A palette is a tool that a painter uses to keep and mix paints while they are painting. It can be a wooden or plastic board held in the painter’s arm, or it can be placed on the ground, a table, or a wall. Palette sizes, compositions, and uses are infinitely variable, but the most common image is of a thin, curved wooden surface held in the hand with dabs of paint around the edges and a mixing area in the center. A palette is useful because it provides the painter with all of the necessary paints as well as a mixing area for quick application to a brush.
A palette, in general, contains a selection of the painter’s colors. The painter pours or squeezes paint onto the palettes as needed, usually around the edges or in separate compartments. A palette can hold a few dozen different colors and provide areas and surfaces for mixing them. Dab the brush in one paint, apply it to the mixing surface, then dab the brush in another paint and mix the two on the surface.
The palette’s advantages make it a near-essential tool for all small-brush painters. The palette is frequently held in the hand to provide quick access while working directly in front of or over a painting, but it can also be stored on a desk or away from the work. It may be small enough to hold in one hand while working, or it may be too large.
A popular palette in the twenty-first century is made of sturdy plastic the size of a large notebook. It has around sixteen large compartments, each large enough to hold several brush strokes of paint; a large mixing area; and a plastic surface that is easy to clean and wipe clean with water and a sponge or towel. The palette is typically light and thin, making it convenient to store and transport.
Other contemporary palettes are made of metal, glass, or ceramic, and can be customized for specific paint types. The wet palette is a wet palette that is used to keep acrylic paints from drying out. Ceramic has become popular as a tool for keeping paints from sticking to the palette, and it’s often as simple as using dinner plates. Palettes can also come with a variety of add-ons, such as palette cups, which hang from the sides of the palette and provide additional space for mixing and thinning paints.