Is there a DIY watercolor Palette even smaller than Altoids Mini?

Yes! You can make a four color teensy watercolor travel palette with these wee tins!

They're made the same way as my Altoids mini, but you only have four color slots. The colors you choose are crucial if you want to achieve the widest range of mixing possibilities. Follow the demonstration and discussion on my Periscope today.

Screenshot of my demonstration on Periscope today. 

Would you like me to make you one? Please contact me by email or on Instagram for details.

Selection varies per availability

What you get:

One handmade Tiny Travel Watercolor Palette, pre filled with four artists' quality watercolors comparable with those shown on Periscope. (Link above) Size: Approx 1.75"X1.75"x.5"

One hand painted and labeled watercolor chart depicting the colors in the tin.

One exercise sheet on how to mix your colors. 

Suggested materials list for a small, portable watercolor travel kit. (Brushes, paper, etc)

How to order a Tiny Handmade Watercolor Travel Palette:

Choose a tin. In case your first choice isn't available tell me your second choice.

Note: All tins are not always available. First come, first served.

Contact me and I will send you an invoice with a PayPal link for $25.00 post paid in US. (Additional postage required internationally) You do not need a PayPal Account but may use your credit card instead.

Summer break: Sorry, orders made after June 14th will be delayed while we are on break. They will be sent out as soon as possible after June 20th.

How to Remove Rust from Altoids Travel Palette, A quick, easy and nontoxic solution

I have a new YouTube tutorial for travel sketchers! Here are my top tips on keeping your Altoids Mini travel palette virtually rust free. No worries about using toxic chemicals. The ingredients are right from your kitchen pantry! Follow this link to watch the tutorial on YouTube now!

In the spirit of sketching versus formal painting, don't be too obsessive about every tiny dot of rust. Conscientious daily maintenance prevents most rust problems and this easy method lets you save your energy for sketching on location.

New! Video Tutorial on DIY Altoids Mini Watercolor Palette

Here's a screen shot from today's live broadcast tutorial: DIY mini Altoids watercolor travel palette. See the replay at Periscope.tv/michelecoopart.

Tips: Follow the baking directions on the Sculpey box for a successful result. Don't forget to let it cool down before inserting the homemade lid liner and squeezing in the watercolors.

Written directions in previous blog post here.

Quick tip live on Periscope

See replay until Friday am on periscope.tv/michelecoopart 

Here's one of my tricks for getting the last crumb of pigment out of a dried up tube of watercolor.

See my video replay on Katch.me/michelecoopart 

Watch Thursday at 4:30pm for tutorial on Altoids mini travel palette, and a quick line and wash demo using my 5 year old DYI set.

The Gloves Come Off!

I found a warm spot on the deck today and the sun felt so good! So I thought I should finally put these three little spring pots together into a nicer bigger vessel. Then I started looking at the shadows and the colors and the shapes and ...the gloves came off! Sorry, but I just want to paint!

Okay, the initial washes are dry and I'm going to finish my sketch and finish my flower potting. Update in a little while.

Update: And then the bees came!

My finished sketch......and now I can finish potting! 

Get ready to make your own tiny Altoids pocket palette

For this week's 4:30 pm Thursday Periscope, I will show you how to make a tiny pocket palette for watercolor sketching. Having a small pallete like this makes it easy to stand while sketching. I use mine all the time when I meet with the Urban Sketchers.

I will use it live to do a quick sketch for you, too. See you Thursday afternoon! Periscope.tv/michelecoopart

So here's a shopping list in case you want to get ready ahead of time:

Make a mini pocket palette with---

• a clean empty Altoids smalls tin (anybody want a mint?)
• Sculpey oven bake Polymer clay
• Wisp *disposable travel toothbrush
• White plastic deli lid
• self stick magnetic strips
• Scissors

Monday, August 10, at Sue Roberts' Studio

Approaching Guemes Island landing.

I am so glad that I decided to drive up early for our August 10th Anacortes Sketchers' outing! Missy kindly sent me a message about the rain, in case I wanted to wait until after lunch.

