[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hello all,

This may seem like a dumb question, but here it is. How do you paint a portrait, which could takes weeks, without your palette drying out? I am working on the biggest portrait I have attempted so far. After a week I scaped off my palette to clean it. Actually, only the raw umber was completely dry, but my other mixes were starting to get rubbery.

I suppose one technique is to paint the face, then follow with 'scumbles'. Or, just paint the face over and over again, which is what I would end up doing if I had to remix my skin tones from a fresh palette.

For a while I didn't have raw umber or burnt sienna on my palette but they're back now. As I understand it, these colors dry faster than others. I am trying out the Paxton palette so I don't have any cadmiums on my palette.

Any tips on this would be VERY helpful. Thank you.

Joan