Palettes - So many choices, so little money

You are going to need to put your paint somewhere, so your wet brush can pick it up and transfer it to the paper.

It could be anything and what it ends up being will depend a lot on how you feel comfortable working.

You could simply use a plain enameled butcher tray from Blick's, squeeze some paint around the edges and then use the center for mixing. Keep in mind the bigger they are the more warped they tend to be. It is normal for the center to pop up in the middle so not ideal for mixing washes as they'll all run down to the edge. But certainly economical. Or a porcelain tray from Cheap Joe's which is smooth as glass (because it is) but a lot pricier (wait until there is an insane sale, I got mine for about $12.) Pick up some white plates at a thrift store or maybe a white deviled egg tray. I've seen eyeshadow cases repurposed.

Or you could use a folding palette, which has little open squares along the edge, a hole to put your thumb through if you want to hold it, and mixing areas. These come in plastic, from cheap to pricey, metal, usually painted or enameled, from cheap to pricey and ceramic, just plain pricey. 

You'll find the ones branded with artist's names tend to be over priced, plus there are many designs from rectangles to circles.

You can also use a box called a palette box. These could be plastic or metal, cheap or pricey or upcycled from something else. The latter probably the most fun. If you want a set of paints, if you do the math sometimes the box ends up being free. Here's an empty flask palette and here it is filled with eight Schmincke half pans. The half pans run from $10 to $20 each. That is actually the first set  of artist grade paints I bought.

The two I use most often are heavy steel enameled boxes manufactured by FOME in Italy and branded for Whiskey Painters. A small travel palette that can hold 12 half pans and a medium one that can hold 24 half pans or 12 whole pans if you bend the flaps separating the pans down flat. Easily done. The middle can be used to store a brush or you can put another row of pans down the middle.  If you hunt around the best prices are usually on amazon but double check as sometimes one seller may have a considerably lower price than another.

You can buy vintage palette boxes no longer made on eBay or a new custom box on Etsy or from a manufacturer or distributor.

I knew I wanted to use half and whole pans because I had become accustomed to the round pans in my childhold Pelikan box and I wanted to continue that. I have one folding plastic palette that I haven't used since the one workshop I bought it for. I have two enameled steel butcher trays I use to hold my large size ceramic W&N pans (I glued magnets on the backs of the pans.)

Sadly, these are discontinued. I'm glad I bought mine when I did. When I use up the paint I will be refilling the pans with Daniel Smith, something I had intended all along. I have a ceramic tray for mixing the giant pan paints so when I have the work space, I spread out and they are really a joy to use. Great for using a big brush and painting on one of my biggest watercolor paper blocks. The paint in these is different than the W&N half or whole pans. It seems to be moister and rewets easily. Makes the juiciest mixes. I have a few plastic palettes, mostly W&N Cotman travel palettes (mostly they came with something else that I bought) that I empty and fill with professional half pans and a Portable Painter travel palette. I don't use plastic much as I don't like to mix on it and it stains. I have a lot of metal pans, both new and vintage, but the vast majority are heavy enameled steel. I do not like the flimsy tin ones that are sold all over the place now. The Schmincke paints I bought in such a tin were taken out and put into a heavy metal palette. So were my Winsor & Newton. I'll likely put the removed Cotman pans in these tin palettes and then give them away as gifts or donate them to charity.

My Daniel Smith paints are put into half or whole pans. Sometimes these just go into a palette and are held in place with pressure bars. Sometimes I cut magnetic strips from Home Depot and adhere them to the bottoms of the pans so they stick onto a palette or tin that has no other way of holding them. Occasionally I will glue some stronger magnets to them,

For quite a while I was using a vintage Stirling Co. watercolor palette that holds 18 whole pans plus brushes and a bit of sponge as my studio palette. I picked it up for $10 on eBay. The luck of an off brand no one recognizes. I have purchased a few unbranded, possibly home made boxes for dirt cheap this way.

Stirling is a steel manufacturing company. I suspect this palette was made in the 19th century and that Stirling didn't manufacture them for long. There is no method to hold the whole pans in as you are intended to fill the box directly so I put magnetic tape on the bottom of my whole pans to keep them in place. Many of the steel palettes will rust if you fill them directly which is another reason I prefer to use pans.

Currently I am using a vintage Roberson that I picked up in a "lot" of watercolor palettes. There was a Winsor and Newton and a cheap plastic one, some brushes and a water cup. The Roberson was either unbranded or they had no idea what it was so it wasn't even mentioned. I just happened to see it in a group photo. They didn't even provide an individual photo of it. I took a chance and when the box arrived, there it was. I've been using it ever since. I love it.

