Do you have art supplies that you're just not using? In this video I'll talk about how I've been gradually editing down my collection of art supplies over the past few months, and how I've found that placing limits on the art supplies I'm using is actually inspiring and freeing. Here, I'll take three A Gallo watercolor palettes, swatch the colours and decide which to keep and which to sell or give away. Then I'll curate an inspiring new palette with the colours I keep. You'll also see how I use this new palette to create a painting inspired by a prompt from an art challenge on my Patreon. I hope you enjoy it! Do you edit down your materials occasionally? I'd be interested to hear your experiences of managing your own collection of art supplies in the comments section below.
Your new color palette looks like mine. I have few materials, I had to sell mine when I moved. I'm thinking of buying gouache again or watercolor. I am undecided. I loved your video, I did the same to find my color palette.
Limitation = Freedom - How I edit my art supplies - Palette creation + painting process. The video is engaging and grips the viewer from start to finish. Watched the video on May 28, 2023 very like. Thank you
I have been going through realizations like this myself. I love the nature colors in other people’s work and I was trying to emulate that for the past 5-6 months. Which is great, I learned so much, but my favorite colors to work with are like candy. Bold pinks and purples and brights neons. My work has grown for the better and I’m not afraid of using those nature colors now, but I have been going “back to my roots” in my style and it feels so good. Also, I never thought of blue tack for my paint palettes. I always get the little square magnet pieces.
Understand completely about overwhelment about colour choices, but it's so hard sometimes to resist buying beautiful colours or sets curated perfectly together. That verdaccio and olive green deep looks gorgeous! I enjoyed seeing the process of painting as well! Thank you for the calm video.
Thank you. :) By the way, I've been thinking about your dot card today, Kriksis! I'm making a list of colours I think you might like to try. Also, a half-pan of Random Grey 2022 and Daniel Smith Lapis Lazuli will be on their way to you as soon as they've dried enough. x
@@kriksis I will do! Thanks Kriksis. I want to make a video very soon where I swatch all of my Wallace Seymour colours, so when that goes up you'll be able to see exactly what I've got and what I haven't!
Your comment about too many colors making it hard to choose which to use reminded me of when I was started a job as a visual merchandiser for a big department store. The visual merchandiser in charge of the first floor which included jewelry, had to take time every morning before the store opened to pull jewelry out of the display cases because the sales clerks would put jewelry in thinking to give the customers more choices. But the older visual merchandiser told me that too many choices for the eye and the mind means the customer won't buy because they can't choose, they can't see. All those choices overwhelm. Love the new palette. I'm taking 12 A Gallo colors with me to Ireland and Scotland in a few weeks. Love their colors and have some of the ones in your palette.
That's so interesting! I can completely believe this, as the same has happened to me when there's too much choice - I've walked out of shops without buying because of that very reason. Have a great trip to Ireland and Scotland. Beautiful places - lots of inspiration!
Wonderful! I’ve recently gathered up all my oddball supplies & packed them into a clear Daler Rowney artist caddy. And I grabbed an old partially used watercolor sketchbook containing some equally oddball experiments. Limiting myself to drawing items around the house & garden, I’m using up the crazy mix of media, covering over old work, & forcing myself to innovate. It’s quite freeing. 💗
I desperately need to destash art supplies, yarn, crafty supplies, cookbooks...all of my ADHD hyperfocuses. But i do find comfort in kniwing the stuff is there should i feel inspired again. It is a mystery to find the balance. What a joy it is to watch you paint, thank you for including your beautiful work!
Hi Natasha! I understand the feeling of being overwhelmed, and so I thought I'd share how I use my watercolor collection. I have a main core palette (in my case it's a very classic mixing palette - it realy doesn't matter, think of it as the colors you always reach for in almost all of your paintings) and then I have a small wooden box where I pull out certain colors from my collection for the painting I'm working on. My whole collection of different colors are in one big wooden box (it used ot be a pencil box) and I have the swatches on the box, so it's easy to pull out what I need or what I'm feeling like for a painting.
This sounds so logical! I love it. Thank you for sharing, Stephanie. I'm working on a better system for my own supplies one I've finished editing them. I really want to use what I've got! It makes me sad to see art supplies not being used, so I'm happy when they go to a new loving home. :)
Fascinating to watch someone swatch colours and pick all the opposite colours you would pick, and yet make a painting you still like with them. These colours are so YOU and that's what makes this pefect. Thanks for sharing. Btw, what paper are you using - it's a lovely texture on video. And the shot of your paint here 11:19 with the reflections from your brush were beautiful. I loved that moment, great filming.
I totally agree with your assessment that a colour palette makes your work obviously ’yours’ and this is part of your unique style. I often suffer from choice paralysis too! I’m 100% a purple and teal person. I LOVE how your botanical swatches look together on the page, they work so well together.
Oohhh. What a great idea Natasha! I know what I’ll be doing this weekend now. Hope I’ll be able to be as decisive as you. It’s a real testament as to how well you know yourself and what you like, and you ended up with such a gorgeous palette at the end that produced such a lovely painting with all the colours working in harmony together. Thanks!
