Building your palette of colours.
I set out 10 watercolour tips for choosing a palette here on the Artists Network website.
18 segment colour wheel based around the triad of Hansa Yellow Light, Phthalo Blue GS and Quinacridone Rose.
With careful paint colour choices and a good understanding of colour mixing you can create a myriad of colours with a small number of paints.
A suggested basic palette of Artists quality paints for any paint medium would include a warm and a cool blue, a warm and a cool red and a warm and a cool yellow, along with selected earth colours. (Note that 'warm' and 'cool' are relative terms. For my purposes, a warmer colour will appear to come forward, a cooler colour will appear to recede.) I also like to add a phthalo green and a 'rose' to extend the mixing ranges dramatically. Some commonly used colours are:
Warm Blue - Ultramarine Blue or Cobalt Blue
Cool Blue - Phthalo blue or Prussian Blue or Cerulean Crhomium (or cerulean) or Manganese Blue
Warm Red - Cadmium Red Scarlet or Pyrrol Scarlet or Naphthol Red or Vermilion
Cool Red - Permanent Alizarin Crimson or Anthraquinoid Red or Quinacridone Rose or Quinacridone Magenta or Carmine or Pyrrol Crimson
Warm Yellow- Quinacridone Gold or Cadmium Yellow Deep or Hansa Yellow Deep or Indian Yellow or New Gamboge
Cool Yellow- Hansa Yellow Light or Cadmium yellow Light or Hansa Yellow Medium or Transparent Yellow or Nickel Azo Yellow
Earth Colours - Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre or Raw Sienna, Indian Red, Raw Umber and Burnt Umber are other traditional earth colours if you wish to save time mixing browns.
Greens - Phthalo Geen is a useful mixing green, as is Viridian, though both are better not used alone! There are also lovely genuine mineral pigment greens that add texture to landscape paintings.
Special effect colours and convenience mixes of secondaries can be added later if desired.
A suggested basic palette of Artists quality paints for any paint medium would include a warm and a cool blue, a warm and a cool red and a warm and a cool yellow, along with selected earth colours. (Note that 'warm' and 'cool' are relative terms. For my purposes, a warmer colour will appear to come forward, a cooler colour will appear to recede.) I also like to add a phthalo green and a 'rose' to extend the mixing ranges dramatically. Some commonly used colours are:
Warm Blue - Ultramarine Blue or Cobalt Blue
Cool Blue - Phthalo blue or Prussian Blue or Cerulean Crhomium (or cerulean) or Manganese Blue
Warm Red - Cadmium Red Scarlet or Pyrrol Scarlet or Naphthol Red or Vermilion
Cool Red - Permanent Alizarin Crimson or Anthraquinoid Red or Quinacridone Rose or Quinacridone Magenta or Carmine or Pyrrol Crimson
Warm Yellow- Quinacridone Gold or Cadmium Yellow Deep or Hansa Yellow Deep or Indian Yellow or New Gamboge
Cool Yellow- Hansa Yellow Light or Cadmium yellow Light or Hansa Yellow Medium or Transparent Yellow or Nickel Azo Yellow
Earth Colours - Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre or Raw Sienna, Indian Red, Raw Umber and Burnt Umber are other traditional earth colours if you wish to save time mixing browns.
Greens - Phthalo Geen is a useful mixing green, as is Viridian, though both are better not used alone! There are also lovely genuine mineral pigment greens that add texture to landscape paintings.
Special effect colours and convenience mixes of secondaries can be added later if desired.
Starting out with up to 15 mixable colours - my Ultimate Mixing Set.
Here is a suggested palette of colours to start with if you want to jump in and get a wonderful set of artist quality watercolours. (If you are on a limited budget here is another more gradual approach suggested in the 'Getting Started with Watercolour' tab.) Buy artist quality in whatever brand you can get, but don't feel you have to stick with just one brand, and check the series number for the cost. A higher series number means more expensive but not necessarily better. You may like the reds in one brand and blues in another, or choose small tubes for reds and large tubes for others. With this set of 14 tubes you can make almost any colour you could wish for. Pigment numbers are suggestions to look for, but are not the only options. I have listed single pigment colours rather than mixes. You can see the full palette in Daniel Smith paints as well as further options, in the tab 'The ultimate mixing palette: a world of colour', which is also the title of my second watercolour mixing book, showing the amazing mixing range of these colours.
