Sheer Heaven portable watercolor palette

Getting ready to paint, using a new type of palette!

Last Saturday I wrote a blog post about our plein air get-together at Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, but I didn’t tell you about my experience using SheerHeavenTM  paper as a field watercolor palette.

An online friend and blogger, Sue, of “Journeys with Sue” brought us all sample of Sheer Heaven paper to try out as portable palettes.  What a thoughtful gesture (thank you, Sue!), as well as a wonderful new tool to add to my field sketching kit.

One of the problems I have with art supplies is that I tend to pack much more than I really need.  I’m sure I’m not alone on this issue!  The beauty of using this paper is that it is flat and can be cut to any size required.  When the watercolor paint is dry, simply slip it into your sketchbook or a handy plastic baggie. 

Sheer Heaven^TM has two sides: one side is smooth and the other has a slight tooth.  For use as a watercolor palette, Sue instructed us to use the “toothy” side.  I laid down some saturated splotches of watercolor paint in the colors I thought I’d need, and got started on my field sketch.  Since we were in the sun, my palette dried almost immediately, but the nice thing about this material is that the rough side is non-absorbent and my paint lifted immediately for use.

Another thing I like about this product is that it’s a translucent white, which I could use to check my color mixes against my journal or watercolor paper.  I felt like I was a step closer to my painting than using my plastic palette – it was more immediate, if that makes sense.   It stayed flat, and didn’t wrinkle or buckle under my wet puddles of paint.  It’s a nice material, and I can’t wait to try it as an actual art medium rather than just a palette.  

For more information on Sheer heaven:

http://www.dotcalmvillage.net/sheerheavenart.html

P.S.  You can see my finished field sketch in the previous post here.