Hi Natasha, I enjoyed this video, well I always enjoy all your videos!! But this has inspired me to sort my own palettes out. I love the colour’s you did choose and the one’s you have decided to let go of. The piece you painted for the Patreon challenge is gorgeous just love love it 🥰 stunning 🤩 xxx
Beautiful combination of paints. I spend a considerable amount of time curating palettes, making perfect combinations of paints that work for me at the given time. And then I change my mind and re-edit them 🤣Left unchecked, I can keep doing this forever because it feels relaxing and less stressful that creating completed works sometimes. So I remind myself to only do it with specific projects in mind, to make sure the palettes are being actually used and loved the way they are meant to. Analysis paralysis is really something.
I love the idea of single colour palettes, but in reality I'd never use them like that...but then I'd struggle with the idea of splitting them up because they're a "set". Getting overwhelmed by supplies is definitely a thing, but it's wonderful that you have the opportunity to experiment with unusual supplies and be able to see if they will or won't work for you. For us, it's incredibly helpful to see an artist using supplies we might be thinking about, or things we never knew existed. I never would have tried Schmincke Horadam Super Granulation Haze watercolours if it wasn't for you xx
Such a smart thing to do! We all love to buy or receive art supplies. There is alot of time spent keeping it all organized! More time to paint! Understanding what is the part that is unique to you and your art is freeing. Your art is so beautiful! You are unique and beautiful. I so appreciate the time you spend for us. Thank you! I think you might have helped a lot of other artists understand why they sometimes feel so overwhelmed!
Thank you for this. I have largely stopped buying new paints unless they will work with what I want to do and as I largely do Urban Sketching they have to be limited by what I am prepared to carry about. But creating a palette by swatching like this is such a good idea. And your observation that you might like a colour but it just won't be used in your work is spot on.
Thank you so much for this, Natasha - it seems like a simple idea, but it’s so powerful! You’ve inspired me to do this with my supplies, too. I’m not an artist at your level, of course, but the supplies can really pile up fast 🎨
I can't live without having extremely opposite colors on my pallet, I love mixing, so having Brighting colors next to moody and pastels are essential to me. I always have at least 3 different tons of each colors to mix between them
I love this approach. Thanks for sharing your wisdom and process, Natasha. I like giving spare art supplies to young people and friends with tight finances. Although, i make a new palette often and use a variety of colours so i keep a lot of different colors! Also love all those cool greens together! Similarly I enjoy tonal monochromatic clothing outfits... it's nice in fabrics too!
Wow! So beautiful! And your topic is so relevant! I've come to the realization that I have been really hindered in my artistic development by too many choices. I don't have a grasp on which paints I like best or even how my paints interact with each other despite all the hours on end swatching and experimenting, and painting. I simply too overwhelmed. I am now creating a limited palette that I only use for the next 6 months (minimum). Everything else is going to get put away and not touched until I know this limited palette like I know the back of my hand. My choices are being guided by the deep desire to have a travel palette that I don't have to struggle to know how to use when I am in the field. Lord knows there is enough going on when painting on location as it is. I don't need to wonder if I've grabbed just the right colors for the spot I've chosen on top of all the other decisions that are needed. Also, I've discovered firsthand that not all watercolors travel well. Many of my QOR paints have flowed all over my palette despite being dried for several weeks. M. Grahams are the same, as well as the Shinhan PWC. I don't feel that a paint palette which needs to lay flat all the time to be a good candidate as travel paints. At any rate, kudos to you for knowing exactly what you want and to sell what you don't. I am in awe!
This is such a great idea! Once you get to know that palette really well, you can then add more colours from that point if needed. Paints that don't dry fully are the bane of my life! I've pretty much stopped using M Graham for that very reason. :)
This is a great idea. I’ve been in a massive creative slump, not reading or painting since the tail end of December. And part of it definitely comes to overwhelming art supplies and ideas and just stuff. Downsizing my supplies might be a good exercise. I’ll be trying this!
I find that I am not someone that gets overwhelmed/paralyzed by choice, BUT, I picked every single color in my 150 color palette individually. I've never bought a pre-made palette, because I know that I will not use everything in there, and that's a waste. I don't buy the same pigment from different brands unless those pigments look different and I like them both. If I see "curated palettes" that are aesthetically pleasing, I can probably make something similar with what I have. Basically, you can have your cake and eat it too if you make deliberate choices. I have made mistakes and bought things I thought I would like, but it didn't go well, and at that point I just remove it from my palette. It's okay to get rid of something that doesn't serve you, you don't have to push yourself and hope you will learn to like it, remove it asap and focus on something else. A lot of people will say "I'll use it up." No. Get rid of it. Give it to a friend or sell it. Move on. Alternatively, I have also never forced myself to get rid of something because I have something else that's similar. I clearly love them both. I find freedom in deliberate choice. (Note: People who buy watercolors just to have them are also valid. Some people just like collecting watercolors as a hobby and know they won't use them, and that's enough to bring them joy.)
