How to Create a Stay Wet Palette for Acrylics

Have you ever painted in acrylics and while you were still painting some of your acrylic paint dried up.  Perhap also you hava alot of paint left over from painting and you had to throw that paint away.  I'm pretty sure you saw that paint go into the garbage and you said to yourself there has got to be a way of preserving my paints.  For the past three years I have been using a stay wet palette while painting in plein air.  I also use in my acrylic paint a medium called liquitex slow dri gel not the fluid when I mix my limited palette of color before arriving at my scene to paint.  In this blog post I want to share with you the steps in creating your own stay wet palette. 

Here are the items you will need to create your own stay wet palette. 

Step 1

Gather all your items to create the stay wet palette.  There are two items left out of the photo that you don't have to have but if you want precision they are a must.  A pencil and a ruler is optional.

Step 2

Take the medium size cloth and cut it to the size of the bottom of the shallow container.  After cutting the cloth run water over the cloth and after squeeze it.

Step 2

Take the cloth and and place it at the bottom of the container

Step 3

Take the parchment paper and pull it out to the size of the bottom of container.

Step 4

Measure the distance of the bottom vertical from on size to the other and draw a straight line using a pencil and a ruler then use the scissors to cut the parchment paper.

 

Step 5

Take your scissors and cut along the line you made.  

Step 6

Place the curled side of the parchment paper facing down and spread it out to the sides with your fingers.

Parchment paper is strong enough to withstand the paint and the dampness of the cloth underneath.  Wax paper will not work.  I hope you you have been blessed by this blog post on making a stay wet palette.

 

Plein Air Painting as a Beginner with Acrylics

Hello everyone!  Have you been thinking about paintingin plein air or outdoors.  Perhaps you been desiring to paint your flowers outdoors, your tree in yout yard, your garden, your car or truck, your bike, skateboard your lawn mower your shoes in plein air or perhaps your home your backyard, neighborhood on your street or even your local park.

Here are things you need to know before you start your first plein painting.

1. YOUR SUPPLIES

French Easel

Stay Wet Palette

YOUR BRUSHES

It is best to use a large flat brush at the beginning of your painting to block in all your dark shapes such as your shadows first because the light shifts about every 7 to 10 minutes especially in the evenings and mornings.

1. Flat Brush        2. Filbert Brush        3. Round Brush        4. Liner Brush

YOUR TIME FRAME TO PAINT IN PLEIN AIR

As a beginner it is very important to paint close to noon from 11:30am till 12:30 for about one hour.  One hour is reasonable time to paint in a small size of  8"x10" scale or even smaller 5"x 7".

1. Morning

2. Noon

3. Evenings

OUTDOOR TEMPERATURE

It is very important to paint in temperatures as a beginner that is comfortable.  Good temperature range to paint in plein air is from 65 to 75 degrees with less wind as possible.  However, the highest tempts I've ever painted in was 90 degrees in June of 2020.  I was very uncomfortable and sweeting a lot.  I had put a tee shirt and I put it over my head to keep me cool.  I had not checked the weather forecast on that day.  I encourage you to watch the weather forecast before heading out to paint in plein air.

You now know now what to do and what to expect when you go out and paint in plein air.  I advise you to write out a check list of supplies before you go out and paint in plein air.   I hope this post has been a help to you as a beginner.  Thank you.