Chromatography is a feasible method to separate the bucket of mixed paint.

Advantages of Paper Chromatography:
Why use paper chromatography? In a nutshell, this analytical method is quick to perform and easy to master. With a correctly chosen mobile phase (chromatographic solvent), an analyst can rapidly determine the number of constituents of a mixture sample. Sometimes, paper chromatography even allows one to positively identify these constituents. Another advantage of this method is that it requires a relatively small sample and is very inexpensive - a big plus in today's cost-conscious world.

Disadvantages of Paper Chromatography:

Like all analytical methods, paper chromatography has its limitations. Some mixtures are very difficult to separate by paper chromatography; and any species that is not coloured is difficult to observe on the chromatogram. Also, paper chromatography is solely an analytical method, not a preparative one. Because the sample size is so small, it is difficult to perform further analysis after the sample's contents have been chromatographically separated. This is in contrast to methods such as column chromatography, which are frequently use to preparatively separate larger amounts of mixtures. Lastly, paper chromatography can only be used in qualitative analysis. It is not possible to extract meaningful information about the quantitative content of a mixture from a paper chromatogram.

http://www.chem.ubc.ca/courseware/121/tutorials/exp3A/paperchrom/

Paper Chromatography
column chromatography
Gas Chromatography
High performance liquid chromatography
Ultra High Pressure Liquid Chromatography
Thin layer Chromatography
ion exchange Chromatography

By Joey.