I have the Green and Blue palettes. I love A. Gallo, but there are some I use more than others. I finally took apart both palettes and created others. It is very overwhelming and sometimes paralyzingly. I decided to create a neutral palette and a bright palette. It has helped me concentrate I my projects. I can eliminate the unnecessary clutter of choices. Thank you for this. It is like permission to make changes. I also have a Roman Szmal palette with both neutrals and brights together. This is my number one go to palette.
I’m the opposite. If I don’t have a choice, I get upset and it may ruin the whole painting for me. I get limited palettes but I also like the options. I tried making a limited palette with hues of colors I loved and it was great but the problem was that the colors were granulating and when it came to skin tone, it would look very textured and while it wasn’t unpleasant to me, if I want to sell art, I can’t have too much texture everywhere. Anyway, adding more colors doesn’t make it much into a limited palette but just a palette. Sometimes I have to just understand how I’m like and stop following others metrics and what is good for them and make a big palette anyway. 🙂 It’s just hard because almost everyone online says that people with limited palettes are more intelligent, have uniform pieces, and overall better art; I just want to paint. I can’t paint when I can’t have everything I want. 🙂 It ends up causing more waste making a limited palette for me.😦
@@keepyourshoesathedoor Hello 👋. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and feelings! I think having your opinion here helps other people who are in a similar situation to yours. I especially like the part where you said you just want to paint 🙂👍🏼. I once bought 24+ new colours over two shopping trips and I found them overwhelming to use. I’m not sure why, maybe the colour choices? Maybe they were too many new colours at once that I was unable to explore them all properly? That’s why I prefer more limited palettes; I can easily mix with them and then expand them gradually.
@@awatercolourist Oof, I can see that overwhelming. I tend to not buy too many colors at once. While I have a huge palette, it’s nowhere near 256 colors, more like 36-48. I think the best thing for me was to buy things split up. Sometimes I get silly and buy more than 8 things, but typically that leads to overdrive. Also, (😅) I don’t know what it is, but I have a particular gamut in mind with my colors so that isn’t vibrancy. Typically they’re either dark, grainy, pungent, or like wine. I don’t like blues (to buy) but they’re irreplaceable. I buy limited quantities of yellows. Guess what though? I buy a ridiculous amounts of reds, purples, oranges, and greens. It’s almost embarrassing. I used to buy yellows and blues when I first started but I realized I liked chalky yellows and transparent yellows with depth so I stopped getting a ridiculous amount. The blues? They’re just sitting in my cart. They’re ridiculously expensive. I’ve been trying to get some from Michael Harding, MaimeriBlu, Schminke, and A Gallo, but it’s been a struggle to actually follow through the purchase. I always use the colors I buy and enjoy them. They’re in my palette, but I only use a few at a time.
@@keepyourshoesathedoor Another very good comment from you 😊. What made you think I bought 256 paints?!! Did I write that? 256 paints! I wouldn’t know where to start 😂.
This is a really great idea 😊 I’ve never seen a fully green palette like that before, green is my least used colour so I’d have no clue how to use it haha 😂
Honestly, I have expected this video for some time. It’s more inspiring this side 😊 my art studio is small and when I limit my supplies my studio feels so much more peaceful to be in 😊
Yes, I should have mentioned that aspect of it! I find that it stresses me when I have too many supplies and can't find space for them. I like my studio to feel organised and peaceful too. :)
Oh what a great idea. Like you I have been buying buying buying over the past few years. And I've found that although there are colours I really love on their own - they aren't really "me" colours when I paint. Definitely an exercise I will do on a day when I want to be in the studio but symptoms are too high to actually paint. Loved the painting on Insta - really enjoyed watching it get painted here.
I recently did a similar thing, redoing my main palette, and I found the process so satisfying. But I hadn’t thought of it in quite this way. I think I’ll be editing down many of my other supplies. Thanks for another lovely video!
A great video as always! I love the different canera angles you are using now. You really have grown both artisticly and I can tell you are taking more riskes with your you tube editing as well. Super inspiring!!!!!
wonderful result. thank you for sharing and glad that your excitement about the monochrome palettes led you here! Inspired by your video, I am looking at my A Gallo palettes and thinking about which colors I'm drawn to and maybe will put six of them into a portable painters micro palette to see what results I get! ;)
This is beautiful! I always thought my tools are friends and family and soldiers in everyday mundane battles... I only keep what I use and slowly let go of those that I do not...