You may choose to add extra single pigment or convenient mixed pigment colours to this set to speed up your painting, for example some pre-mixed greens, purples or oranges. It's your palette. The important thing is that with these colours you'll be able to mix all the colours you want.
You may choose to add extra single pigment or convenient mixed pigment colours to this set to speed up your painting, for example some pre-mixed greens, purples or oranges. It's your palette. The important thing is that with these colours you'll be able to mix all the colours you want.
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Light or White Buff titanium PW6:1 Granulating and semi-opague Cool Yellow (green biased) or neutral mid yellow Hansa Yellow Light, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Lemon. eg. PY3, PY35 or PY150. (Not PY40) or Azo Yellow, Hansa yellow Medium, Arylide Yellow. Warm Yellow (orange biased) Hansa Yellow Deep, Quinacridone Gold, New Gamboge eg. PY65, PY153, PY110, PO49 Warm Red (orange biased) Pyrrol Scarlet, Cadmium Scarlet, Cadmium Red Light eg. PR108, PR188, PR254, PR 255 Crimson (purple biased) Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Pyrrol Crimson eg. PR206, PR 179, PR 264. (Not PR83) Cool Red (purple biased) Quincaridone Rose or Red, Quinacridone Magenta PV19, PR122. Transparent Warm Blue (Purple biased) Ultramarine Blue PB29. Semi-transparent granulating Cool Blue (Green biased) Phthalo Blue PB15. Transparent and staining Opaque Cool Blue (Green based) Cerulean PB36 or PB35. Opaque and granulating Mixing Green Phthalo Green PG7 (transparent staining) or Viridian PG18 (granulating) Yellow Earth (warm) Yellow Ochre PY43 Opaque or PY42 Transparent Neutral Orange (warm) Quinacridone Burnt Orange or Burnt Sienna (Hue) PR101 or PO48. Transparent OR Neutral Orange Earth (warm) Burnt Sienna PBr7. Semi-tranparent, granulating Red Earth Venetian Red, Indian Red PR101. Very opaque, granulating Cool Brown Raw Umber PBr7. Semi-transparent, granulating Dark or Mixed Grey Jane's Grey PBr7 + PB29. Transparent and granulating. |
Buff Titanium is made by Daniel Smith. It is a creamy colour rather than a white and wonderful for landscapes. Many brands are available. Cadmiums are opaque, others may be more transparent, which I prefer. My preference is a mid-yellow. Once again cadmiums are opaque but some use Cadmium Yellow medium PY37. Quinacridone Gold PO49 (Daniel Smith) is my choice for this colour. Many brands are available. Cadmiums are opaque, pyrrole, naphthol's and perylenes more transparent. Useful convenience and mixing colour, but don't get genuine Alizarin Crimson (PR83) as it will fade. A versatile cool red for making gorgeous purples and pinks. I prefer the rose as a palette colour. A wonderful pigment available in all brands. Cobalt Blue (PB28) is an alternative but has less mixing range. Powerful and staining. Known as Winsor Blue in the W&N range. Comes in a Red Shade and a Green Shade version. I like the red shade, but the green shade is a more useful mixing colour. Beware of Cerulean hues made with PB15. Get the real thing. Choose either staining and powerful Phthalo or granulating and liftable, but less intense, Viridian. You may prefer the natural PY43 or the synthetic PY42, but both make useful earth yellows. Raw Sienna another alternative, as is my favourite, granulating Goethite. A fabulous mixing earth orange. it is worth getting PBr7 rather than any of the other variations as it is more useful alone as a landscape brown. Lovely for landscape and some skin tones, and useful as an earth red, but the hue can be mixed. Should be a dark cool brown. Some brands are very light and not much use. Great for landscape and figures. It is so useful to have a pre-mixed dark in your palette that I recommend making up a favourite mix. A black pigment will not be as beautiful in a painting as a mixed black or grey made from your palette colours. Jane's Grey is now available form Daniel Smith. |
Building from there
There are many premixed colours available but you don't need to buy them as you can make your own with the above colours. If you only have space for 12 colours in you palette, drop the Crimson, Raw Umber and Indian Red from the above suggestions and you'll still have a very workable palette.
