12) How do you organize your palette? Do you separate non-staining transparent colors from staining colors?
Margaret Best: I arrange my pallets by colour groups. I know which are the stainers but do not separate them.
Olivia Marie Braida Chiusano: I organize my paints according to each section of the painting. I use only single pigment paints and primarily glazing of layers to achieve depth of color. Pigments that are mixed or desaturated are kept in separate dishes. Lifting colors are never included in a “mix” or “between” glazing layers. Opaque paints are used with care and strategy to achieve the desired effect. Everything is worked out in advance with limited range of pigments.
Jean Emmons: I use a modified color wheel on a butcher tray. I try not to use staining colors, because I change my mind (and my colors) all the time. Staining requires a commitment. I keep the slightly opaque watercolors separate, because they’re not so good for building initial glazes, but terrific for knitting things together (covering all sins) later.
Sally Jacobs: I use the Michael Wilcox palette to organize color. I don’t separate colors by non-staining versus staining.
Robin Jess: I am embarrassed to say that I don’t really know much about staining vs. non-staining. I never took a class in watercolor, but I have learned a lot about colors from Carolyn Payzant’s Color Curriculum article in the ASBA newsletter. I use an enamel butcher’s tray and I organize my colors as to the spectrum. I often put clear tape on the inside of the tray’s walls with the name of the paint next to the patch of it. When I mix a color I write down what I used and the general proportions so I can make it again. I do note the permanence.
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