Too many choices don't help me either. Yet I do love all the colours and never know when I'm going to feel like using them. What I do is think very hard about the mediums I'd like to use, or I keep going back to see youtube videos on. I've collected a whole bunch of things now and what I've noticed is I've stopped looking for the next thing and am enjoying what I have. I don't feel the need to have all the different watercolour brands or all the different pencil brands. I'm glad I'm like that or the end would never be in sight 😄 I also have too many other hobbies that grab my attention (yes full on add) and I have a limited amount of space. These things together help me keep my collection in check. Limited colour palettes are a love too though. The derwent drawing pencils, or the graphitint pencils. Also I have the three jane davenport watercolour palettes and I enjoy using them too. I think the point to my rambles is, I love how you do what works for you and everyone can do what works for them 🥰
I only have a very limited pallet Natasha I know them well and have grown to love them and feel safe with them anymore definitely would feel overwhelming to me. I love the painting at the end so beautiful and atmospheric 💜
Lovely video! I also often try to do some editing on my art supplies. Left unchecked, the would keep piling up to the infinite… I somehow find it easier though to giveaway mixed media art supplies (I’m still not fully comfortable with mm) but watercolours I just can’t get rid of 🤦🏻♀ they’re my passion. One thing I’m thinking of doing though, it’s to create some curated palettes by theme to break a bit the monotony of having them all separated by brand (which I currently do). I’m a bit ocd with organisation and categorizing things, so it’s a struggle, but I’ll try it anyways
Timely. I have a list of things in my Blick cart and just haven’t pulled the trigger because I keep thinking, really do I need more stuff?! Can I use what I have? Shoot I’m not even a professional artist. Just a hobbyist.
I agree 100% with the concept of limits creating freedom, but you're the undisputed queen of art haul videos. Your inexhaustible consumerism is what built this channel. Don't kill the golden goose!
I've allowed myself to invest in lots of different art supplies over the past 2-3 years for the first time in my life, but I'm certainly not going to continue buying like that. I have a better idea, which is to share my favourite supplies in more detail - the ones I love and use all the time. More favourites, more process. I hope that this channel is built on more than art hauls!
The Olive Green did make the cut (it's such a gorgeous colour!), but I sell my secondhand art supplies on my Patreon. I'm going to be having a big sale on there hopefully sometime this weekend if I can get everything photographed and ready!
This was very interesting, thank you for sharing your decision process. I keep thinking I need to put my tubes of watercolours into a palette as I get overwhelmed looking in my tub for a particular colour. Hope you don’t mind me asking but what was the sketchbook you used to do your botanical swatches in, it looked like a Khadi paper one? x
I have a question about pre-gesso’d canvases on wood frames. I read where it’s best to add a couple more coats of gesso to the pre-gesso’d store-bought canvases..and I’m also reading where putting down watercolor ground on top of that ..and then sanding that smooth ..is what we should do with acrylic canvas preparation. Is it necessary to go back over two or three times with more gesso and then put the watercolor ground on top?
I never use canvases for watercolour, only acrylic, so I've never needed to do this. I just buy the pre-primed canvases and use acrylic on them and all's fine - I've never used a watercolour ground on them!
I’m trying to do the same thing and I’m struggling. 😀 I’ll like a color and I’ll not use it again or go through another palette to find a color. I still don’t understand how some people make a limited palette and stick to it. It makes me feel like a fake artist.😕
Do you have art supplies that you're just not using? In this video I'll talk about how I've been gradually editing down my collection of art supplies over the past few months, and how I've found that placing limits on the art supplies I'm using is actually inspiring and freeing. Here, I'll take three A Gallo watercolor palettes, swatch the colours and decide which to keep and which to sell or give away. Then I'll curate an inspiring new palette with the colours I keep. You'll also see how I use this new palette to create a painting inspired by a prompt from an art challenge on my Patreon. I hope you enjoy it! Do you edit down your materials occasionally? I'd be interested to hear your experiences of managing your own collection of art supplies in the comments section below.
Your new color palette looks like mine. I have few materials, I had to sell mine when I moved. I'm thinking of buying gouache again or watercolor. I am undecided. I loved your video, I did the same to find my color palette.
i keep everything! because i don't have a style i have moods!
Limitation = Freedom - How I edit my art supplies - Palette creation + painting process. The video is engaging and grips the viewer from start to finish. Watched the video on May 28, 2023 very like. Thank you
I have been going through realizations like this myself.
I love the nature colors in other people’s work and I was trying to emulate that for the past 5-6 months. Which is great, I learned so much, but my favorite colors to work with are like candy. Bold pinks and purples and brights neons. My work has grown for the better and I’m not afraid of using those nature colors now, but I have been going “back to my roots” in my style and it feels so good.
Also, I never thought of blue tack for my paint palettes. I always get the little square magnet pieces.
Understand completely about overwhelment about colour choices, but it's so hard sometimes to resist buying beautiful colours or sets curated perfectly together. That verdaccio and olive green deep looks gorgeous! I enjoyed seeing the process of painting as well! Thank you for the calm video.
Thank you. :) By the way, I've been thinking about your dot card today, Kriksis! I'm making a list of colours I think you might like to try. Also, a half-pan of Random Grey 2022 and Daniel Smith Lapis Lazuli will be on their way to you as soon as they've dried enough. x
@@NatashaNewtonArt Aww thank you! Let me know about Wallace Seymour! :)
@@kriksis I will do! Thanks Kriksis. I want to make a video very soon where I swatch all of my Wallace Seymour colours, so when that goes up you'll be able to see exactly what I've got and what I haven't!
