How to set up a palette for watercolor painting. Tips & Tricks
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- Опубліковано 4 сер 2024
- What's the best kind of palette to use? What colors do you add? Fresh paint every time, or should you pre-fill the pans? These questions are more are answered in this video!
For many years I used the very economical Reeves palette as it holds lots of colors and includes a large mixing area. Now that I do less mixing, and use even MORE colors, I have invested in a larger palette made by Robax. This round palette holds full tubes of paint with space left over, it comes with a lid, and you can add a carousel so it rotates. Ordering the inserts makes it easy to fill and arrange colors and keep track of what is what.
If you're filling a palette for the first time, don't feel like you have to fill it completely. Try out colors first and get to know what hues you love and which ones don't need a permanent place in the palette.
Plan your palette around your painting habits. If you are a sketcher who needs a compact kit for travel, you will need to carefully curate your colors to fit in a smaller palette. If you love big, loose abstract painting, you need a palette that can hold a lot of paint and bigger brushes.
The most important thing is to find a method that works for you. You get to decide how to make your painting process more comfortable and suited to your working method.
Join the free Beginner Bootcamp, February 27-March 1, 2019 by signing up here: bit.ly/2GzarYf
Supplies to Help you Paint More Freely: (I receive a small commission when you order using the links below)
Reeves plastic palette: bit.ly/2nejTbV
Robax palettes at www.robax.com/palettes.html
Glad Press & Seal wrap keeps my palette from messes when I travel: amzn.to/2N0iUVO
My favorite brush is the Escoda Versatil #10 rigger: bit.ly/Rigger10
I love watercolour and believe that every painter can become their own favorite artist! Cultivate your own fearless artist mindset by signing up for my free "Fearless Artist" email series: bit.ly/2NFSQ1e - Навчання та стиль
I have been looking for a huge carousel system. I am so excited
I was debating whether I needed Robax palette or not ant thanks to your video I have decided that I do. Thanks for all your wonderful helpful information!
Inserts for palattes is a game changer! I have a fear of color commitment and this allows me to start playing with a palette! Thank you!
I agree! I have so many loose palette wells and interchange them as my preferences change.
Thank you, Angela! Loved learning all the info on your palettes - so fun!
The Robax is not for me given my space and physical restraints, but I really appreciate seeing it in a video. I always assumed the wells were full pan sized, but they're huge! Thanks Angela!
I am always learning from you Angela! I am just so thankful I found you when I started my watercolor journey. :)
Thank you so much for your honesty and down to earth teaching methods. I have learned so much from your videos!
Angela, the color of your studio walls is so flattering to your complexion as well as being a calm and serene color to me.
Holy crows! I never knew about Robax palettes! I love his design choices and engineering. Thank you!
Perfect timing for me Angela. I am just about ready to move on from my original palette and the information you have shared was very helpful. I have been following your videos for a while now and always find them very informative. I have learned a lot about "letting go" from you. THANKS! You are very generous sharing your hard earned knowledge with those of us who still seek guidance. I look forward to joining you in "Bootcamp"
Thanks for the wonderful explanation of your palette choices. I love the Robax palette but am not ready for the large one now. I love the idea of being able to lift a pan out as your choices change. Video, absolutely, was not too long. I would have loved an even longer one.
I have learned SO MUCH from you. Thank you for putting so much heart into your tutorials.
Thank you so much for sharing your "palette journey" with us! I am so glad to see I am not the only one having a ridiculous number of palettes! Your videos are always so informative and fun to watch!
I love the Jane E. Jones Travel Palette that holds 12 color with lots of mixing areas and I have way too many of those palettes! I like to fill them with different color and brand selections, so I can choose the color selection of my choice for a particular painting, or compare different brands interpretation of a particular color.
However, I tend to use my original color selection, which I gravitated to years ago. But it's fun to mix it up sometimes!
Awsome tutorial. I enjoyed it and learn a lot. Love the way you share your art!
Thanks for such an informative video. Filling a palette has always stressed me out and your tips and explanations will help a lot. I love the concept and ease of those Robax palettes and plan to splurge on a setup. Thanks!!
Good video and generous advice, thank you! These larger palettes are tempting, often for beginners (we have all been there!), but just end up being confusing and detracting from actually making art! But for the painter who is comfortable with basic colour and mixing (and maybe the ones who have been taking Angela’s classes) the expansion to a palette with the capability to hold a range of colours is a wonderful idea! I think I may order one!
Hi Angela. Great video, as usual. You are a fantastic mind reader. Every time I have a question, or didnt' know I had a question, you come to address it. So helpful. Hope all is well.
