Artists' Palettes: Amanda Talley

In case you are just landing here, welcome. We're taking a peek at artists' palettes. There's just something intriguing about all those colors bleeding together, and creative professionals ranging from graphic designers to wedding planners to interior designers tell me that inspiration often comes from unlikely sources, so, after watching The Art Newspaper's video, I thought it would be interesting to study palettes in use by some familiar faces.

Louisiana native Amanda Talley has been a friend to this blog since she was first mentioned here in December 2008. Readers (and I) loved the fact that some of her smaller works were attainable. Like Zuzka, she typically doesn't use a traditional board as her palette.

She explains, "I use tin cans to mix my paints and to store brushes. I like them because they keep the colors separate. On big paintings I need large amounts of paint and the cans keep each color for each layer contained. Later, I can put cellophane over the cans with a rubber-band and save colors for other projects or touch-up. Also, I don't feel too bad about throwing them away when I'm done because they were given a second life after the black-eyed peas or whatnot had been consumed. While I'm in process, I also use them to keep my brushes wet. For small projects, I use paper as my palette, as shown in these pictures."


Here's a popular past post about Amanda's handmade gifts.