Your comment about too many colors making it hard to choose which to use reminded me of when I was started a job as a visual merchandiser for a big department store. The visual merchandiser in charge of the first floor which included jewelry, had to take time every morning before the store opened to pull jewelry out of the display cases because the sales clerks would put jewelry in thinking to give the customers more choices. But the older visual merchandiser told me that too many choices for the eye and the mind means the customer won't buy because they can't choose, they can't see. All those choices overwhelm. Love the new palette. I'm taking 12 A Gallo colors with me to Ireland and Scotland in a few weeks. Love their colors and have some of the ones in your palette.
That's so interesting! I can completely believe this, as the same has happened to me when there's too much choice - I've walked out of shops without buying because of that very reason. Have a great trip to Ireland and Scotland. Beautiful places - lots of inspiration!
Wonderful! I’ve recently gathered up all my oddball supplies & packed them into a clear Daler Rowney artist caddy. And I grabbed an old partially used watercolor sketchbook containing some equally oddball experiments. Limiting myself to drawing items around the house & garden, I’m using up the crazy mix of media, covering over old work, & forcing myself to innovate. It’s quite freeing. 💗
That's genius!
That Lapis has my heart! 💙
I desperately need to destash art supplies, yarn, crafty supplies, cookbooks...all of my ADHD hyperfocuses. But i do find comfort in kniwing the stuff is there should i feel inspired again. It is a mystery to find the balance. What a joy it is to watch you paint, thank you for including your beautiful work!
I can relate to this more than you know. ;)
Hi Natasha!
I understand the feeling of being overwhelmed, and so I thought I'd share how I use my watercolor collection.
I have a main core palette (in my case it's a very classic mixing palette - it realy doesn't matter, think of it as the colors you always reach for in almost all of your paintings) and then I have a small wooden box where I pull out certain colors from my collection for the painting I'm working on.
My whole collection of different colors are in one big wooden box (it used ot be a pencil box) and I have the swatches on the box, so it's easy to pull out what I need or what I'm feeling like for a painting.
I like how you think and how you use your colours. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼🙂.
unrelated but agallo has been on my wishlist for a while, but considering the amount of paint I have, I'm resisting so far :)
This sounds so logical! I love it. Thank you for sharing, Stephanie. I'm working on a better system for my own supplies one I've finished editing them. I really want to use what I've got! It makes me sad to see art supplies not being used, so I'm happy when they go to a new loving home. :)
@@awatercolourist glad you found it helpful :)
@@stephanie.kilgast I’m resisting A Gallo because of the price 😂
I have Bright colors , they have been in my supplies for years,I have never used them. I will be giving them away,thanks.
Best to give them a new home, I think! :)
I love the nature swatches . Beautiful colour combinations.
Fascinating to watch someone swatch colours and pick all the opposite colours you would pick, and yet make a painting you still like with them. These colours are so YOU and that's what makes this pefect. Thanks for sharing. Btw, what paper are you using - it's a lovely texture on video. And the shot of your paint here 11:19 with the reflections from your brush were beautiful. I loved that moment, great filming.
Thanks Christina! :) I'm using Canson Heritage cold pressed 640gsm watercolour paper here, I think.
I loved that moment too Christina! .. 😊
just came to say that about the brush reflection!
I totally agree with your assessment that a colour palette makes your work obviously ’yours’ and this is part of your unique style. I often suffer from choice paralysis too! I’m 100% a purple and teal person. I LOVE how your botanical swatches look together on the page, they work so well together.
Thank you! I love how we're all different and can have appreciation for others' choices even when they're not for us. :)
Oohhh. What a great idea Natasha! I know what I’ll be doing this weekend now. Hope I’ll be able to be as decisive as you. It’s a real testament as to how well you know yourself and what you like, and you ended up with such a gorgeous palette at the end that produced such a lovely painting with all the colours working in harmony together. Thanks!
Thank you! I hope you find the process as inspiring as I did. :)
Gorgeous serene painting. ❤
“As enjoying our art supplies is the intention after all.” Lovely video! 💚
Hi Natasha, I enjoyed this video, well I always enjoy all your videos!! But this has inspired me to sort my own palettes out. I love the colour’s you did choose and the one’s you have decided to let go of. The piece you painted for the Patreon challenge is gorgeous just love love it 🥰 stunning 🤩 xxx
Beautiful combination of paints. I spend a considerable amount of time curating palettes, making perfect combinations of paints that work for me at the given time. And then I change my mind and re-edit them 🤣Left unchecked, I can keep doing this forever because it feels relaxing and less stressful that creating completed works sometimes. So I remind myself to only do it with specific projects in mind, to make sure the palettes are being actually used and loved the way they are meant to. Analysis paralysis is really something.
I know exactly what you mean!
Analysis paralysis is real, too much choice can make you sit still.
