Masterson's Palette

Here's a funny thing - now here IS a funny thing (channeling the late Max Miller): because I've been so perishing ill for a month, with a chest infection the remnants of which still linger, I've not touched a paint-brush since the turn of the year. I was however in the process of painting an acrylic before Christmas, before my eye operation, hoping to crack on with it once the glue had set, as it were, but was struck down with this damn' virus. Anyway, leaving aside the medical details, I had put paint out, mostly System 3 acrylic, in my Masterson palette, and left the palette on top of a bookcase; normally, if I leave paint for that length of time I can guarantee that when I take the lid off the palette there'll be black mould all over the shop, gobbling up the sponge and generally soiling the paint; so invariably I have to just discard the lot and start again. I was expecting this to be the case this time, but - more in hope than expectation - I had cleaned the base of the palette, beneath the sponge, with ordinary household vinegar before putting it to one side. I don't really know why I thought that would help, but..... it looks as though it did! After over a month, there's no sign of mould at all. I am no chemist; I know there are one or two here whose knowledge of household matters and domestic science generally is far in advance of mine (eg, Amanda) - do you think it actually WAS the vinegar? I'll certainly try it again, because if I have to take another extended break it'll save me a lot of money in thrown away paint, sponges and paper. Either way: I'm rather pleased; and the painting is beginning to come round as well, having been a bit of a disaster thus far. Makes a change for things to go right, whatever the reason...

Interesting Alan - so I sort of did the right thing without knowing why, from the sound of it! The difference truly was remarkable - most pleasing. The inserts are pricey, I know - but they work, whereas greaseproof paper I don't think really does; not for me, anyway. I don't know, Derek, if there's a big difference between the Masterson palette and the Daler-Rowney one - haven't tried the latter, but they all, presumably, work on the same basis. My only suggestion, which I've made before, is that you buy as big a one as you can - small, fiddly palettes drive me mad (mad, I tell you!): you always run out of space at exactly the wrong moment - i.e. at the exact moment you're on a roll and wanting to keep it going. Incidentally - what artists' materials DON'T cost money? When you work in more than one medium, it don't 'alf add up - thank God for Rosemary & Co's brushes, which are still incredibly inexpensive for very high quality items; and Bockingford watercolour paper, which is outstandingly good for the price. But pity those of us who work in oil - the best paint is painfully costly, even though it lasts longer than the cheap stuff: (if you want a cheap but good one, try D-R Georgian, or Lukas. Acrylic thread, I know - and with those, I don't believe in buying the cheap ones: no covering power, as Phil Kendall pointed out the other day: don't economize with paint, it'll always cost you more and be a disappointment if you do. Here endeth the First Lesson.)

Yes, that's a good way of saving paint - Pat plonks it into plastic, sealed tubs,basically, and there being no water in them, there's no mould/fungus either - and interestingly the Masterson's palette I've got (they vary between sizes) has a row of little plastic pots at the top in which colour can be stored - I confess to finding them fiddly, and I haven't made much use of them: they're smaller than the ones Pat uses. I use a stay-wet palette basically for continuity of working through the day, and subsequent week, though: and that would be a downside with Pat's method; an upside would be that I might be able to keep more actual mixing space available - it depends on how you like to paint, basically, but Pat offers another string to the bow.

Derek, I don't know that the mould has much effect on the paint other than dirtying it - but in the past I have scraped it off and chucked it, because I couldn't be sure it wouldn't contaminate any fresh paint I put down and add mould spores to the surface I was working on. But if the mould in your case - or rather in your palette's case - was right at the bottom and hadn't leached through, I wouldn't worry; though cleaning up was a good idea. Looking forward to seeing your polar bear.

Learning to touch-type so many years ago, Syd, has stood me in good stead.