Getting ready for Mexico

I’m getting ready for my painting trip to Mexico with lists of things to take care of before I leave on Saturday morning. I’m trying something new–starting to relax a little before vacation instead of pushing up until the last minute, which has always meant starting a holiday with a migraine.

Tonight my painting time is being used to prepare my palette for the trip so no art, but here’s a picture of my plein air/travel palette which I’ll be packing in my suitcase. The piece of painted watercolor paper beside it serves to remind me which colors are which and also serves as blotter paper in case the paints drip. It fits inside over the top of the paint. I use this palette regularly for plein air painting when I’m setting up an easel.

9 x 11″ Holbein palette that folds to 9×5.5″

This is the cheapie palette I’m going to take on the plane with me so I won’t be upset if it gets thrown away (thanks to Belinda Del Pesco for the idea of taking a cheapie onboard in case security puts it in the bin with the other dangerous items, like toothpaste and hand lotion.) I bought this to try it out for about $4.00 and didn’t like it much but it’s handy as a loaner for students.

8×8 cheapie palette, folds to 8×4″

While I’m at it, I thought I’d throw in pics of my other palettes that I use on a regular basis. This is my standard studio palette. It has a lid to keep the cat hair (and cat paws) out and I like it a lot. I have all of the paint names and pigment numbers marked around the outside edge.

15″ x 11″ Robert Wood studio palette

And here are two little palettes. The one on the left is an ancient Holbein palette with some of the original paints and some that I’ve refilled with new colors. I keep it in my backpack along with my little sketchbook for times when I’m not planning ahead to paint but want something small and flat to carry along just in case. It sat on my desk at work for a long time, begging to get used but only did once. I keep the Winsor & Newton on the right in my little grab-and-go kit that I use when I’m planning to paint in a cafe, at the farmer’s market or in my car — somewhere I wouldn’t use an easel. It’s very handy and portable, since it has a little water container (that dark thing at the top) as part of the kit. They both have little finger loops on the back so that you can hold them comfortably and mini brushes, though I use Niji waterbrushes for painting with them since they have handy tops to protect the brushes.

Schmincke folds to 3×5″ and Winsor Newton folds to 2.5″ x 4″ but it’s chunkier.