All my bags are packed, I’m ready to go….
to Italy…tomorrow! But I wanted to take a few minutes to catch up before I head off on another adventure.
As I was packing my art supplies, I came across this empty metal palette (below) that I bought a few years ago, thinking I would fill it with all the extra colors I didn’t have room for in my small travel palette – colors that aren’t essential but that I might enjoy using occasionally when I’m teaching a travel workshop.
but who wouldn’t want to have more *options* with an array like this? 🙂
I thought you might like to see how easy it is to put together a bonus palette like this to supplement your usual selection of colors.
The metal palette was $11.99 on Amazon, and it’s available in a variety of styles/patterns. It comes with 40 empty plastic half pans plus self-adhesive magnetic tape for anchoring the pans in the palette. Such a great deal!
The tape is pre-cut to fit perfectly on the underside of the pans.
EDIT (after using the palette): The adhesive side of the magnetic tape didn’t stick well to the pans. It came off during my trip to Italy, so, when I got home, I used good old-fashioned rubber cement to secure the magnets to the underside of the pans. I let it dry thoroughly before putting the pans back into the palette. Now everything seems very secure, and the pans don’t shift around at all.
After putting the tape on all of the pans I labeled each one with the name and brand of paint I would fill it with.
A retractable Sharpie Ultra Fine Point pen is the best option I’ve found for this purpose.
I went through my vast collection of tube watercolors and found lots of lovely, juicy colors which will be perfect for painting roses in English gardens or sunflowers in Provence on my trips next year.
And others, like Buff Titanium and Quinacridone Sienna will be just what I need to paint ancient stone walls and buildings this week in Rome and Umbria.
Filling the pans was a simple matter. I just squirted the paint in the pan and swirled it around with a toothpick to evenly distribute it and get it into all the corners.
I used a handy-dandy Tube Wringer to get every last bit of paint out of the almost-empty tubes.
The Golden GRIPR Tube Opener is another handy tool I used. It’s a good alternative to pliers when a paint tube cap refuses to budge.
Rather than try to stick the paint pans into the palette right away, I set them out on a 9″ x 13″ baking pan to dry. That helped to minimize the handling of them while they were goopy with wet paint. The magnets on the bottom kept them in place when I sat them in front of a fan for two days to let them set up and skin over.
When the pans had dried enough that they weren’t sticky anymore, I arranged them in the order I wanted for the palette. (I left a couple of them empty, so I’d have the option to add any other colors I can’t resist in the future.)
Before putting the half-pans into the palette, I made a record of the layout, so I could identify the colors when I’m painting.
While the paint was still flexible (but not sticky), I gently pressed down in the center of each pan with a finger to make an indentation. This will allow water to pool there when I’m painting rather than having it roll off into adjacent wells.
All 40 half-pans fit neatly into this compact 6.7″ x 3.5″ x 0.6″ metal palette. The filled weight is about 7 ounces.
I even took the time to type up the color chart for the palette, print it out, and laminate it. It’s stuck onto the bottom of the tin with rolled tape. Easily removable, but it won’t get lost.
At the very end of this process, I realized that I could use the metal lid as an extra mixing area, too, when I’m on location. I masked off the edges using painter’s tape, then painted it white with a satin-finish Rustoleum spray paint.
It took a few hours of my time, but I’m really glad I finally filled this palette and got it ready to go. I’ll do most of my painting with my trusty travel palette when I’m in Umbria in the coming days, but this fun new bonus palette tripled the number of colors I have access to when I’m traveling.
9 Comments
I love it! Wish I was going on a painting adventure with you but my travel days are getting harder. Wishing you many happy days of painting and many blessings.
Making this palette was nothing less than genius. I wish I could borrow your brain for a week. I had never seen the gadgets to open tubes of paint. As arthritis is a part of my life now I can use all the help I can get. Also the tool to get the last drops of paint out of the tube. Where can I purchase these and what is the price.
Madam Pele, the volcano goddess, is putting on quite a show.
Bond Voyage!
Karen
I made clickable links in the text. Look for the blue text. The two tools are from Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff. Glad you enjoyed the post, Karen!
Oh, SO much fun! I have the same palette, but I filled mine with full pans from ArtToolkit. I use it with my Cup Easel set-up.
Playing with the stuff is almost as much fun as painting! I’m going to have a good time perusing all your extra color choices.
Travel safely & have a wonderful time.
You can never have too many colors!
I agree…. Life is too short to not have COLOR. I have the same Starry Night palette, spray painted on the inside, with large square pans from Art Toolkit. I am happy just looking at the colors, and the larger pans are easy on my large sable brushes. They are one inch square and hold the same amount as a half pan. Have a great trip! I am headed to Italy on Sunday.
Can’t wait to see your posts and pictures of your trip. Have fun
This is a great travel pan. And the finger-press may be the best tip ever! I love my gripper for opening things! This is a terrific post, Leslie — saving this one!
Thank you so much for sharing your process, it’s so fun to get new toys and watching you set up a new painting palette is very satisfying!