Part 6: Palettes + Puddles | Do Not Be Afraid of Watercolor Series
Welcome to the Do Not Be Afraid of Watercolor Series. In this video we learn about the Palettes + Puddles technique you need to be successful on your watercolor journey.
Watch the video for details and then find your shopping list in the description below. Let’s get started!
PRODUCT RECOMMENDATIONS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO
In the Studio:
John Pike PalettE
Plein Air:
Plein Air Pro
Holbein on the go palette
Items to use:
Dove soap and/or a dishwasher
Full Video Transcription:
Good morning, and welcome. My name is Paul Valdez and thank you for joining me for the Do Not Be Afraid of Watercolor series. Always trying to help you become a professional beginner and not make the mistakes that I and others have made.
Before we talk values, mixing, or painting, we need to talk palettes and puddles.
What do I mean by that? Well, first of all, I’m going to show you the palettes that I use and how important it is to learn how to make puddles on your palette and how to avoid some mistakes that I have made in the past. You will find palettes from the smallest most creatively engineered, to what I use in my studio.
From the John Pike palette right here, to some, with 30 and 60 wells. And again, as in past videos, this is all really highly subjective, and your palette choice, will most likely depend on where you paint and what you're using your palette for.
Whether it's on the go, plein air, in your studio, or just out of your pocket or bag. Well, these are my three pallets. My John Pike palette that you see right here in front of me, stays mostly in my studio and you can see the reason for that. These shallow wells and transporting this little puppy would be a real pain. It would probably be leaking everywhere and I only say that because I've done it before.
And then this is my half-day or full-day palette. When I go out painting plan are this is a Plein Air Pro palette. As you can see, I've cut out my sponges that we talked about in an earlier video to fit right in here, and keep my paints moist.
Right here, I have a Holbein on the go palette and we'll talk about that momentarily. So one of the problems to look out for is when you're making puddles, and this is my Holbein, and I'm going to go ahead and take a little bit of color and you'll see when I do this, what happens? We got a little beading going on and boy, that's just not good. You want the puddles to spread and let me show you the difference on my John Pike palette.
Little bit of beading but not much. But do you see how that is? Then I can make another pallet over here. Another puddle over here, excuse me, and then I could mix the two and come out with a nice gray or whatever I want to do, but I've got nice flow going on here.
Really nice palette. Look at that. Isn’t that beautiful? And then I could come in with another color right next to it. Make a little puddle and then bring a little bit in and at find the right mixture that I'm looking for. Bring a little of that in maybe bring a little this in but you see how it's all working.
Whereas here on this palette…I have puddles and they are beading up. See that? And look at that. That's not good. I'll tell you how to fix that in a minute. But this is brand-new. I have not used this palette. My other one got got run over and broke.
This one just arrived. So I thought I would use it in a video and tell you how to fix this. But first, let me show you my mistake. This is my Plein Air Palette Pro. I've got 14 wells here. I use these sponges.
I'm going to I'm going to do the big reveal. Oh, is that not ugly? So somebody said I'll just get some really light sandpaper and sand off that little top layer and then you'll you won't get those little beaded puddles.
And I did, as you can see, I kind of probably used too big a grain and so I have this going on and, you know, I can live with it. I didn't want to throw it away and buy new one, which is probably what I would have to do. And but this is my big mistake. That was a mistake. Do not do that.
Do not use sandpaper.
Alright, what you're going to do instead is take your palette like this, and you're going to wash it a couple of times, maybe even throw it in the dishwasher and run it, it will not hurt it. It's a nice solid metal palette and it's, you know, just a tough palette.
I don't think it'll hurt it at all. But wash this a few times little Dove soap in there and wash and after a few times you'll be good to go just like this one. A lot of people don't know that and they do what I did there.
Yeah I know, what can I say? But this is a test.
You will pick the palette eventually that you like. You’ll ask around and find other people's ideas for palettes. And finally, find the ones that work for you, or the situation that you are in.
That's about it. I sure hope this helps you on choosing a palette and knowing what to do. Mistakes not to make. And thank you so much for watching.
Appreciate it. Please, like and share this with any other artists that you might know.
Again. This video is for the beginner, the professional beginner hoping to not make the mistakes that I made. And I thank you again. See you next time.