Thank you, Angela! I signed up immediately hoping your bootcamp will help me get my painting mojo back. Your enthusiasm alone is like a giant vitamin C tablet. :)
Thanks for this video. I have several metal palettes, but I bought a 12" Robax and love it. I have my favorite paints, all labeled. The only problem I had was when I did the tubes. Many of mine cracked and got a bit wonky. But I can still use all of them. I am very glad I got the inserts, I have already changed my layout. So many useful tips in this video. And look forward to the class!
Thank you for your, as always, useful advice! I purchased a Robax pallet after I saw yours and I love it. It’s so fun to have all of my colors available to me and encourages me to experiment.
Sign me up for watercolor class mperkins@ marykay.com
Right now I just have a QOR mini palette and two Portable Painter travel palettes. Thank you so much for the information on the Robax palettes. Saving up for one now. I signed up for the boot camp and am really looking forward to the lessons.
Thank you for this. That Robax pallet is calling me LOL 🌺
Watched this again & thank you for sharing 🙏
Fantastic. You are such an inspiration. Thanks for being real. You are giving me the belief that I can start youtube videos without making them perfect. !! We aren't competing w other artists... we are connecting with out fans and followers.
i believe im getting ready to finally get my 1st robax palette.. very exciting!
Wow that would be amazing!!
Angela, great information, thank you!
Very helpful information. I love watercolor too!
Ahhhh! A bootcamp sound wonderful.
🖒Always informative, always enjoyable.
I’m so jealous. I receive emails from an estate sale website. Constantly searching photos of nearby sales for watercolor supplies. So far haven’t found any. I’ll keep searching since u just gave me hope. Thanks so much for info.
Angela,looking forward to the boot camp classes. Will check out pallets when website comes back up in March. 👍🏻
That's a lot of palettes! I have the Robax with 35 smaller liners and I love it. The lid is the best part -keeps out my dog's hairs. Also, to save money I put mine on an old spice rack (lazy Susan) with double sided tape under it and it spins just fine. Someday I'd like another small one for iridescent & metallics but my husband's head might explode if I buy another! :) thanks for your Fridays!
Thank you Angela...great video
Oh, now that's cool... having the trays that you can pull out & re-arrange on a circle palette & with a lazy Susan & a lid...
I've been using my Robax palette for some time. I LOVE the rotating base. I prefer using the ceramic centers (9" Corelle plates Robax sells as mixing surfaces) OR I use 9" porcelain salad plates (which I picked up at a yard sale for next to nothing!). The plates fit perfectly in the center. It gives me the best of all worlds.
That round pallet is drool worthy. Thanks Angela. I went from the split primary plus burnt sienna, to 12 color, then to 24 and it's only been a year. Yikes. I think ill be at 24 for a good long time. Famous last words. LOL. Thanks Angela💙
So very helpful!!!!!
Well Said Friend👍👍& I also love Watercolor too much!
Very helpful thank you for sharing 💖
Great video! I love my Robax palette although I got the biggest one with the most wells years ago and now I find I prefer bigger wells and less paints. I may treat myself to another model one day. Also, I wanted to recommend the Robax porcelain insert. It is beautiful! Crisp white and the color spreads beautifully.
The porcelain ones were out of stock, went there yesterday to buy more liners and couldn't get the porcelain center tray BooHoo. Hoo wanted that too!
I’d love a fully porcelain Robax wheel palette. It would weigh a tonne, but be so satisfying!
VERY helpful! Thank you🙂
This video is far from boring. These are things I should have known earlier. But as I go along, I learn. Initially, I bought halfpans , stick on a flat magnet in the bottom and placed them
In beautiful tin cans i got for Christmas . I separated them into blues, yellows reds and neutrals. Then I got these cute ice tray with covers and and placed my new paints as they come along. Then lastly, i bought half pans , stick flat magnets in the bottom and placed them around in a butcher tray. I bought a plastic container that will accommodate the butcher tray. I also have porcelain plates for mixing colors but I rarely used them all now ( like you I did not wash my palettes to save those precious
Paints) . 1 plate is enough now . This was a very worthwhile video. Thank you.
Thankyou! I got the Robax 42.
I wish I had caught this video in time for your free boot camp. 😞 I found this explanation on palettes really informative. I'm just making the transition now from my student grade paints to some artist grade so I'm trying not to mix up the two while still setting up a useful palette . TFS.
You are so funny! Nice collection. I have 2 main palettes and then I collected 3 altoid mint tins which I can use my empty half and whole pans to fill. Sometimes I will fill 2 for artist friends or other artists in need. I tape off the tins and quickly enamel spray them. Like the clove oil idea I have some.
My problem with open palettes is dust. I even get dust in my closed palettes :) Trying to become friends with a ceramic palette, but I still prefer my folding metal or plastics . Oh and I really love how your hair looks today :) Hugs from Romania.
