As an aspiring painter, I have discovered to my delight that paint lasts much, much longer than what the size of a bottle or a tube might make you feel.
I have recently painted at least 35 pieces, if not more, by squeezing every last drop of paint. You would be astonished how much remains after you think you have exhausted paint. In that, paint bottles and tubes are not that different from toothpastes. There is always more until there isn’t.
In my case, scraping the absolute bottom of paint bottles and tubes is necessitated by my chronic impecuniosity. The last routine I do is add a bit of water in every bottle, shake it up to create what is a remarkably effective priming wash. I have been occasionally asked how I achieve certain glow underneath a painting. The answer is this priming wash. It is not a technique but mainly an assault on a canvas or a sketchpad.
I want to cite here the last six paintings that I have done under my ongoing series Forest. Each has been done well past the point where all my paint seemed over. There is no trick to it other than inducing rage from the most penurious corners of your existence.
For me painting is a seemingly dichotomous mix of raging passion and pure indifference.