Many of these mixes, and many more, can be found in the Colour Mixing Charts tab. Explore your colours and find out what they will do. If you find a mix you love and use a lot you can add it to your palette - squeeze out a bit of each tube colour and stir well with a tooth pick then allow to dry.
- A Sap Green can be made with Phthalo Green and your chosen orange-yellow or Yellow Ochre. Try each and see what you prefer. Also try mixing Phthalo Green with Burnt Sienna for gorgeous mossy greens. If you want a convenience Sap Green, Daniel Smith and Da Vinci Sap Greens are both lovely to use straight from the tube. Some others are too bright.
- A range of Purples can be made with Ultramarine and Quinacridone Rose or Quinacridone Magenta. If you want a convenience purple, Daniel Smith Imperial purple is a lovely granulating mid purple or Carbazole Violet is a lightfast single pigment option. Quinacridone Rose will create purples when mixed with almost any blue and even with phthalo green!
- Indigo can be made with Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna or your chosen warm red.
- A range of Oranges can be made with your chosen yellows and your warm red. Quinacridone Sienna (Daniel Smith) is a lovely mixed orange hue. Benzamida Orange Deep (Da Vinci) is a stunning single pigment orange, as are Translucent Orange (Schmincke) and Transparent Orange (Winsor & Newton) and the Vat pigment Perinone Orange (Daniel Smith)
- Olive Greens can be made with Ultramarine and your warm yellow or Yellow Ochre. A fabulous convenient dulled green is Daniel Smith Undersea Green.
- Jane's Grey, an alternative to Paynes Grey or Neutral Tint, can be made with Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna. Or use Jane's Black as a transparent staining dark - Phthalo Green + Pyrrol Crimson.
- Burnt Umber hue can be made with Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine. I love the single pigment versions by Daniel Smith and Da Vinci.
- Black can be mixed with Phthalo Green and Permanent Alizarin Crimson/Pyrrol Crimson in a juicy mix, add more water for greys. This same combination makes a Prussian Green Hue, Perylene Green Hues and a range of aubergine colours.
- Raw Sienna Hue can be made by mixing a warm yellow and Burnt Sienna, but Raw Sienna does have its uses as an additional colour since it does not turn to green if mixed with blue. This can be very important when painting skies
Many of these mixes, and many more, can be found in the Colour Mixing Charts tab. Explore your colours and find out what they will do. If you find a mix you love and use a lot you can add it to your palette - squeeze out a bit of each tube colour and stir well with a tooth pick then allow to dry.
How to set up palettes using tubes of paint...
For my students I make up a palette of 20 largely single pigment paints that I squeeze into the palette on the left. I use
Buff Titanium (Daniel Smith PW6:1)
Hansa Yellow Light (many brands PY3)
New Gamboge (Daniel Smith PY153) or Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65) or Yellow Ochre - which I put in the earth section.
