, some artists note that while you’ll be removing the paint with a palette knife you can damage the lacquer surface so the bits of lacquer will fall into working surface and then into paint.

Other artists highly recommend to oil out the palette before the first use. Not in a thinly, but in a thick abundant way. Wait 3-4 hours and wipe off the exceed oil. Unfortunately, if the palette was poorly made this procedure can lead to warping and make you palette unusable.

Old and dirty palette

My main recommendation is – buy a new one. Anyway, I know what «hard times» means, so here are some tips on cleaning the old and dry palette:

- You can cut the old paint with a sharp putty knife, palette knife or a common kitchen knife. But you have to be careful not to cut the wooden palette or yourself. Then align the surface with sandpaper and wipe the palette with a cloth soaked in a thinner (here is an article about thinners).

After cleaning the surface with a palette knife

- More extreme and highly dangerous way – you can heat up the palette to make the old paints softer. Some artists do that by heating palette in the oven (nice way to burn the house), other put paper soaked in a flammable thinner on a palette and light the paper up (nice way to burn the palette and, probably, the house). I highly recommend not to use these methods.

Palette knives by Winsor & Newton

The routine in oil painting can be exhausting and tedious, but the satisfaction from the beautiful painting will make you forget about the pains.