Colour Contamination in Watercolor Pan Boxes 

sometimes it's just nice to hear someone say "it's ok". and I think many people have this concern.

My tip for removing contamination: take a 1/2 inch synthetic flat (stiffer than watercolour brushes) and, when the pans are totally dry, wet the brush with oxgall (I have Schmincke oxgall half-pans in my sets) and remove most of the moisture then scrape it over the paint, almost shaving off the contamination. I find doing this in the field after painting keeps even my lemon yellows clean :)

I love a bit of contamination in my palettes. I like the variation it creates in paintings and it personalizes your end result. Like you said in the video you always mix your red with the phthalo. I'm sure that creates a unique characteristic through out your body of work.

I'm glad that guy asked you about this1 I wanted to but was afraid it might be insulting. I've been pretty obsessive about keeping my pan boxes clean, but it is very time consuming and as you say, wasteful of paint. So I'm glad you made this vid; I'm going to do as you do leaving me more time for Fun!

Well thank you! You just gave me back the joy of my painting process...I have been using pan sets for the first time and was getting annoyed at all the cleaning of my brush I was doing because I didn’t know if the paints would still work well if I contaminated them. Now I can feel more freedom to just go for it! And I can always replace a specific color if really needed. Thank you, artist!

Contaminating my lemon yellow tube paint in the pan is my pet hate :/

thank you for this video. Im a beginner and just started this hobby and I have exactly the same question and concern about color contamination. now I can rest easy knowing it’s not a big deal and I can still get the true clean color if I want to 😇

When I was starting out, I loved seeing clean palettes. However, as I used wc more and more, I started admiring people who have palettes that are "dirty", have cross-contamination, and have huge holes in the middle. Mostly because I know they're using their palettes more than I do and they are (I assume) better with quick paintings and mixes lmao I still can't stand cross-contamination in my own palettes though. It's "dirty", but I try my best to keep the paints pure. I don't have the same outlook when painting outside or when traveling though, got no time to be "clean".

Congratulations on 20,000 subscribers! Thanks for all your work on these videos.

I am an absolute beginner with watercolours but have found, especially in my first dip in the pond (no pun intended) with half pan paints, I contaminated them easily with the brush after each dip. If anything, it has forced me to become a better mixer and to have a greater awareness of colour theory. Hope that makes sense. Great vids and channel by the way mate, I've subscribed! 🖒 Chris (UK).

Thank you for the topic! It has confused me for a long time and I really wanted to know how artists deal with the question. Nice video!

In my studio palette I have two pans of some colours, one for mixing.

I'm glad that you did this video as I was also wondering about contamination, now I know how to approach the issue, thx Teoh👍

Perhaps there is another possability to clean your paints, If after every season , you take a tissue and wipe the edge of the Pan, let it dry and then put your paints away, you wont have the problem to start with. I have not got a web page so i cannot show you my water colours.., One is the same as you where the paint was wrapped in paper in a little plastic cube shaped pans, the others I purchased in Moscow. These are really lovely paints both to use and because of the colours being really bright, I have been painting for many years ( now 73) and being water colours they usuually will last at least half a life time if looked after. I also make my own paints, both oil and water colours, and a paint with can behave like both oil and water, because of the medium i use they dry very much like oils only a bit faster, these days paints are so expensive, Iit pays to buy the pure oxides and earths to make you own, a container of the raw pigment will basically last a lifetime purely on the amount you get by buying the raw pigmment, the only thing I would say you really do need is a glass muller and plate glass that has been sand blasted. With reasonable amount of different pigments there is very few colours you cannot get, plus the ones you cannot buy, so a worth while investment.

I take my pans and rinse them under the tap at the end of a session. Then I dry them in my dehydrator. Also when I refil the pans with tube paint, I smooth the wet paint with a wet finger that I run under the tap, then dry in the dehydrator.

I try to lessen the contamination by grabbing paint from the sides of the paint pan, if my brush is dirty. If I need to add water to activate paint while my brush is dirty, like say, needing some more wet yellow when I already have blue in my brush, I use the small plastic cover that comes on fine brushes when you buy them. (Like a tiny drinking straw.) I keep it in my pan and use it like a pipette...just place my finger over the end and grab a drop of water to wet the paint pan. That keeps things clean, but not too OCD clean.

Thanks! So it sounds like unless I'm actually mixing colors IN the pan, it won't be an issue. Except for yellow. Got it. Haha I didn't think you'd make a video about it.

nice explication! I was watching a video other day, an artist said when someone uses a clean orange or clean red and all clean colors on picture, sometimes it looks very "burn" or noob.

