Fleeting Focus - palette

My palette for the painting 'Fleeting Focus' all done now (for the 12"x12" show at Galerie Abyss, August 6). James Gurney in his book 'Color and Light' (which I recommend highly) discusses color strings: premixing separate values of the same color to save time. (Note the separate mixes of blues and pinks. The Gray in the corner is the subjective neutral color used for mixing.)

Painting with acrylics: the stay-wet palette method

Here's what you want to invest in if you're having difficulty with the speedy drying time of acrylic paints:

Pick up some stay-wet palette paper and companion sponge, then a stay-wet container (I like using a 13"x17" butcher tray with an impromptu lid. Locally, the art store HACHEM sells them). The wet sponge overlayed by the palette paper keeps everything moist. I just uncovered the tray from paints I put out about 3 weeks ago - still wet!

 
This is the palette (all the colors) I used to make my latest painting 'Gift of Folly'. All my painting have been created this way since one year ago. It's made a big difference!

 

Palette paper and sponge.