Palette paper is a disposable substitute for the thin board or tablet a painter uses for mixing colors. Artist’s palettes can be made of plastic, glass, wood, porcelain, aluminum, or acrylic. Some are smooth and flat, and others have mixing wells and cups for turpentine or mineral spirit solvents. Some are meant to rest on a flat surface, while others have thumbholes for the artist to hold them. A variety of covered palettes are available to keep paints fresh.

Palette paper comes in pads of 40 or 50 sheets. The smooth, white-surfaced — often poly-coated — paper is placed on the palette to provide a surface for the paint to rest on. Alternatively, if the pad features a thumbhole, the thick backing of the palette pad provides the hard surface, and the paint is placed on the top sheet of the pad. In either case, when the work is done, the palette paper is thrown away, thereby eliminating the need to scrape and scrub a permanent palette. Palette paper is used for acrylics, alkyds, casein, oils, and watercolors.

Palette paper comes in an array of rectangular sizes:

• 9 × 12 inches (~229 mm × ~305 mm)
• 12 × 16 inches (~305 mm × ~406 mm)
• 16 × 20 inches (~406 mm × ~508 mm)
• 18 × 24 inches (~457 mm × ~610 mm)

Some specialized palette paper is treated to handle particular paint styles, such as acrylics or oils. Other palette paper is specially made for particular palettes. For example, one covered palette features a sponge, and a special kind of permeable palette paper is used to keep the paint moist. This kind of paper is rinsable, so it can be reused, and both sides can be used as well.

Artists have found other uses for palette paper. It can serve as a good base on which to apply glue to collage pieces, for example. It also serves as a good base for mixing paste food colorings preparatory to painting cookies or coloring icing. In addition, works of art have been created by painting with, for example, acrylics on a “canvas” of palette paper.