An Altoid Tin Painter's Palette

Within the past year my artistic side has been awakened. What awakened it was primarily the classes offered through the Yongsan Global Village Center, Seoul, that has held several introduction classes to various mediums and styles of Korean art and handicraft. Some classes were in direct conflict with my working schedule but others I could attend — like classes on hanji and natural soap making — but the two that I can say directly aroused my sleeping artsy side were the Korean calligraphy and the Korean traditional painting classes. They both didn't have fixed outcomes but allowed personal design and creativity, color, nimble fingers with fluid motions. In short, only the imagination was the limit! Both art forms start with clean unmarked papers and the end result is something different, colorful, an expression of the soul. And because of taking those two classes, I now see art everywhere and feel the burning passion to get some of my ideas down on paper. 

This blog, therefore, marks the beginning of my art journey.

Because I see art everywhere and am constantly on the go, I was conniving how to conveniently take art with me, and then I came across a pocket-sized painter's palette on the web, and knew that I had to create one for myself. It took a few months to actually make it, and by that time, a friend thought she'd like one too, so I made two at the same time. Unfortunately I only could get my hands on one altoid tin, so picked up a small well-compartmented plastic container at Daiso, a "dollar" store. Then at an art store I didn't know which clay to choose for molding into a mini-palette form, so bought one Sculpey and one Fimo to test their performance. Fimo definitely is my choice — it's firmer and not so sticky so shaping it with the delicate paint pits is easier and has smoother outcome.

The plastic painter's palette (with Sculpey) is totally self-contained — very nice for the purse or handbag or even a backpack. The altoid tin (with Fimo) is so wonderfully small it's even more portable. The downside of that one, however, is I'll need to pick up some small container or pencil case to have my pencil and eraser, Micron pen(s) and water brush equally easy to grab on the fast go. 

pretty nifty to have a 15-color painter's palette for the road