Tuesday 24 February 2015

Thinking outside the box

watercolour palette - porcelain with wells
Large dinner plate palette


I'd been looking for ages for a porcelain palette that suits my set up and the way I work, but have never found that perfect fit.   If the palette looks right for me, it's often too large or too small for where it will sit, or if it fits the space available, the wells are too big and the mixing space too small.   So for a long time I've been using a large square porcelain dinner plate, but battling the paint sliding into the mixed area.   Then I had an idea.   Silicone sealant!    With this, I could have wells on my plate.   So a tube of the good stuff was purchased and OH swung into action with his silicone gun.   A couple of hours later, I had just what I wanted - the perfect palette.

I wanted a cover for my lovely new palette, to keep the dust and dog fur out of my mixes when I'm not using it.   So there we were one evening in a busy supermarket (friday evening shopping), struggling in vain to fit a reluctant shower cap onto a large square dinner plate.     The looks we got!   Some people can be so judgemental. 

It didn't fit, so the search goes on.   If all else fails, a perspex panel with a few dabs of silicon sealer on the corners will serve the purpose, but a proper lid would be better.