My DIY Watercolour Travel Palette

My husband often asks me “are you on the case?!” – tongue in cheek.

That’s because I’m forever trying to find the ‘right’ gadget, or device the ‘right’ package for when I’m ‘on the case’.

But that’s just me , I like to think I’m always on the case 🙂

I had spent a lot of time on the internet Google searching for travel watercolour palettes but all I could find was either the super expensive bought ones or diy Altoid tin ones (or something similar) which I thought were too heavy and bulky.  More time invested in searching brought me to an image of an eye shadow palette that was converted into the ultimate watercolour travel palette. BINGO!

Got the keys to the car and off I went to the local shopping centre. I now I had to find the perfect sized, shape eyeshadow box, with the right number of containers inside. I don’t have any at home because I’m one of those females that can’t be bothered with make up and also because I have no clue as to how to apply make up.

Six dollars later and here’s what I found

Perfect! 18 little slots of my paints.

But it just seemed a shame to have to scrap it all out. Such pretty colours. I used a butter knife to gently scrap out the eyeshadow.

Next came the can of white spray paint

You’re probably wondering what this is for right?

The eyeshadow box window is transparent and I needed the inside of the lid to be white for when I’m mixing colours, so it needed to be spray painted .

I did about three coats of paint. You can see with the lid open that I can now mix my colours and see what I am mixing.  I left it for about 24 hrs before I added my paint.

By this stage I was beside myself.  I was getting pretty excited with my new little James Bond gadget I could put in my bag or pocket.

Now the next and final step was to add my tubes of colours. I initial bought some Art Spectrum paint (think in blues) , then a couple of tubes of  Winsor and Newton, but I much prefer and only discovered the Daniel Smith brand of watercolour paint tubes, the colours are more vibrant. Not that I am an expert at watercolours because I’m only a beginner but to the untrained artist that’s what I noticed.

I like that I have 18 palette boxes, it gives me more choice in what colours I’d like to add.  I had initially resisted against getting a sap green.  Because I have so many blues : cobalt, cerulean, French Ultramarine, pthalo, prussian, and cobalt teal and two yellows: lemon and cobalt, there’s no shortage of greens that I can mix. Added to that I have burnt and raw umber, and burnt and raw sienna. The reds in my palette are permanent rose and cadmium red.  I recently added cadmium orange too (because I thought it would be good for those times when I’m doing a quick sketch and am either too lazy or I don’t have enough time to mix my orange).

I’m so pleased with my little travel palette thin light and very compact.  I’ll write a post on my travel watercolour kit next.  This one I’m really proud of and so keen to share.  My husband thinks that I’m like a child because I carry it around with me everywhere.  It even sits on my bedside  🙂

Let me know about your travel watercolour palette.

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