GETTING STARTED IN WATERCOLOR: Preparing to Paint

Before I paint the first strokes of color on my paper, I like to "prepare to paint".  It's sort of a ritual for me, and I do this at the beginning of a series of paintings, or before I start a portrait.  This ritual takes place AFTER I've planned the painting, or series; and usually after I've done the drawing and mounted my paper on a board.

I like to start with a clean palette, which is not this . . .

I wipe off the inside area of the palette, as well as all around the palette.  I also clean up the yellow wells, which have usually been contaminated with greens, blues, and reds.   

After I've cleaned up the palette, it is ready for some fresh paint . . . 

I gather all the tubes of paint that I have on hand, or have recently purchased, and line them up at the appropriate wells.  (You can see that I don't always have every color.)

Then, I squeeze each color into the well -- right on top of what is already there.  

I use a palette knife to spread and smooth out the paint . . . 

I continue this way, squeezing out and spreading the paint, working my way around the palette -- until I've used every tube that I had.  (I usually don't have to use the whole tube.)

It's kind of a messy process . . . 

To set up my "painting station", I choose the brushes that I think I will need, and have them handy.  I prepare a "pad" of paper towels, made up of about 10 pieces of paper towels, folded in half and stacked.  I put this just to the left of my palette and to the right of the paper/board.

I fill up a plastic container with water and fill up my mister with clean water . . . 

 . . . and, I'm ready to paint.  Just need to turn on my music . . .