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How to Effectively Set Up a Painting Palette
The painting palette you choose and how you use it can make a big difference in how easy and much fun your painting experience will be. You can always use a spare plastic tray or piece of glass, but professional palettes are available that are affordable and actually much easier to use and keep maintained. Check with online art supply retailers like Dick Blick Art Materials and Michaels to find one that meets your painting style. Here is some guidance for selecting and setting up an effective painting palette.
A Place to Work
Next to the paintbrush, the palette is one of a painter’s most useful tools. It is a place to work and to experiment with colors, particularly with watercolors. It is a place to store your paint until you’re ready to use it again. The first step to setting up your palette is to buy or make one. It can be round or square, but usually has a flat-bottom and is made from glass, plastic, acrylic, wood, porcelain or melamine.
Most palettes have deep dimples in the surface for holding and blending paint. Some also come with fitted covers that keep your paint moist until you can work on your art again. Still others, known as watercolor ones, are especially useful for all types of water-based paints. These palettes have small outer wells for holding paints with a large well in the center for mixing paint with water, mineral spirits or other colors. Most are also extremely portable, making them easy to pack into your bag for creating masterpieces on the go.
A Place for Everything
Think of a palette as your personal color wheel from which you can draw the medium that gives your visions life. The most efficient way to find the color you need, especially if you’re trying to work quickly, is to arrange the colors from lightest to darkest around the outer rim. This will allow you to keep your eyes on the work at hand and instinctively find the hue you need. This also leaves the middle section of the palette available for blending different paints together to create new colors. For a rectangular, place them from light to dark in an upside-down “L” shape, leaving the left side open for blending.
General Guidelines
Only put a little paint at one time on your palette. This helps to conserve it, which can be very expensive, and gives you room for working different colors into each other. Acrylic paint especially dries very fast and if you put too much on the palette, you’ll just be throwing away money. Always remove paint that has dried with a palette knife and add fresh paint before starting again. Some manufacturers also have moisture-retaining palettes that will delay the drying time for acrylic paints. Clip cups and containers–some of which have screw-on lids–to the right side of your palette to keep thinning agents and other mediums at hand.
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About the Author
Tammy Grubb is a freelance writer for <a href=”http://www.ultimatecoupons.com/”>UltimateCoupons.com</a>
Painting with Watercolors : Types of Watercolor Paint Brushes