my palette is a disaster right now and i think i like it
ok so I used to be SO precious about my palette, like everything had to be squeezed out in neat little rows, same order every time, I'd scrape it clean after every session. And lately? complete chaos. I've got dried crusts of ultramarine from three days ago, a blob of rose madder that's started to separate, some random mix I forgot about that's actually a perfect grey I'm terrified of losing. And I'm painting better?? Like the mess is forcing me to work faster and stop overthinking every color choice. I just dip into whatever's there and make it work. My partner walked by and said "babe it looks like a murder scene" and honestly they're not wrong but I'm kind of into it now. Anyone else's workspace get worse as the work gets better or is this just me being feral
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I get this completely but from the other end. With printmaking you can't really be precious about your palette because the registration and the proofing already eat up so much of your attention. But I've been thinking about what it means that we do better when we loosen the grip, there's something in it about trusting your eye more than your system.
That accidental grey you're scared of losing though… I'd mix it intentionally and put it somewhere safe. Not because the chaos isn't working, but because some accidents are worth keeping around as a reference point. Then let the rest of the mess do its thing.
okay first of all the printmaking perspective is so interesting because I feel like you guys are already operating on a totally different level of surrender?? Like with watercolor I'm just fighting the paper and myself, you're fighting registration AND paper AND ink AND a whole press. So when you say loosen the grip I'm like... man has already been loosened
also you're absolutely right about that grey and I know you're right but there's a part of me that's like NO let it live in the chaos it was born in 😂 I might swatch it in my sketchbook as a reference and then let the original crust live on the palette until it's gone. Best of both worlds maybe