Managing and maintaining paint

[michi]

Guys,

I have a problem maintaining my paint.

Here the situation:

- I don't have much time for the hobby and only very sporadically have the chance to do some painting.
- I have bought many paints (mainly GW and Vallejo) over time, and since I am not painting intensively, they get "old".
- I also use the air brush
 

Here the problem:

- So every time I open a paint pot there is a surprise in which state it is. Sometimes it partially dried out, sometimes the paint has decomposed. So I try to recover the paint with variable success. and mostly not getting it to the right consistency for painting.

- For air brushing I just last weekend with a Vallejo Air color cluttered my air brush, which just killed all the joy.

So many times I cannot really enjoy painting, as the paint is too thick or to thin or somehow doesn't really paint nice.

 

So here my questions:

- Any suggestion on how you store your paints and maintain them?

- How do you make sure your paints have consistency?

- Any tips on how to "recover" paint, if it got thick/dry or decomposed?

I think you get the picture.

 

 

Attached a picture of Teddy :-) completed few weeks back.

 

[Omenbringer]

I would strongly recommend you use a custom blend of products to keep your paints coherent and fluid. Like you I also go long periods between painting stints, however since using the the following mix I have had virtually no issues with paints drying out or losing coherency (some paints, usually Metallics, are just a pain to keep coherent for long periods of time).

Here is the mix I recommend with ratios:

• 1 Part Liquitex Gloss Medium
• 1 Part Liquitex Matte Medium
• 1 Part Liquitex Flow Aid
• 2-3 Parts Distilled Water (with as few "taste" additives as possible to find).

I add this to my paints before using them and after.

Some thing else you can add since you are planning on using an air brush is Liquitex Air Brush Medium. This I would likely add to the above mixture in the following ratios; 2 parts Gloss, 2 parts Matte, 1 part Flow Aid, 1 part Air Brush, and 2 -3 parts Distilled Water (as a Start, adjusting as necessary).

One last thing is to periodically "jostle" your paints (without opening them) when storing them for a long period of time. An electric massager is great for doing this quickly and easily.