Plastic Artist Palette Can be Good for the Environment

I use a variety of artist palettes when I paint, i.e. a clear one if I want to do color matching, a closed lid one for longer term projects, and a plastic well one for most of my acrylic painting projects.

I use the plastic well one the most, as it is small; that works well for my space. I usually paint on canvas sizes that are around 8-1/2 x 11 inches, so it also holds pretty much the amount of paint that I need.

The other thing I like about the plastic wells, is that once I'm finished painting, I set the palette aside and let the paint air dry. (I actually have several of these in case I'm working on multiple projects and/or at different times.) Once the paint is dry I peel the dried paint out of the wells. Most of the paint peels off pretty easily, and the rest I do a few scrapings with my finger nails. That might seem a little rustic, and sometimes a little time consuming; however, I'm keeping less paint from being washed down the drain. Then it's only what is coming off of my brushes that goes down the drain, so I see that as an environmentally friendly thing to do.



Cheryl Paton