Stay wet palette for acrylics - do I need this?

Art Medium Discussion and Questions
1

Hi there!
I’m quite new to painting. This is one of my first paintings with acrylic, a blue tit on a small wooden suitcase as a newborn gift. But I am quite slow and I found that the paint dries very fast on the palette. Now I’ve heard about a stay wet palette so the paint stays usable for a longer time.
Does anyone have experience working with that? Is that something to consider using? What brand is the best to buy? I usually work quite small, about A4 size and smaller. How large of a palette do you advice?
Sorry about all the questions, but I haven’t that much experience with painting with acrylic yet. I did a lot of pen and ink wash.

IMG_3148
IMG_31482048×2048 363 KB

2 Likes
2

I wish I could answer! Hope you find someone that can. I am not an acrylic person

3

I love this. You did a great job.

4

I love the little wooden suitcase!

I have used a Sta-Wet palette in the past. I had a Masterson version with the sponges and other supplies you need to use it properly. It works beautifully to keep your paints usable longer than a day. I think you have to decide on size based on how many colors you use on a regular basis. I noticed one that is 8.5 x 7 inches on Amazon, probably the smallest. They go up from there. A piece of palette paper is placed over the wet sponge, and your paints go on the palette paper. There is a lid that covers everything when you’re done for the day. I remember it keeping paints usable for at least a week or longer. I don’t know that you need it, but I sure enjoyed mine when I was working in mainly acrylics.

Hope this helps.
Brenda

5

Applemoes,

I used to have that problem and just put the pallet in a Ziplock bag. It would last a few days this way.

Then I started using Golden Open Acrylics. Using the same method, they will last as long as water-mixable oils.

In all cases I use a disposable vegetable tray so the plastic doesn’t stick to the paints from above.

I never tried this, but I watched some videos by an abstract artist who used plastic disposable plates and put the used paints in the ziplock bag and into the freezer. She said that she had been doing it a long time.

Just some food for thought.

The suitcase is adorable!

Teri