Witchcraft! Well, actually only a wet palette.

As part of an effort to improve my painting skills, I decided to try an make a wet palette.  In case you're unfamiliar with the term, a wet palette keeps acrylic paint wet and usable for a far longer period of time.  The has obvious advantages for making layering and blending easier, as well as for mixing custom colours.

I've read plenty of blog posts saying how easy they were to make and what a huge effect they had on painting, but, I suppose, I never actually believed it.  Having been in a bit of a painting funk lately, I thought it would be a small enough task to make one and try it out.

   

So take one chinese takeaway box, put in the sponge from a miniature box and lay some normal baking paper from the kitchen over the top.  Add enough water to just soak the sponge and, well, that's pretty much it!!!

And the result . . .

Witchcraft!!! Burn, Burn BURN THE WITCH!!!!

I mean, wow, the paint just stays wet.  It doesn't dry out!!! You put a normal amount of paint down, get the consistency you want and it stays that way.  That has got to be fucking witchcraft.  I tried out some Vallejo Middlestone on some German Pioneers.  Middlestone takes two or three coats over black to get an even coverage and, until now, was a real pain.  This time I painted the first layer, waited five minutes, painted the second layer, waited another five minutes, washed some ink on, waited again, reapplyed the Middlestone, waited again, mixed a lighter shade and applied that - ALL USING THE ORIGINAL BLOB OF PAINT!!!

What do we also burn? MORE WITCHES!!!
  
A perfect example of the difference between knowledge and experience!  The next step I think I'll try is layering and blending on something larger.  Maybe something I've never been comfortable painting. . .