Saturday, April 13, 2013

Watercolor Palette Review, PART 1

As it turns out, I realize that I am a collector of watercolor palettes.  I thought I would show you the palettes that I use and the pros and cons of each one.  You might find this useful if you are in the market for a watercolor palette.
1.  THE HERITAGE PALETTE - this is probably my all around favorite palette and recommend it to all my students.  It is especially great for travel.  Because of this, it is included in my Daniel Smith Jacqueline Newbold Watercolor Kit.

PROS:

  • Folds and has a lid plus a removable mixing tray.  
  • I like to put a laminated color list under the removable tray.
  • Nice big mixing areas. 
  • Generous 18 wells for color. 
  • Can be used for travel or in-studio painting.


CONS:

  • Only holds 18 colors. 
  • Probably too large for backpacking type painting.


2.  DANIEL SMITH TRAVEL BOX  - Another one of my favorite palettes!  This is metal with removable and refillable 1/2 pans or full pans so there is lots of freedom for switching out colors.



PROS:  
  • 24 color wells.  
  • Removable 1/2 pans or 12 full pans or a mix of the two creating lots of freedom to change out colors as needed.  
  • Adequate mixing areas. 
  • Folding and closing lid.  
  • Can be used for travel or studio painting. 

CONS:
  • My first one finally looked so bad I had to replace it.  It got rusty and the paint buckled up on the lids.  
  • The metal makes it heavier that a plastic palette. 





5 comments:

Stacy said...

I totally agree with you, both are great palettes. The Daniel Smith Travel palette served me well as I was trying out different paints to see what works for me. I loved the ability to swap out paints. Since mine got rusty too, and I seemed to have settled on what paints I like to use by now, I recently got the Heritage Palette and I love it! I do find the Heritage Palette a bit too large for sketching outside with my 5x8 sketchbook (the palette doesn't fit into any sketch bags I have) so I instead use a Masters 20-well Folding Plastic Palette for sketching outside.

Unknown said...

Thank you for sharing! I like the looks of the first one. I use a simple plastic container that you can get at Michael's. it's not very glamorous, but it does fill the bill.

Jacqueline said...

Yes Janet I know the type you are talking about. Very economical. I tend to get the ones that can close because I take my palettes out and about so much.

Jacqueline said...

Stacy, I don't know the Masters folding palette so will check that one out. thanks!

Stacy said...

This is the Masters 20-well palette: http://www.danielsmith.com/Item--i-676-010-002

I am finding I also like the thumb-hole (held so the palette is resting on my forearm), because if frees my other fingers up for holding a paper towel to wipe my waterbrush clean.