3 top best palettes for any painting type or size (and how to use them)

Hi everyone,
Today I am going to talk about palettes. More specifically, ceramic palettes. If you haven’t tried one yet, you really should. Painting on ceramic or porcelain is so much better than painting on plastic: the colours show better, the paint doesn’t bubble or flake, the mixing is smooth and easy and the paints can be rewetted a lot more easily and be as good as new. Ceramic palettes are also more environmentally-friendly than plastic ones. Some of my palettes have been in use for 20 years and look just like the new ones. When I finish a painting, the palette goes in the dishwasher and it’s ready for another round.

Palette 1: the 12-well palette
This is the palette I use the most. I use the wells all around for my colours and mixes and I use the centre two wells for mixing my shadow colour: on one side a concentrated, darker grey; on the other side, a more diluted version for a lighter grey. Just like the colour wheel it has spaces for the primaries and secondaries on the outer ring and spaces for neutrals in the centre. That’s super logical as well as practical, so it makes sense to me.
As I work on several pieces at the same time, I label each palette with a piece of masking tape bearing the name of the painting it goes with, until the painting is finished. Then the palette goes in the dishwasher and it’s ready for the next blank page…

Palette 2: the studio palette
This is a large palette, and a very heavy one. I use this one for larger paintings and also for painting colour swatches, when teaching or for my own research. It’s great for swatches because it has so many wells to take the mixes and so much room to mix the colours.

Palette 3: the palette cup with lids
This one is a new(ish) one to me… I have been using it a lot when painting landscapes, as I paint with large brushes that wouldn’t fit the other two palettes easily. I can use my big brushes for my big washes. The lids keep the mixes fresh if I paint over several days and I also use the inside of the lids for more concentrated colours.

Please click here for a link to the palettes on the Meeden site. If you use the code SANDRINE10, you get a 10% discount on all your order for the whole site.

Here is the video showing you the palettes and how I use them:

Happy painting!
Sandrine