Dude! I flinched when the thumbnail showed up.

I sort my colorpans both horizontal and vertical. So a lemon yellow is beneath my naples yellow and a new gamboge right to it. IF u would sort it only horizontal there would be blues beneath my yellows.

you always have the video i was looking for... THANKS you are the best

Thanks Teoh! This video was very helpful. I'm not so afraid to mix my pan paints.

Thank you Teoh! I love your videos. They have been so helpful to me🙏

I love your videos. They have really helped me xx

20K!!!! Congratulatioooooooooooooooooooooooons!! :DD I love your videos

In my studio palette, I have two Ultramarines, one for mixing with one pure, I will do the same with yellow next time.

Hi Teoh! Congrats on 20,000 subscribers! Keep it up. One question. What watercolor do You prefer more? Rembrandt or Schmincke?

Thank you so much Theo! I enjoy your videos a lot!!

please make video about how to wash drawings utensils

Thanks for all of fantastic work you do to educate us, Teoh. My question is how you store your individual sheets of watercolor paintings - those that are not bound in a journal? Do you have a system? How do you find what you're looking for months later?

Thanks for this video! I'll be more careful about my paler shades hehe. I've seen a bit of a separation between people who prefer to use the colors straight from the pans and people who prefer to mix; do you find that mixing colors will necessarily result in a loss of vibrancy? Is there more to this than personal preferences?

Cheaper watercolors, especially cheap yellows, are very obvious when contaminated.

Hmm interesting, I never thought about it as a way to uh...dim down the colours so to speak. Sometimes I like mixing colours in the pans directly, especially if it's like a darker shade...like with blues or magenta or violet. The contamination doesn't affect them much as you mentioned. However typically I meticulously wash my brush before using each pan/colour to avoid contamination. BUT when I'm in a hurry or feeling lazy, some contamination does happen and then some interesting colours appear. Like say with green and lemon yellow, I get a nice bright apple green colour haha. BTW silly question but, what paper is that?

I know very little about paint so I would like to ask a question please. You said that you put paint from tubes into a pan...so the paint is then exposed to air....does the paint then dry up and spoil over time?

What if the paints are contaminated with little dust and tiny hairs etc from falling onto the carpet?

Is there any book that you might recommend that has lots of ideas for beginner water color projects. I have trouble sometimes thinking of new things to paint as I learn. I love the videos! Thanks

I have seen those paints on Owings art

How do you dry your watercolors after using them?

I love your video!

I don't fill my travel palette pans very full, so if the colors become contaminated, it isn't very much paint. The colors can be interesting that way too. At home, I put small squeezes of tube paint around the outside of a while porcelain plate, enough for one painting or two at the most. Check out Steven Cronin's channel. His palette is astonishingly messy, 7 Cotman colors I think, and he still makes it work.

Plees make a vido fore mixing coler. Skun colors.

How can I completely remove paint that I have put in from tube in the pan? I have been unable to find nothing on RU-vid of how to remove the hard or semi-moist watercolor paint. If I can find a way of removing cheap paint from a palette that I like and replace my own paints that will be great financial savings.

I love the paints you have in the Schmincke palette; what brand are they? Thanks.

Spray with some water and they clean up ok

I need some tips on how to not contaminate paint. Whenever I get done using one color, I clean my brush with water, dry it with a paper towel, and then use a different color. Almost every time I use a different color, my paint is contaminated. Any tips?

n one more thing what is ur suggestions for good brand for watercolor n water color paper too. as I am willing to buy these two.

do you babe any recommendations of waterproof pens for beginners/that are cheaper alternatives to sketch/trace your drawings with while using watercolors? i know you tend to use only pencils, but i've been longing for ones and i've been searching for recommendations.

could we let the pans dry first and then put them in the box?

which cool red are you using in the second box ? thank you :)

Hey Teoh, can you introducing me some art supply stores in Singapore? Thank you very much.

I c.. I sent u question on Instagram about ur camera type is it DSLR?

So it sounds like you don't really deal with contamination, (as in fix it or clean it up), you just work around it. I'm still wondering how to actually get rid of the contamination. I am trying to get a pan "uncontaminated." Maybe it is possible to scoop the other colour off by using a wet paintbrush and picking it up, bit by bit, wiping paint you're trying to get rid of on paper towel, and cleaning brush off after each swipe, until the pan is cleansed?

Do you like gansai Tami??

hi!!!

Do u have Instagram ?