Oil Painting question?

I'm taking an oil painting class. I've never painted before, so I know nothing.


I'm using turpentine, linseed oil, and of course, oil paints... but what do I do with these when I'm done?


In class, we have a handy little cleaning station. At home, not so much. I don't want to just pour this stuff down the drain. Any oil painters out there who can help me out?Oil Painting question?
mainly be careful with cleaners and thinners, some are flammable, so you don't want to leave laying around in rags anywhere, you can throw these into regular garbage, if you have a container of fluid cleaner left over, you could let settle, pour into new glass container for next time, and clean out sediment to place in trash, if fluids are too murky to reuse, check local recycling depots for disposal, some have bins for oils and toxic fluids, some do not, turpentine is good for cleaning after painting as well as thinner, linseed oil is handy for thinning paints, not for cleaning, there are also mediums you can use for thinning instead, so trash some non reusable items, and reuse fluids or recycle,


..Oil Painting question?
It is not advised to pour these items down the drain, they are not only harmful to your plumbing, but also to the environment! What I usually do with turpentine is take a mason jar or some other glass jar and store used turpentine within that (it can be reused time after time) and to make this turp easier to reuse I would invest in a strainer (which you can find on dickblick.com) it basically lets the bristles of the brush rest in the turp above the settled residue which will be at the bottom of the jar once it has been left to sit for a long period, thus making the old turp still usable. Most art institutes have proper disposal methods for these types of materials once they are utterly no longer usable. That would be probably the best option of long term disposal.





Also, to preserve the oil paints left on your pallet after your painting session has ended, take some clear wrap (like the kind you would use in the kitchen) and wrap the pallet with it, it stops the air flow to the paints and makes them last much much longer than would uncovered, as well as saves you some money for not wasting good paint.
One other thing to remember when you sre done with the brushes at the end of painting


clean them as best you can and then use warm soapy water, dish detergent is good for this.


Clean them real good then rinse with warm water and then reshape the brushes to the original shape and let dry. Do this and they will last a long time.Use a air tight jar for storing your turpentine.