It's What Kind of Tray?!

A series of posts on products I love to use. Enjoy!

 

I struggled finding the best palette for mixing paints. I tried plastic palettes with little spots for each color. I used old dinner plates and saucers.  I resisted butcher trays for a long time because they seemed so big and unwieldy. But I have come to my senses!

​Butcher trays are fabulous for mixing watercolors!

I use an 11 x 15 butcher tray because there is space to have multiple colors out at the same time, and there’s room to mix up paints.  I think the best kept secret about these trays is that there’s a slight rise to the center of them which means excess water does a gentle slide to the edges and doesn’t destroy your blob of paint.  It’s also easy to re-wet paints. I like having the elbow room.

Confession: I now have so many “favorite” colors that I bought another, smaller butcher tray (7 x 11) to use exclusively for one color family–either all my blues and purples or all my pinks.  

Pro-Tip: Some of my fav paints are very similar. When I set up my butcher tray, I make myself a cheat sheet of where I dab which color.  Then I’m not panicking and trying out all my pinks each time I paint rhubarb or foxglove. (And it happens, believe me!)

Plus I love enamelware and this is a way to have some around me that is getting used every day!

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