So true.
I love the idea of single colour palettes, but in reality I'd never use them like that...but then I'd struggle with the idea of splitting them up because they're a "set". Getting overwhelmed by supplies is definitely a thing, but it's wonderful that you have the opportunity to experiment with unusual supplies and be able to see if they will or won't work for you. For us, it's incredibly helpful to see an artist using supplies we might be thinking about, or things we never knew existed. I never would have tried Schmincke Horadam Super Granulation Haze watercolours if it wasn't for you xx
I'm so glad that I could introduce you to the Schmincke Super Granulation colours! The Haze set is really lovely. xx
Such a smart thing to do! We all love to buy or receive art supplies. There is alot of time spent keeping it all organized! More time to paint! Understanding what is the part that is unique to you and your art is freeing. Your art is so beautiful! You are unique and beautiful. I so appreciate the time you spend for us. Thank you! I think you might have helped a lot of other artists understand why they sometimes feel so overwhelmed!
Thank you so much, Beth. I hope that this video helps others. Art materials overwhelm is a real thing!
Loved this Natasha, so restful and interesting. Great painting too❤
Thank you for this. I have largely stopped buying new paints unless they will work with what I want to do and as I largely do Urban Sketching they have to be limited by what I am prepared to carry about. But creating a palette by swatching like this is such a good idea. And your observation that you might like a colour but it just won't be used in your work is spot on.
Thank you so much for this, Natasha - it seems like a simple idea, but it’s so powerful! You’ve inspired me to do this with my supplies, too. I’m not an artist at your level, of course, but the supplies can really pile up fast 🎨
I can't live without having extremely opposite colors on my pallet, I love mixing, so having Brighting colors next to moody and pastels are essential to me. I always have at least 3 different tons of each colors to mix between them
A lovely video.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and choices .
I love this approach. Thanks for sharing your wisdom and process, Natasha. I like giving spare art supplies to young people and friends with tight finances. Although, i make a new palette often and use a variety of colours so i keep a lot of different colors!
Also love all those cool greens together! Similarly I enjoy tonal monochromatic clothing outfits... it's nice in fabrics too!
Wow! So beautiful! And your topic is so relevant! I've come to the realization that I have been really hindered in my artistic development by too many choices. I don't have a grasp on which paints I like best or even how my paints interact with each other despite all the hours on end swatching and experimenting, and painting. I simply too overwhelmed. I am now creating a limited palette that I only use for the next 6 months (minimum). Everything else is going to get put away and not touched until I know this limited palette like I know the back of my hand. My choices are being guided by the deep desire to have a travel palette that I don't have to struggle to know how to use when I am in the field. Lord knows there is enough going on when painting on location as it is. I don't need to wonder if I've grabbed just the right colors for the spot I've chosen on top of all the other decisions that are needed. Also, I've discovered firsthand that not all watercolors travel well. Many of my QOR paints have flowed all over my palette despite being dried for several weeks. M. Grahams are the same, as well as the Shinhan PWC. I don't feel that a paint palette which needs to lay flat all the time to be a good candidate as travel paints. At any rate, kudos to you for knowing exactly what you want and to sell what you don't. I am in awe!
This is such a great idea! Once you get to know that palette really well, you can then add more colours from that point if needed. Paints that don't dry fully are the bane of my life! I've pretty much stopped using M Graham for that very reason. :)
Beautiful!!! 🤗💖😊💗
This is the best video. 💛 So ridiculously helpful. Thanks, Natasha. 😊
That's so nice to hear, thank you Ashley Ruth! :)
This is a great idea. I’ve been in a massive creative slump, not reading or painting since the tail end of December. And part of it definitely comes to overwhelming art supplies and ideas and just stuff. Downsizing my supplies might be a good exercise. I’ll be trying this!
I hope it works for you! :)
@@NatashaNewtonArt so far I’ve gotten rid of a bag worth of things. Have to find somewhere to donate it
I find that I am not someone that gets overwhelmed/paralyzed by choice, BUT, I picked every single color in my 150 color palette individually. I've never bought a pre-made palette, because I know that I will not use everything in there, and that's a waste. I don't buy the same pigment from different brands unless those pigments look different and I like them both. If I see "curated palettes" that are aesthetically pleasing, I can probably make something similar with what I have. Basically, you can have your cake and eat it too if you make deliberate choices. I have made mistakes and bought things I thought I would like, but it didn't go well, and at that point I just remove it from my palette. It's okay to get rid of something that doesn't serve you, you don't have to push yourself and hope you will learn to like it, remove it asap and focus on something else. A lot of people will say "I'll use it up." No. Get rid of it. Give it to a friend or sell it. Move on. Alternatively, I have also never forced myself to get rid of something because I have something else that's similar. I clearly love them both. I find freedom in deliberate choice. (Note: People who buy watercolors just to have them are also valid. Some people just like collecting watercolors as a hobby and know they won't use them, and that's enough to bring them joy.)
I like what you've said here!