Our plan had been to walk on the 11:30am Guemes Island ferry (a 5 minute ride, sailing every half hour) and sketch on the beach while enjoying our own packed lunch. We had an appointment to visit artist Sue Roberts' studio after 1:00pm. I checked the weather and it looked like the rain would stop after 11:30, so I went early, as planned.

As you can see, it was still a bit overcast when I arrived at 11:15 am, but the rain had already stopped. Then I pulled over immediately after disembarking the ferry! Because here was a sweet little red "Gem" just waiting to be painted!

I thought this was the cutest, most colorful thing I would find on the island and set about sketching it immediately! I used my "perfect sketchbook", Micron pen, and my DYI Altoids Mini watercolor kit.

My sketch of the little red "Gem" parked at the ferry line shelter on Guemes.

I ordered fish and chips at the General Store for lunch. Janice and Bonnie were outside on the patio. What a view! It's right across the street from the ferry landing.  When my order came, the cook offered us an unclaimed order of crab and veggie summer rolls that someone had abandoned in their haste to catch the ferry. It was hard to get those two to wait for just a second while I sketched the crab rolls! Refinements added later.

The cook offered us free crab summer rolls with spicy sauce and ice water.

After sharing our lunch, we took off to visit Sue in her studio. I was wrong about the colorfulness factor! This being my first time at Sue Roberts' Tower Arts Studio, I had no idea what wonders awaited me!

Upstairs is a bedroom, converted from the original studio space overlooking the channel. Sue said it was too distracting. So she moved her major work studio down to the main floor.

Every piece of furniture is a delight to the eye.

I had half a man.....I mean, half a mind to cozy up in the reading nook.

 The beautiful color scheme and ceramic sculptures spill out into the garden and landscape outside.

As you gaze around the studio, there is no end to the imaginative collection of Sue's creations.

Everything is uniquely expressive.

 

If there is an earthquake here, heads will roll!

We got a tour of the studio from top to bottom and all around the grounds. Then we set to work.

So many choices of subject matter, both inside and out!

We tucked a couple of Sue's ceramic pieces in with all our afternoon sketches. Thanks to Annette for climbing to new heights for a great shot!

I stayed as late as I could to finish my sketches inspired by the afternoon at Sue's Tower Arts Studio. Color added at home.

Then, Sue gave us hot crab dip, chips, cool beverages and a homemade chocolate apple cake made just for us by Janice. Yum! Thank you, Sue, for an inspirational, fun and colorful summer retreat!

Seattle Chinese Garden

"Welcome, Guests of the Garden" - This stone with beautiful Chinese calligraphy greeted visitors today at the Seattle Chinese Garden and was translated for me by three young women from China. I was in West Seattle to sketch with Seattle Urban Sketchers at the monthly outing for April. Our balmy spring weather was back (67^° F!), but with a bit of a nip in the breeze.

I didn't get very far down the sidewalk to the garden, since the view of the south facing wall was dappled with springtime light and shadow. It was a dramatic introduction which stopped me in my tracks.

My friend and fellow sketcher, Kate found the perfect rock to start her first sketch.

"The humble gate" decorates the entrance on the sunny south wall of the garden. Sketch by M. Cooper

Pat, Jane and Kate find the rocks, courtyard, and sculpture completely in harmony with nature.

My DYI Altoids mini-palette makes it easy to sketch while standing

More than two dozen varieties of tree peonies and several herbaceous peonies donated from Luoyang, China, were planted by volunteers in 2012. It is hoped that these 400 peony rootstock will create the largest public peony garden on the West Coast. Although the early spring weather has caused many to bloom already, Dewey (a volunteer and tour guide) says that there are still some that haven't bloomed yet. They will be ready to view next weekend at the Peony and Bamboo Festival. There will be a lion dance at 11 am on Saturday.

I put a few finishing touches to my two sketches. To see them, please visit my Flickr Photostream.

