A friend of mine was very proud recently of his newly-acquired palette, which was a facsimile of the one used by Turner. I fell to thinking about this as I was cleaning up this afternoon, after finishing a picture. It is beyond me why anybody these days should want to use a wooden palette. For some years now I have been using a large (A3-size) piece of 1cm. glass. Alright, it is impossible to use holding it in the hand as you paint, as many artists like to do. It sits on top of a cupboard in which I keep various bits of kit, next to the easel. It has all kinds of advantages.
As I was cleaning it, I reflected on how simple that process is, using a combination of a palette knife and the little scraper decorators use for tidying windows at the end of a job. There is no danger of damaging it in the scraping process, and no possibility of it becoming discoloured by years of residual paint. I find it difficult to imagine that it might be possible to improve on it.
There is something very satisfying about the process of cleaning up after a picture is finished. It is a kind of public declaration that the job is done, and all temptation to go on fiddling is definitively removed.
My feeling of celebration is enhanced by the fact that we will be going this evening to the Christmas social at the South Square Centre. It is as if I’m being rewarded for a job well-done.