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| 'Seaside Glory' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis available $165 |
Everyone needs this tray! I have several of them and I couldn't paint without them! If you follow me then you know that I advocate choosing your palette of pastels BEFORE you start a painting. I find it leads to better color harmony and less color chaos. I am just too tempted by my big box of colors so if I don't limit my palette I am sure to get into trouble! Choosing a palette in advance also allows me to paint 'in the zone' without having to break away from the painting to find the right pastel.
The problem is what do we use to put these preselected pastels in so they don't roll away and stay accessible? You could use a box lid which works great or maybe some paper towel on your work surface but I have a better solution.........I use butcher tray palettes. I get mine at Blicks.com. They are sold in the palette section and are used by artists to mix paints. They are made of enamled porcelain. Why are they great for pastels?
- They are sturdy and will last forever unlike a cardboard box lid.
- They are easy to clean! I keep a washcloth in my tray to cushion the pastels but the tray does get dusty after awhile. It is simple to wash it out!
- The sides of the tray keep the pastels safe from rolling off the table.
- Keeping the pastels contained in the tray allows easy access.
- It conveniently hooks under the adjustment knobs of my Black H Frame easel.
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| My working Palette in action |
3 comments:
I am finding them in antique stores. I have found two really unique butcher trays,
one is a large shallow white enamel tray which makes a great watercolor pallet, and the other is a deep rectangular tray that is lemon yellow enamel on the outside, with cobalt blue trim and white enamel inside. - Kevin Quattlebaum
I remember way back you advice and I immediately started using the butcher’s tray l had for water color . I line it with paper towels and then
Hook on the easel as you. Preselected pastels have really improved the cohesion in my paintings . Great advice. I do add an extra pastel though as the painting gets developed.
I ordered 3 trays after asking you over on the Patreon Channel.
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