I love oil paint but hate using a wooden palette so I have been using a glass palette when painting indoors. What can I use when I paint outdoors for a palette? I would like something permanent like plastic because it won’t break and really don’t want to pay the huge shipping fees for 40 12x16 disposable palette paper. Is plastic ‘OK’? I have some plastic watercolor trays but I never do watercolor. Would that work? Your suggestions are quite welcome. Thank you!!
Hope i am using the right words in this answer - i am in the U.K. and sometimes the words we use are not the same as the US. Anyway, here goes: I use baking parchment or freezer paper, from the kitchen - the sort you line cake tins with - cut to the size I want and either stuck on a piece of old cardboard or as an insert in a plastic palette. I also use empty tins with or without the paper insert (the paper just saves on clean-up and I am lazy about cleaning up). The inside of a large square tin lid formerly the lid of a biscuit tin also worked for me! I put the paint tubes in the actual biscuit tin then put the lid back on after for tidy transport home.
Plastic palettes do work but they never clean up to good as new but I guess if you scraped them down and washed them up with solvents they might, but I can’t be bothered as a rule. So I would stick a piece of baking parchment on.
I also use disposable paper palettes from art supply stores.
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Thank you Karen. I like that idea a lot. I have cardboard and I have parchment paper so it’s a go!! Thanks again.
I use a piece of plexiglass cut to fit into my Julian painting easel box. After a painting session, I scrape off the middle mixed paints and leave the dollops of pure paint around the edges. I put a piece of wax paper over the remaining paint and put the plexiglas pallet into the box for transport back to the studio. Since I always put paint on my pallet in the same order, I can use the same piece of wax paper covering for many weeks. Saves the paint and is very inexpensive.
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Thanks Terry…I’ve been reading some good things about plexiglass.
I think plastic palettes go hand in hand with acrylic, watercolor, and gouache, but again aren’t especially suited to oil. Cause if you get a bit of dry oil stuck on the plastic, there’s no way of scraping it off. It’ll get messy, and you’ll spend too much time cleaning. So, the better choice is to use a pad of disposable vegetable parchment sheets or paper palettes that are handy for cleanup; when you are done, rip it and trash it.
Thanks for the suggestion…I agree. I am inclined to trying the first suggestion, that being parchment paper.
I use a large Masterson’s Stay Wet Palette, with a piece of plexiglass cut to fit. The plexiglass is harder than a plastic palette. I can scrape it clean with a razor blade. I can also fit the Stay Wet in my freezer, so the paints stay soft between sessions. I also have a Plein air palette that has a glass sheet inside. The glass is al little heavier than plastic, but it’s not bad. I do prefer to mix on glass.
I use a small cookie sheet and cover it with tin foil. When im done i simply dispose of the tin foil.
Same for me – glass indoors. If I’m standing or outdoors: A heavy piece of cardboard or foam core board covered with a piece of freezer paper. Also, at end of day, I put a bit of plastic wrap over all my paint piles, take the freezer paper off the board and roll it up. Put it in the freezer to keep the paint good for my next session. Then just unroll and tape it back on the cardboard.
I use the glass outdoors and indoors in my wooden box palette tray. It’s heavy if you’re walking a distance to a site! I put a piece of paper under the glass I like white some use the gray palette paper! My tray fits onto my easel stand!