Terrific video, Angela! Thanks so much for sharing. I have a video on how I set up my Robax palette and include a spreadsheet with Daniel Smith paints that I cut apart and added as labels on my palette. It might be helpful for folks. Thanks for all you do to teach others the joy of watercolor. :)
Thank you very very much Angela for your help and sharing. Í’ would like of course to follow your lessons if it’s not too late. Thanks in advance, I am waiting for your next videos that I watch with a lot of pleasure
Very informative! Thanks 🙏 I love all your tips & info! I signed up for the bootcamp and your current workshop... will both be available to access anytime? Life is very busy right now, but I am truly interested!
Great tip on the mould issue. I'm in Queensland, Australia and we get high humidity and mould can certainly be a problem. If you have a lid, you could probably wipe the clove oil over the lid so it's not actually near your paints.
I missed the bootcamp. Will you be having another one? I watched the hydrangea video 5 times at least. Thank you for sharing. Linda
Thank you Angela that was very interesting. Isabel
Oh, and what's really great is that Robax has templates for their palettes that you can download, print out & check out what works for you in laying out your colors. This is a fabulous company!
I'm really interested in a watercolor boot camp. I have ADD pretty severely and find that I get so wrapped up in watching youtube tutorials and am interested in following so many, (some I actually do) that I just get lost. I think with a structured curriculum and watercolor "homework" or exercises I'll really be able to focus on the building blocks so I can eventually compose my own or know what I'm doing. To find a series like that on youtube would be a blessing.
I do a free event like you're describing in the new year! If you sign up for my email list on my web site you won't miss it when we run it in January or February. angelafehr.com
If you run out of room, send all those old palettes to me! Lol. I've picked some up from garage/estate sales, with daniel smith paints already in them (can you believe that?!), and they work great! They were super inexpensive. I just brush them softly to get the dust off them, and spritz them, and I'm good to go. I realize it's not ideal, but the price sure is. And since I'm just learning to paint in watercolor, that all works for me till I can afford to buy more new =) Question: How do you get the dry paints to not fall out of the wells? Even my new paints, the few I bought and let dry, fall out! aaargh.
Hope you don’t mind my (less expert) tips on this...firstly I make sure and scour new plastic palettes (& pans) with bits of ‘Magic Eraser’ sponges (or toothpaste) to make paint stick in better. The plastic can be too shiny/slippery otherwise. Also some pigments are known to dry/shrink more. You can find out which on wetcanvas.com (watercolour-learning zone section). They advise stirring in a drop of glycerine to the (fresh wet) paint when you fill the palette/pan. Increases the sticky factor. If you’re dealing with already dry/loose chunks of paint, add some water drops (or a blob of fresh tube paint) to the pan and replace the chunks. It will restick, at least for a while. Hope that’s helpful!
In my limited experience with Daniel Smith watercolor paints, the ones that fell out of the palette was usually one of the PrimaTek paints. I think I've heard of honey, but wouldn't make book on it.
Rosemary Clark 1st~`
Hi Angela! It was very interesting video! Could you make a video for how to clean your colors? It would be very interesting also. Thank you so much! :)
I really wish I had a space I could dedicate as my “studio” so I could have a palette like that!
I looked at the Robax site earlier this week. They are taking the month of February off. It may explain some of the access issues.
thanks for the info..wondered what was up : )
this is a wonderful video Angela. It clarifies alot of questions, and I've been thinking of the Robax Palette and this tips the scale a little more. Just a little pricey. Thanks again for all the awesome videos you present to us. I'm really enjoying them and find that my own painting has moved into a looser feel, out of my comfort zone but that's a good thing
This was great!!! I have the Robax..Christmas gift to me!! I LOVE it...Question....when mixing colors, is it always better to mix warms with warms, & cools with cools.....since I get a lot of muddy results, I have been putting time into figuring out what colors go well together....Seems as if it should be do able. Not yet for me...
Ate you a native American English speaker? If so, you know that i before e, except after c rule with all the exceptions? Color theory is more like that I've found. LOL.
Problem is, many colours are warm or cool relative to other colours. Very few are strictly warm or cool. Try Jane Blundell’s Ultimate Mixing Palette info. She’s an Aussie blogger with lots of help for beginners with this problem (including me!). Also, Daniel Smith has released her palette for purchase (pans only I think?). But read her blog/site for alternative pigments to swap out depending on what your painting style or colour preferences are. I’m currently experimenting with ‘embracing the mud’ sometimes, it makes neighbouring vibrant colours really pop.
