Why use a porcelain palette?

I posted a video on my Instagram the other day of my current watercolour paint palette (it's all pretty pinks, so I like it quite a bit. And I had a good question asked on that post: why use a porcelain palette for watercolour painting?

Truth be told, I hadn't really cared about what kind of palette I used for my watercolour painting. The metal palette I got with my Schmincke paint set seemed to work just fine, and then I found some really cheap and cheerful plastic palettes at a local art store, so that suited me just fine.

Then I started a tutorial by Billy Showell - she's a remarkable botanical artist in the UK - and I then realized why one would want to use a porcelain palette. The paint holds on to it much better and as you can see by this photo, if you're mixing paints, then it is much more malleable process as sometimes you're doing subtle shifts in colour while the paint is still wet. The porcelain palette gives you that malleability.

One of the other reasons I stayed away from using a porcelain palette is that they seemed to be priced just an outrageous amount of money. I am not in the position to be able to afford that much for a palette, which quite honestly is breakable and with all my cats, may come to an untimely end, and I just can't get behind losing that much money on something that in essence is so basic a tool.

I've heard some artists picking up ceramic or porcelain plates from second-hand shops. I just really like the little wells in this one as a place to contain the pure pigments and then a generous area to mix. The back side can be used to mix as well.

The palette I bought is from Amazon, and it's the best price that I've found for one. If anyone has a source for the same palette for the same price or cheaper, please let me know as I know some folks just won't buy from Amazon.

The image of the peonies is the in-progress painting that I'm doing from a tutorial by Billy Showell. It's an intense piece and hurts my brain when I'm doing it, but I'm seeing the amazing results when you take your time and really get into the details. I like it quite a lot.

Thanks for reading.

If you liked this post, you can choose to send me a tip/donation through my ko.fi account. Buy me a coffee!