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LETTING GO!

We are all having to let go of something these days. Life is not the same. Change is hard unless we can see past it and envision something better. But still, I'm often surprised at the smallest things, almost inconsequential, that become the hardest to say goodbye to. Perhaps it is  because hanging on to them is possible. Those larger things that we must let go of are many times out of our control.

I have had only two palettes in my 24 years of painting. They were both a piece of glass, 16” x 22” with duct tape around the edges for easier handling. I bought my first one in 1996 when I began painting on canvas in my straw bale studio in Colorado. I gave up that palette when I moved to Florida. Kind of a starting over thing, I guess. Also, it was glass and breakable. But it wasn’t easy to let go of that small, smeary rectangle on which I mixed so many intuitive colors.

I bought my second glass palette when I started Open Sky Studio and Gallery. I was working with new Gulf Coast colors and leaving the sage grey greens behind. A new start seemed to be a good idea. That was 2008, 12 years ago.

Many painters prefer to mix colors on a neutral palette of gray, beige or even on a piece of slick, white palette paper. The theory of using the neutral tone as a medium value is that it helps you find your lighter and darker values. Somehow those underneath colors have never bothered me in mixing new colors and values. My way of mixing color has adjusted to the leftovers. A blank canvas can be daunting enough, but a colorless palette seems even worse to me.

With each painting, the colors I mix change and blend with the dried colors of the previous painting. Usually after I finish a painting, I do scrape off the topography of the paint so I’m back to a somewhat smooth surface. But a layer of colors that have come before remain to coat the glass. My palettes grow into a color history of my work.

Oddly enough, each of my two palettes served me for 11 years. Without keeping track of the coincidence, last month, I started thinking that the ghost-like layers on my 11 year old palette were getting a bit bumpy. I couldn’t thin them out anymore.

My studio partner, Percy, was still painting on plastic plates. He had some for acrylics and others for oil. They were starting to stack up. So one day just recently, I ordered two new pieces of glass, taped the edges and placed them on our painting tables. How clean and neat! And uninteresting! I could hardly wait to mess up mine.

Now I have my third palette. What am I to do with the old, colorful palette that has served me through so many paintings? Percy said, “I’ll take a picture of it.” As you can see, it is almost a painting in itself. He wants to frame it!

I still haven't been able to throw it away. It's wrapped up in brown paper, sitting against a wall in our studio kitchen. One day soon, I will tell Percy it's okay to take it out and drop it in the dumpster out back. But...not yet! 

See you in two week with butterflies...and a messy palette! Follow my Blog and look for my continuing monthly Newsletter, NO STRAIGHT LINES. You can catch up at:  

https://www.suzanneelizabetmurphy.com/newsletters/archive

Stay strong. Be kind. And know that if you have to give up something, another something even better will come along. I promise!

Suzanne