Why yes, I do name my watercolour palettes! And yes, my travel palettes are named after space shuttles. In the next couple of palette tour posts I’ll give you a peak into my travel palettes.
Discovery Travel Palette: A Bijou box from filled with an assortment of “extra” paints
The first travel palette I’d like to introduce you to is Discovery. My Discovery palette is a small, bijou-style box from Cornellison’s.
I mentioned this palette box in my gift guide post a couple months ago. I love this little palette because it is very small but packs a large punch. Despite it’s small size, it holds 12 half pans from any brand.
The “from any brand” feature is important. Previously I was using the ubiquitous plastic Cotman watercolour palette. The Cotman palette is functional, but only holds Winsor Newton half pans. Winsor Newton pans are slightly smaller and have a different shape than others. As a result I couldn’t fit many of the pans I had from other brands.
My Discovery palette box fits and securely holds any brand of half pans. The pans are held in place using v-shaped metal inserts.
Watercolour sketch of my Discovery Palette with current paint list
I filled my Discovery palette with an assortment of “extra” paints that don’t have a home in my studio palettes. These are in all different kinds of half pans.
I bought some of these paints from handmade paintmakers just for fun. Others are beautiful paints that don’t have great lightfastness ratings. I don’t use non-lightfast pigments in my finished paintings. They are no problem for sketchbooks! Some are pigments that I have multiple versions of from different brands. A few of these paints are relics from a Winsor Newton palette I bought years ago. These are pigments and mixes which I never reached for and removed from my studio palette.
I won’t post links to the specific paints in this set. This collection will cycle between paints frequently. I do not have a particular attachment to many of these paints.
Urban Sketch of Belgian Nursery Cactus Festival – Created using only paints from my Discovery Palette.n the studio I am often very focused on creating precise colour mixes, and depend heavily on extensive glazing of transparent pigments, I use my travel palettes as a way to explore and play with pigments and mixes that aren’t what I would usually reach for, and to quickly add colour to urban sketches and field studies.
In the studio, I work in lots of layers using transparent glazes. In my sketchbooks, however, I love watching granulation and bleed effects happen on the page. When I sketch, I work in fewer, less precise layers to quickly capture larger scenes.
Many paints are frustrating in the studio but perfect for sketching with. In the studio, I find limited uses for heavily granulating Manganese Blue and Hematite, or sparkly amethyst. However, when I am sketching I am less concerned with achieving a specific controlled look. When sketching, I am delighted by green leaves with textured teal spots on them, or shadows that sparkle.
Using a constantly changing selection of paints, each with unique and surprising behaviours, also helps me. By using unusual materials, I stretch out of my comfort zone and grow as an artist.
I painted the sketch on the left during an urban sketchers outing. I used only colours included in my Discovery palette. It was very tempting to bring other paints to capture the subtle texture of the cacti. However, by experimenting and getting created, I was to create varied and interesting yet realistic greens using the unfamiliar pigments. I am very proud of my result!
Of course, I can’t resist painting out colour charts and swatches whenever the opportunity arises. I painted the colour chart below using the 12 colours currently in my discovery palette.
I have almost used up a couple of the paints in this palette! Once I’ve used up the last of the paint, I will paint another colour chart!