I have the Green and Blue palettes. I love A. Gallo, but there are some I use more than others. I finally took apart both palettes and created others. It is very overwhelming and sometimes paralyzingly. I decided to create a neutral palette and a bright palette. It has helped me concentrate I my projects. I can eliminate the unnecessary clutter of choices. Thank you for this. It is like permission to make changes. I also have a Roman Szmal palette with both neutrals and brights together. This is my number one go to palette.
So interesting to hear that you took your palettes apart too!
I seldom find choice liberating. Having a limited number of things to choose from is much more efficient.
Absolutely.
I’m the opposite. If I don’t have a choice, I get upset and it may ruin the whole painting for me. I get limited palettes but I also like the options. I tried making a limited palette with hues of colors I loved and it was great but the problem was that the colors were granulating and when it came to skin tone, it would look very textured and while it wasn’t unpleasant to me, if I want to sell art, I can’t have too much texture everywhere. Anyway, adding more colors doesn’t make it much into a limited palette but just a palette.
Sometimes I have to just understand how I’m like and stop following others metrics and what is good for them and make a big palette anyway. 🙂 It’s just hard because almost everyone online says that people with limited palettes are more intelligent, have uniform pieces, and overall better art; I just want to paint.
I can’t paint when I can’t have everything I want. 🙂 It ends up causing more waste making a limited palette for me.😦
@@keepyourshoesathedoor Hello 👋. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and feelings! I think having your opinion here helps other people who are in a similar situation to yours. I especially like the part where you said you just want to paint 🙂👍🏼. I once bought 24+ new colours over two shopping trips and I found them overwhelming to use. I’m not sure why, maybe the colour choices? Maybe they were too many new colours at once that I was unable to explore them all properly? That’s why I prefer more limited palettes; I can easily mix with them and then expand them gradually.
@@awatercolourist Oof, I can see that overwhelming. I tend to not buy too many colors at once. While I have a huge palette, it’s nowhere near 256 colors, more like 36-48.
I think the best thing for me was to buy things split up. Sometimes I get silly and buy more than 8 things, but typically that leads to overdrive.
Also, (😅) I don’t know what it is, but I have a particular gamut in mind with my colors so that isn’t vibrancy. Typically they’re either dark, grainy, pungent, or like wine. I don’t like blues (to buy) but they’re irreplaceable. I buy limited quantities of yellows. Guess what though? I buy a ridiculous amounts of reds, purples, oranges, and greens. It’s almost embarrassing. I used to buy yellows and blues when I first started but I realized I liked chalky yellows and transparent yellows with depth so I stopped getting a ridiculous amount.
The blues? They’re just sitting in my cart. They’re ridiculously expensive. I’ve been trying to get some from Michael Harding, MaimeriBlu, Schminke, and A Gallo, but it’s been a struggle to actually follow through the purchase.
I always use the colors I buy and enjoy them. They’re in my palette, but I only use a few at a time.
@@keepyourshoesathedoor Another very good comment from you 😊. What made you think I bought 256 paints?!! Did I write that? 256 paints! I wouldn’t know where to start 😂.
Lovely video and the colors you selected are gorgeous. I have similar tastes in colors. Thank you!
This is a really great idea 😊 I’ve never seen a fully green palette like that before, green is my least used colour so I’d have no clue how to use it haha 😂
The botanical swatches ❤
Honestly, I have expected this video for some time. It’s more inspiring this side 😊 my art studio is small and when I limit my supplies my studio feels so much more peaceful to be in 😊
Yes, I should have mentioned that aspect of it! I find that it stresses me when I have too many supplies and can't find space for them. I like my studio to feel organised and peaceful too. :)
I was choosing the same ones as you went through! Beautiful selection!
I love this video wonderful xxxx Happy painting xxx
Thank you Beth! x
Oh what a great idea. Like you I have been buying buying buying over the past few years. And I've found that although there are colours I really love on their own - they aren't really "me" colours when I paint. Definitely an exercise I will do on a day when I want to be in the studio but symptoms are too high to actually paint. Loved the painting on Insta - really enjoyed watching it get painted here.
I'm always so tempted by certain colours and then nearly always find that I just don't use them (cobalt teal being one example!).
Beautiful painting😊
Thanks Brigitte!
I recently did a similar thing, redoing my main palette, and I found the process so satisfying. But I hadn’t thought of it in quite this way. I think I’ll be editing down many of my other supplies. Thanks for another lovely video!
There's something so inspiring about this process, and freeing too. I love it!
A great video as always! I love the different canera angles you are using now. You really have grown both artisticly and I can tell you are taking more riskes with your you tube editing as well. Super inspiring!!!!!
Thanks so much!
Very inspiring video, thank you :)
Thank you, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
I see an art supply sale for the newts soon 😂. Beautiful video
wonderful result. thank you for sharing and glad that your excitement about the monochrome palettes led you here! Inspired by your video, I am looking at my A Gallo palettes and thinking about which colors I'm drawn to and maybe will put six of them into a portable painters micro palette to see what results I get! ;)
It's always good to change it up every now and again! :)
Hello Natasha, I loved this video ! There is a lot to learn from it. I will watch it again before I curate a new palette.
