It's Time

I have been using a number of new pigments over the last few months that are not in my regular palette. After much playing and experimenting with mixes I knew which ones I would like to be using on a regular basis. With no spare wells in my studio palette it was impossible to incorporate them without a big clean out.

This is something I have only done about twice before over the past ten years, scraping out the old pigment, hosing out the last of the mess and then planning the refill. It may seem to some to be a waste of paint but as I scraped away the paint I could see much had become less than pure as I am not a tidy painter and do a bit of digging in to the colour and over the years I guess it just gets more and more contaminated.
I laid out the new tubes and ensured I had them shuffled into their right spot working from cools to warms through the different colours. Taking an image of the tubes in place makes it easy to refill the right colour in the right well. I did not over fill the wells in case I change my mind on a colour in the next little while.

Cleaning is not ever categorised as inspiring but this certainly is for me. I am excited to be working with a new range, finding my way around the wells, which had previously become second nature and hopefully creating some refreshing new work.