Alternate equipment

In a recent sketch outing with ASk, I decided to try out a few of my pared down urban sketching tools. (I still brought my larger shoulder bag with me this time, though)

Here's my tiny DYI Altoid's set with six colors, water brush, and one #8 round watercolor brush. I used my official sketchbook (rebound with Fabriano 140#CP) which will be for the 2015 Sketchbook Project. In addition I used a Micron pen, sponge, a small #4 round travel brush and a pencil.

Both sketches on this spread were done with just those tools.

Two reasons for leaving this spot:

1. I lost my shade cover on this very hot sunny day. See? There it goes, off the right side of the photo.

2. I started thinking about how close I was to a fire hydrant in an area where people walk their dogs. (Hmm. It's cute, though. Maybe I'll sketch it.)

Altoids tin pocket palette next size up

The regular size Altoids tin can be used to carry your tiny one, plus a sponge, additional color half-pans, travel brushes and bottle caps for water.

Peel and stick magnetic strips can be used to make sure the contents don't shift around as you paint or carry the tin in your pocket.

If you prefer, you can mold palette wells out of Sculpey or Fimo. This tin would hold 8-10 colors.

The whole idea is to be as inconspicuous, portable and compact as possible while taking advantage of incidental sketching opportunities.

Pocket Palette Possibilities

Here are just three possibilities for reusing items you already have to make your own pocket travel palette.

• Some eyeshadow and makeup compacts even have removable sections that can be filled with your choice of watercolors from tubes. The mirror works fine as a mixing area. There's even a slot for your travel brush.
  
• You can purchase empty or filled pans and half pans of watercolor. Attach a peel and stick magnetic strip under the bottom of each one and arrange as desired in your regular size Altoids tin. This has the advantage of repositioning and removal for cleaning. Spray the entire inside of the box with white enamel for waterproofing.
  
• As seen in previous posts, there is the Altoids mini with pans made from Sculpey.

Pencil Box Kit for your tiny Altoids palette

This little slide pencil box from Staples will hold an entire mini painting kit, including a full size #8 round brush, pencil, sponge, paper towel, Altoids mini palette, extra tubes or pans, etc.

Add a small watercolor sketchbook or block and a water bottle and the whole kit fits into a handbag or small waist bag or fanny pack.

Here's another way to Travel Light with Plein Air Watercolor.

Tiny Travel Palette DIY with Altoids Mini

For the next week, I will post my array of mini, compact and travel plein air set ups, from the tiniest to the biggest.

Make a mini pocket palette with

• a tiny Altoids smalls tin,
• Sculpey Oven Bake Clay
• Wisp
• plastic deli lid
• self stick magnetic strips.

Cover the interior of the box with a thin (about 3mm or 1/4") layer of Sculpey or Fimo. Once you've covered the interior of the box with Sculpey, split it in 6 equal parts using strips of Sculpey. I started by laying a strip lengthwise in the middle of the tin, separating the interior in 2 long compartments. Then, I put four equally-spaced squares of clay to split each half-tray in 3.

Once you're done, you should have 6 compartments of roughly equal size. Use the Wisp to carve and smooth out any sections too small for your fingers. A crochet hook can be used as well. I baked this in the oven at 275 degrees F for 17 minutes. Thinner clay takes a little less time.

After it cooled off, I cut a thick plastic deli lid to fit inside the Altoids lid. I attached it with self-stick magnetic strips. It makes a nice mixing area for my paint and is removable for cleaning or replacement. (You could spray the inside of the lid with white enamel for a similar effect.)

Fill each of the empty sections from tubes of artist's quality watercolor. I used a warm and cool of each of the three primary colors.

Top Row: Permanent Yellow Deep, Vermilion, Manganese Blue

Second Row: Winsor Yellow, Crimson Red Lake, Ultramarine Blue Deep

Tip: Stir freshly squeezed color with a toothpick to make sure it is evenly distributed. Fill each well in two stages, halfway to start. Allow paints to dry with the lid open overnight before topping up and/or transporting.

You can use empty or purchased half pans with self adhesive magnet tape attached on the bottom to hold them in place. However, I prefer the extra width the Sculpey provides so that the adjacent colors don't mix together so easily.
Update: Scroll down my list of broadcasts for a replay of my live demonstration on Periscope.tv/michelecoopart