Thank you Francis, I'm so glad you found it useful!
This is beautiful! I always thought my tools are friends and family and soldiers in everyday mundane battles... I only keep what I use and slowly let go of those that I do not...
A great way of looking at it. :)
This is so helpful Natasha. Thank you. And lovely art too 😊
Thank you! x
Too many choices don't help me either. Yet I do love all the colours and never know when I'm going to feel like using them. What I do is think very hard about the mediums I'd like to use, or I keep going back to see youtube videos on. I've collected a whole bunch of things now and what I've noticed is I've stopped looking for the next thing and am enjoying what I have. I don't feel the need to have all the different watercolour brands or all the different pencil brands. I'm glad I'm like that or the end would never be in sight 😄 I also have too many other hobbies that grab my attention (yes full on add) and I have a limited amount of space. These things together help me keep my collection in check.
Limited colour palettes are a love too though. The derwent drawing pencils, or the graphitint pencils. Also I have the three jane davenport watercolour palettes and I enjoy using them too. I think the point to my rambles is, I love how you do what works for you and everyone can do what works for them 🥰
What you've said here totally resonates with me and where I'm at right now!
I too try to keep my supplies edited down to only things I will use. If it's not something I enjoy, I make sure it ends up with a better home!
It just makes life (and decision-making) so much simpler, doesn't it!
It most definitely does!
I only have a very limited pallet Natasha I know them well and have grown to love them and feel safe with them anymore definitely would feel overwhelming to me. I love the painting at the end so beautiful and atmospheric 💜
I'm really feeling that 'less is more' lately, Deborah. :)
Great to see the process thank you ❤
Thank you Margaret!
Lovely video! I also often try to do some editing on my art supplies. Left unchecked, the would keep piling up to the infinite… I somehow find it easier though to giveaway mixed media art supplies (I’m still not fully comfortable with mm) but watercolours I just can’t get rid of 🤦🏻♀ they’re my passion. One thing I’m thinking of doing though, it’s to create some curated palettes by theme to break a bit the monotony of having them all separated by brand (which I currently do). I’m a bit ocd with organisation and categorizing things, so it’s a struggle, but I’ll try it anyways
Curated themed palettes are so fun and inspiring to do!
Ooooh! A Gallo!
Beautiful palette!
Thanks so much!
Timely. I have a list of things in my Blick cart and just haven’t pulled the trigger because I keep thinking, really do I need more stuff?! Can I use what I have? Shoot I’m not even a professional artist. Just a hobbyist.
I agree 100% with the concept of limits creating freedom, but you're the undisputed queen of art haul videos. Your inexhaustible consumerism is what built this channel. Don't kill the golden goose!
I've allowed myself to invest in lots of different art supplies over the past 2-3 years for the first time in my life, but I'm certainly not going to continue buying like that. I have a better idea, which is to share my favourite supplies in more detail - the ones I love and use all the time. More favourites, more process. I hope that this channel is built on more than art hauls!
Nice painting 😊
Thank you!
Beautiful painting at the end!❤
Thanks Marcia!
A.Gallo needs to do a palette after you
Where do you sell your unwanted supplies? I loved the olive green that didnt make the cut 😅
The Olive Green did make the cut (it's such a gorgeous colour!), but I sell my secondhand art supplies on my Patreon. I'm going to be having a big sale on there hopefully sometime this weekend if I can get everything photographed and ready!
This was very interesting, thank you for sharing your decision process. I keep thinking I need to put my tubes of watercolours into a palette as I get overwhelmed looking in my tub for a particular colour. Hope you don’t mind me asking but what was the sketchbook you used to do your botanical swatches in, it looked like a Khadi paper one? x
Thanks Sarah! It's a Fabriano Quaderno Vergatone sketchbook from Cult Pens. x
@@NatashaNewtonArt thank you x
@@sarah_hedges_creates You're very welcome! x
I have a question about pre-gesso’d canvases on wood frames. I read where it’s best to add a couple more coats of gesso to the pre-gesso’d store-bought canvases..and I’m also reading where putting down watercolor ground on top of that ..and then sanding that smooth ..is what we should do with acrylic canvas preparation. Is it necessary to go back over two or three times with more gesso and then put the watercolor ground on top?
I never use canvases for watercolour, only acrylic, so I've never needed to do this. I just buy the pre-primed canvases and use acrylic on them and all's fine - I've never used a watercolour ground on them!
I’m trying to do the same thing and I’m struggling. 😀 I’ll like a color and I’ll not use it again or go through another palette to find a color. I still don’t understand how some people make a limited palette and stick to it. It makes me feel like a fake artist.😕
We're all different and every way of working is valid, so please don't feel like a fake artist. :)
👌 .. 😊 xx
Hi
First!
Yay! Thank you. 🎉
Always a pleasure!