An Erma Bombeck moment.
 

My Husband and are sitting here tonight watching TV . A commercial comes on touting the superior absorbancy of a certain brand of paper towel. At the end of the commercial I find myself saying with all agreeance "yeah that's a great paper towel".

It struck me then how becoming a "Professional Portrait Artiste" will have made me an expert in at least nothing else, knowing which paper towel kicks butt.

Linda, so which one is the best?

Viva does not leave any lint on an oil painting if you are wiping off. My vote anyway.

For me it's Bounty Select-a-size.

Each sheet is about half the size of the other brands, which works out fine 90% of the time. Of all the tools in the bag, I think this one would be missed most.

Costco's Kirkland brand doesn't leave lint and, if you've got room to store a bunch of huge rolls, is a great price.

This discussion brought to mind a quotation from Pablo Picasso: "When art critics get together they talk about Form and Structure and Meaning. When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine."

Bounty for me
 

I am happy with my Bounty paper towels, though I admit I use them because that's what I buy for the kitchen. But I hardly ever use them to wipe the canvas, I wipe off my brushes in them while I'm painting. Maybe I should be using cheap rags?

Joan

I'm a Bounty half sheet fan too, Mike.

Chuck, what a wonderful quote! Too many people are learning how to write about art and not enough people are learning how to do it, are they?

Well, what a relief :)
 

And here I was feeling like I wasn't a "good artist" because I use paper towels, not rags!

I am a rag user!

I have three growing, wardrobe-abusing kids. My husband crashes through thickets to hunt and fish whenever he gets a chance. I am a painter (enough said). I am not exactly a die-hard recycling type, but I am a tight wad. And I cringe to throw out that many cotton and cotton-poly t-shirts. So I haven't used a paper towel for years.

Do you just throw the cloth rags in the laundry when they get too much oil paint on them?

I do the same as Jen. We have enough old/ruined with stain shirts around here to last a lifetime, and I don't see that ending anytime in the near future. I TOO am a tightwad.

Michelle, I do not wash those rags. Im too afraid of the warning sign on the washer and drier with the blatant warning picture of an explosion!LOL So I just toss in the trash when they are no longer useful. But I will say, some last for quite a while depending on what they get used for.

I do have a few rolls of paper towels in the closet for emergencies. Bounty.

I would rather use rags, but my dog is a towel thief (her game). Everytime I turn away from my towel (kitchen, bath, or clean-up towel), she steals it and runs with it so I have to chase her. She will do this all day, so I use paper for my oil and pastel clean-up. I don't want her mouthing all these nasty toxins!

Jean

Wash them!? Never. Once they're sufficiently full of dried or wet paint, I just toss 'em.

My back-up paper towel is also Bounty.

Viva la Viva
 

I keep a stash of Viva in my pantry just for painting and woe to those in my family who dare to bring that into the kitchen instead of the Dollar General brand.

Vianna