Is One Palette Enough?

Zoey Frank (Ep.80) works large. Sometimes 10 feet and beyond. The scope of her projects are big. And she adds to the complexity by having very specific color goals for different paintings.

So how does she keep all those color choices from getting tangled up between paintings?

The answer is simple.

She creates and keeps separate palettes for separate projects.

Different palettes mean you don’t have to clean out your palette and reset every time you jump between paintings.

It means you can mix a ton of greens for the project with plants and not have it all go dry or have to store it elsewhere for the project that's all skin tones.

It means a bit more management (keeping an eye to make sure pigments don’t go dry). However, Frank finds the trade offs worth it. Being able to walk in and open a palette, trusting that it’s exactly the colors she needs makes it so much easier to get to work.

Put it to Practice:

A big part of painting is learning to manage your palette. And having a standard set of go to colors is the best way to start learning color.

But you may find that different subject matter requires a different line up of color. And if you are constantly jumping back and forth between plants and people (for example) you may benefit from having two palettes set up for easy access.

The pro of separate palettes is your ease of access and efficiency. If you have a skin tone palette, there’s a chance you can use some of what you have for the next painting.

But there are cons.

Primarily you have to manage more pigments. And especially in acrylics (even with a Sta-Wet palette), that’s no small task.

But know it's an option. There's no rule that you have to have one palette and one palette only. Sometimes just having a second set up is the simplest and easy answer.