Struggling with Workflow

Does anyone else struggle with workflow? I so often feel like I'm fighting my paint and supplies and organization. Do I paint flat on my drafting table, or do I paint on the table easel? Or do I paint at the French easel? Do I set the clean brushes to the left and the paint to the right or vice versa.

Right now, this is how the table looks. Paint and water to the right of me, and brushes and rags to the left of me. Light over my left shoulder. When I paint on paper I tape it to the hard-surfaced placemat, scored at Pipers for $1.

I watch many artists on Youtube and always pay attention to their workflow. Clive uses large buckets of water, Nagualero uses a small washpot, Cinnamon uses a beer cup, Jane uses a pickle jar. I like my brushes clean so I use a jar for prewash and a commercial wash container with two sections for further wash and super clean water. See - I'm a clean brush fanatic. And I have a pad of paper towel with an absorbent pad beneath to dry off the brush right away.

Acrylics carry the challenge of drying quickly, so I've tried all sorts of pallettess. Plain disposable paper pallets. tin foil, peel off acrylic pallettes, wet pallets, well pallettes with paint I have "globalized" according to a method by David Jansen (no I didn't use their products). Globalizing has real potential, and is essentially adding a retarder to the paint. I've used home made wet pallettes and commercial ones. Didn't find that there was much difference, although the commercial paper that goes in the top of a wet pallette is less prone to wrinkling than wax paper or parchment paper. None of it really has felt comfortable to me. I always seem to feel I'm fighting the paints. Don't mist and they dry, mist and some get runny. And all of this results in me wasting time messing with the workflow when I want to be painting. I just can't seem to settle.

I would like a pallette where I can globalize my most commonly used paints and keep them stored, and sealed, but have a flat, damp surface so I can blend and add less commonly used colours. The watercolour pallette on the left has potential, It is my newest acquisition (thank you 50% off coupon at Michaels). Perhaps it will be my solution, but it is rather small and the blending surface is smooth but not damp. I had such hopes for the round well pallette, which was a gift from my husband when I started this journey, but there is no mixing and blending space. Perhaps some day I'll design my own with a sealable set of wells (6 - 8) and a wet pallette space all in one.

That's my grumbling for today. I would love to hear about your experiences, and your suggestions would be welcome.

Next time, let's talk about portability.