But you may not. What style of palette you use is a very personal choice and you may have to try a few to find something you really love. I tried the flat folding palettes that you put fresh paint in and I don't really care for them, but I do have a Holbein 500 I picked up on eBay.uk because it was a reasonable price and at some point I may be attending a workshop that wants fresh paint used, rather than cured pans, my preferred method.

I have a travel palette made from an empty cigar tin that holds 25 half pans. The same magnetic tape works fine to hold these in place. Lately I've been using the Art Toolkit folios since for plein air you don't require as much paint and I usually don't use a large journal so don't need large pans or large brushes. 

The advantage of using the pans and magnetic tape is that I can switch out the colors if I wish. I have changed the Stirling box three times, once for a workshop in Fallbrook, once for the Iain Stewart workshop and most recently to the palette I normally use for class. But even that one has changed a bit depending on the subject for class each week. A fruit still life will be a little different than an owl or a basket of poinsettias. I do the same thing with my current Roberson.

I have a vintage W&N Bijou Box with case, several W&N and Rowney flask palettes, some vintage W&N and Rowney folding palettes, a Reeves or two and a few that have no brand at all. One I traced to an art shop in Paris between 1890 and 1910. The paints were a mess so I dug them out and tossed them. but the box is in fine shape and will hold quarter pan sized 18 colors. Some are to use and some just to have. I don't recommend going after the W&N Bijou Box. I've seen them going for over $500 now. Yikes. Not what I paid but still. The small quarter pans they hold aren't very practical for urban sketching.

If you do happen to stumble across a vintage paint box and the paints are really old (you'll be able to tell as they will be very dry, difficult to rewet and when you do the color will be weak and grainy) toss the old paint away. It is worthless. Clean out your palette and refill with modern pigments. There is a good chance those old paints are either fugitive or toxic or both.

The little travel kit I carry with me is a Daler Rowney contemporary 18 quarter pan metal palette I keep in a harddrive case along with one pigma pen, one water brush and some cut to size Arches watercolor paper and two paper towels. Very compact.

It's still made and cheaper from the UK than from amazon. You can get it from Cassart or Jackson's. They don't come with the case any more (although Cassart has had a case made for theirs) but I don't use my case since I keep it in the harddrive case. I have occasionally seen them on eBay but be careful. I bought mine for less than $20 but recently saw one sold for over $75. Better to buy new from the U.K.

If you're looking for compact, you may want to check out Expeditionary Art. She uses make-up pans in business card sized cases to make travel kits. She has expanded to larger pans and cases but they are still very portable. The pans are shallow and only hold about a quarter pan worth of paint, but because they have a larger surface area are easier to use than the quarter size pans. You can buy them empty and fill them yourself. Extra pans of various sizes and shapes are available. Occasionally she will have a special set that has been filled with Greenleaf and Blueberry paints. 

I have seen repurposed Whitman's Sampler vintage tins, Celestial Seasonings tea tins, cigar tins, Sucrets and Altoids tins, business card cases and even eyeshadow boxes.

You may end up becoming a palette addict, in which case I'll welcome you to WetCanvas, but eventually you will find yourself returning to one palette over and over. For me it was my Whiskey Painter's master palette of 24 half pans, then it was my cigar tin of 25. Then my Stirling 18 whole pans. Now it is my vintage Roberson that holds 22 whole pans. Even so I will occasionally bring a second palette. I have one that holds all of my Primatek colors and if I think I'll use some, I just throw that palette in my bag with the other rather than switch pans in and out. I like the versatility of changing colors easily.

For some artists, they use the same basic colors on their palette and just use a different 5 or six with each painting using them to make the same mixes. A folding palette is fine for that. The plastic ones are cheap enough you can fill several of them with different paints and then just grab a different one. Eventually you settle on a set of colors you use consistently, then a second set you switch out occasionally, then a few that you use only every so often. Once you develop your own favorite selections you can fill a palette rather than using whole pans. I've been painting for four years now and even though I have my basics I am still switching out mostly convenience colors.

While the U.S. has several fine paint manufacturers (Daniel Smith, DaVinci) I find that for supplies my best shopping is in the U.K. Japan also has a good number of watercolor supplies but the language problem is generally too daunting to overcome. The UK online stores such as Jackson's and Rosemary are much easier to navigate. I have bought brushes from Belgium but only from a site that had an English language version and could convert from Euros to Dollars. You will find some websites do not allow you to put in a US address so that hinders purchases. But don't let that put you off. Some are excellent. I have had great success with both Jackson's and Rosemary &Co.