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Author: Phil_Levine, Contributing Editor
| To the right is a plein air painting I did in Versailles. |  |
| Another decision you make deals with the mixing surface - or palette. Again, I like to make as few compromises as possible. When I paint in the studio I always use a glass palette. It's so easy to scrape off the paint with a razor blade window scraper and keeps the painting process moving along cleanly and effortlessly. I see that many people either mix on the wooden palette that comes with the French easel or they bring the disposable paper palettes with them. |
| I've found a fairly happy way of carrying glass. You may know that Masters makes a stay-wet plastic box with plastic lid. The ubiquitous one is the blue one that's 12 x 16 - way too large to be carrying on a plein air painting trip. But they also make a smaller version measuring 11 1/2 by 12 1/2 inches and has a yellow lid. This one comes with a piece of hard plastic acting to create a dividing compartment inside. I snip this out with a wire cutters and then get a piece of light weight glass cut to fit. |  |
| After using a little caulking to place it, I have a real convenient palette that fits neatly into the backpack in which I carry my other supplies. In my years of painting in France I have never broken one of these palettes. Even if I did, it's just as easy to get glass cut there as it is here! Sorry for the blurry photo. |
 | Here's where the sticky problem comes up. Wet canvases that you have at the end of the trip. How do we deal with that? There probably is no perfect choice here. I've tried putting pieces of wax paper in between wet canvases only to have them ruined when I got home. Had to repaint the whole thing from memory. One solution is to use lots of Liquin or cobalt drier of some kind in the last days of the workshop. Mix them in liberally with your paints and speed up the drying process. Dick Blick also sells a very inexpensive clip that can be attached to each canvas which helps separate your work until you can pack them in cardboard travel boxes to take home. Some have found these to be useful. |
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