@@Roslyngal Dr. Oto Kano on UA-cam really helped me with color theory. Very organized and explains beautifully. She is on part none of the series but you can go back in the playlist to go to the beginning. She just covered the mud phenomenon you mention today! How it makes the complimentary colors which made it, really pop. Sometimes you want mud. It's good to know first how to mix cleanly. She goes through all of it step by step.😁😋☺
Nine not none.
A question, what kind of pen to ue when there is a need to write a message on a watercolor painting once is done. Example, for a birthday, christmas, get well, etc. card?
Sorry I missed boot camp. Will you be having another one soon?
Hello Angela! I need to know if the paints stay wet in the robax. Thank you!
could you suggest which is better the large or small wells if you like loose painting or does it matter? thank you also i am new at painting
Can you share your travel palette, must have colors? I. Would love a robax, another one for my list
Angela, where and how do I sign up for the watercolour class end of Feb. 2020?
Hullo Angela, I was looking for Robax reviews and I am desiring the 15 inch 42 well palette and I just wonder if you have since purchased one? This video is a bit on the dated side and I thought perhaps you have gotten another palette? Ah well thank you for sharing about this one!
May I sign up for the course your offering at the end of February. How to do that?
You were talking about your fearless watercolor class, where do I sign up?
Angela put a link in the info right under the video. Hit "show more" to see lots of info. But her link for all classes is learn.angelafehr.com/. I took her Watercolor Mastery class and loved it! Angela is such a fabulous and encouraging teacher and her interaction with the class is so helpful.
How do I sign up for the watercolour supplies etc suggested by thre last demo. Jeanette
I have a new palette that I set up with Turner paints for use by a student, and many of the pans cracked substantially! Help! Can you suggest a fix? We did not fill them fully, as this was a full sized palette with large pan areas.
I haven't used that brand, some brands do dry very hard and crack. You can still use them - I mist my palette before I start painting to reconstitute the top layer and loosen up some pigment for painting. I wouldn't suggest adding anything to them (gum arabic and honey are two common binders that help keep watercolor softer in the pan) because you don't want to mess with the pigment-to-binder ratio.
Angela do you have all the same brand of watercolor in your large spinning palette?
@@angelfehr thx
I bought a white ceramic plate at wal mart
I love my Robax. I love Daniel Smith colors, but I hate the way they dry and crack and make a mess
I haven't had that issue - I have some paints that don't set as firmly (usually honey-based binders like Sennelier) but they don't travel as well since they are much less firm.
Ah robax
Is your Feb class in 2021?
Great tips :) I primarily use either a small 12 halfpan palette or tube paint in a butcher's tray. Don't have other options right now. Btw, the Robax link needs .html after it to work www.robax.com/palettes.html
I feel attacked... I need all the colors and all the things lololol
Palette overload from Lindsay, Marty, Steve, and yourself. Dazed and confused.
is the bootcamp online, or in person? and jsyk, the robax link doesn't seem to be working. Says "not found". But if you google just Robax.com, it does. Question: when I look into buying the new pre-filled pan palettes, by Daniel Smith, I compare the price to me just filling my own, and the price for the pre-filled seems way more expensive. Is my math bonkers? I came to that conclusion by figuring each half pan holds 2 mls (googled it) and each tube is 15ml. The ultimate mixing set, with 15 half pans is $74.49, which basically would take a little over two tubes of paint to fill the whole thing, say, if all one color. Each tube of paint is $10-13 (Daniel Smith). So, instead of the paint costing, say $20-30, we're paying $74 for someone to fill the pans up for us? And for the second set of an empty palette and pans (re dickblick.com) Does that sound right? I would love feedback on this! Math is definitely not my strong suit, so.......
I suspect we’re being charged a bit more for the ‘curating’ aspect of the DS Signature series. Also, it’s possible that the way they extrude paint into pans lets them fill them better/fuller than we can at home. Over time, dried in layers? Ironically, Jane Blundell’s personal pan filling technique (on her blog, or maybe website) is very clever to me. She fills on a slope, from tubes, to get a watery pool plus solid paint as options. Offers another option, to add a dab of fresh paint in a dried pan, which works better for some pigments and some techniques. Also, take into account, in your maths, that with basic mixing colours you’ll need to refill your palette differently than for specialty pigments. And pigments are sold at quite varying prices (Series 1-5) so you probably can’t average them all out as you have. Time to pour= labour, so 15 pans from 15 different tubes takes a lot longer logistically than 15 from one pigment. We pay for that too. I personally enjoyed pouring my own mixing set, in full pans, and having loads of paint left to refill. Many people would find it messy, time consuming and boring, I suspect, so will pay extra for speed and ease!
you spent hundrets of dollars for paint. hmmm... dont need this mutch paint for good paintings....
No you don't (and I have a great basic supply list for under $100 on my web site), but it sure is fun to add new colours!