Thanks so much for this, much appreciated!

Thanks so much for this, really kind and much appreciated!

Hi Mary and many thanks for this and it’s always nice to meet a fellow tinkerer! (I’m sure I get it from my parents who were very much of the make do and mend mentality!) Even so, I doubt I’d ever consider my own brush, so hats off to you for that! I do like your magnet idea and would love to get some tips on the magnets your using! In my researching of enamelled trays and dishes, I came across a few that I thought would be ideal for customising into a palette but I’ve not yet come across the right magnets that I think I’d need! Would welcome any tips on that!

Many thanks Mary and all the best for your paintings and your tinkerings!

haha, thanks Pat! Not sure about clever but definitely stubborn and persistent! All the best to you too!

Hi Brian and many thanks for this and am really pleased you like the sketches – sometimes doing these just feels like a really good way of just keeping the brushes moving when I don’t have the time/inspiration for anything larger or more ‘finished’. Re modifying your palette… you’d be welcome to have the plastic wells that I’ve just removed from mine if they’d be of any use to you, just let me know? In the meantime, I hope Yorkshire treats you well. I’m originally from Lancashire, just on the edge of the Pennines. I rarely go back now but the paintings of Paul Talbot Greaves and Geoff Butterworth are incredibly evocative to me of where I grew up!

Hi Carole and thanks so much for this! I’m so relieved that my back is on the mend – I can’t deny that it’s given me quite a fright!

I wanted a large squirrel quill travel brush and ended up making my own.

I put magnets on the bottoms of my whole pans, remove the trays from my Roberson and put the whole pans in. I can fit more that way, plus switch them in and out when I change color palettes. I’m a big believer in magnets. I use magnet clips on my sketchbooks, placed magnet side up, to hold my smaller travel palettes, do I can hold both my book and palette in one hand and have the other free for painting. I’ve got some modifications for handling water too. I’ve got two large plastic bird feeders that hang from the cage bars with stiff wire that I use to hang from my easel or palette instead. I look in the housewares or pet department and find all sorts of stuff I can repurpose. The tool and hardware aisle too.

I still have plans to design my own leather tooled case but that is still on hold with so many other projects of necessity cutting the line to the top of the to-do list.

I do enjoy seeing all of your modifications. This one is beyond me but it stimulates the mind to a different solution that doesn’t involve an angle grinder.