Howdy! I don’t plan on posting multiple times a week but this topic merited it’s own heading.
I have 4 wooden palettes. So they don’t get lumpy with dried oil paint, which would lead to the expensive waste of supplies, I wrap them in tin foil before each new project. To keep the colors from getting murky, I follow the rainbow. I line the edges with crimson, cadmium red(or similar), orange, yellow, warm green, cool green, blue green, blue, purple, black, white, generally in that order(often running out of room for black and white on the edge, so they end up in the center). When blending from those high saturation colors, I work towards the center of the palette. I mix paints with the palette knife, because it's easier to scrape the color off without smearing it too thinly for practical use.
When I’m done using my palette for the day, I pop it in the freezer. This drives my fiancé nuts because my palette takes up half the freezer but it’s that or the paints will dry. I used to wrap my palette in saran wrap and keep it at room temperature but the paints would dry within the week, some colors faster than others, and it was a waste of money. Likewise, I tried wrapping the palette in seran wrap to protect the freezer, but the wrap would pull off chunks of paint when peeled away and honestly, the palette hasn’t gotten too much paint on the freezer without cover. I keep a layer of tinfoil on the palette shelf in the freezer, to not stain it too much. Even in freezing temperatures, oil paint will still eventually dry. And paint is not cheap.
Thanks for stopping by! I put out a new blog post every Monday. Toodles!
TL;DR. Advice?: Wrap palette in tin foil, then squeeze paint in rainbow order around the edges, blending towards the middle. Blend with a palette knife. Keep the palette in the freezer when not in use. Protect freezer with tin foil.