Quinacridone Gold PO44 + PY150
Pyrrol Scarlet (Daniel Smith PR255) or Permanent Red (Da Vinci PR188)
Pyrrol Crimson (Daniel Smith PR264)
Quinacridone Rose (PV19);
Ultramarine Blue (PB29);
Phthalo Blue Green Shade (PB15),
Cerulean Chromium (Daniel Smith PB36),
Sap Green (Daniel Smith PG7+PO49),
Perylene Green (PBk31 Daniel Smith),
Undersea Green (Daniel Smith PB29+PO49),
Phthalo Green (PG7),
Goethite (Daniel Smith PY43),
Burnt Sienna (PBr7),
Indian Red (PR101),
Raw Umber (PBR7)
Burnt Umber (PBR7)
Jane's Grey (PB29 and PBr7 custom mix)
From these colours they can easily make lovely oranges and purples, but have a couple of convenience greens to speed things along. I also include a lovely dark 'Jane's grey' made from Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine so they have a convenience grey for shadows and darkening other colours. (These filled palettes are available for AU$90 plus shipping. See the colours painted out here)
As far as palettes go, the folding palette is a great one to start with if you are using tube paints. They are made by a number of companies (with either 20 or 28 well options) and are generally very inexpensive but hold a good amount of paint. As they fold over to close, they do not suit paints that contain honey as a humectant, as these don't actually 'dry' in the palette so would run everywhere. This is particularly true of the beautiful M.Graham paints, which are better kept upright. Some paints dry out so much that they will fall out of the palette. The best ones I have used are Daniel Smith and Da Vinci, but I have not tried every brand - many other brands have some great colour choices too. Have a look at handprint.com (http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/waterfs.html) for a very complete study of the paints that he tested extensively over a number of years.
When putting the paint into the palette I suggest not filling it too full. If you squeeze a good 'blob' carefully into the deepest part of the tray, moving from side to side, then allow it to dry for a couple of days, it will re-wet easily with a damp brush or a spritz with a water spray, ready to paint.
Buff Titanium (Daniel Smith PW6:1)
Hansa Yellow Light (many brands PY3)
New Gamboge (Daniel Smith PY153) or Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65) or Yellow Ochre - which I put in the earth section.
Quinacridone Gold PO44 + PY150
Pyrrol Scarlet (Daniel Smith PR255) or Permanent Red (Da Vinci PR188)
Pyrrol Crimson (Daniel Smith PR264)
Quinacridone Rose (PV19);
Ultramarine Blue (PB29);
Phthalo Blue Green Shade (PB15),
Cerulean Chromium (Daniel Smith PB36),
Sap Green (Daniel Smith PG7+PO49),
Perylene Green (PBk31 Daniel Smith),
Undersea Green (Daniel Smith PB29+PO49),
Phthalo Green (PG7),
Goethite (Daniel Smith PY43),
Burnt Sienna (PBr7),
Indian Red (PR101),
Raw Umber (PBR7)
Burnt Umber (PBR7)
Jane's Grey (PB29 and PBr7 custom mix)
From these colours they can easily make lovely oranges and purples, but have a couple of convenience greens to speed things along. I also include a lovely dark 'Jane's grey' made from Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine so they have a convenience grey for shadows and darkening other colours. (These filled palettes are available for AU$90 plus shipping. See the colours painted out here)
As far as palettes go, the folding palette is a great one to start with if you are using tube paints. They are made by a number of companies (with either 20 or 28 well options) and are generally very inexpensive but hold a good amount of paint. As they fold over to close, they do not suit paints that contain honey as a humectant, as these don't actually 'dry' in the palette so would run everywhere. This is particularly true of the beautiful M.Graham paints, which are better kept upright. Some paints dry out so much that they will fall out of the palette. The best ones I have used are Daniel Smith and Da Vinci, but I have not tried every brand - many other brands have some great colour choices too. Have a look at handprint.com (http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/waterfs.html) for a very complete study of the paints that he tested extensively over a number of years.
When putting the paint into the palette I suggest not filling it too full. If you squeeze a good 'blob' carefully into the deepest part of the tray, moving from side to side, then allow it to dry for a couple of days, it will re-wet easily with a damp brush or a spritz with a water spray, ready to paint.
...Or pans of paint...
Another wonderful palette is the Herring compact palette available from Jacksons Art in the UK. (http://www.jacksonsart.com)
It is a bit more expensive than the folding palette above but allows you to use either full or half pans of your colours.
This model is for full pans, another is for half pans. You can buy empty pans and fill them yourself from your tubes or buy full or half pans of your chosen colours. It has nice deep mixing wells and is compact for travelling. If you fill in the thumb hole with some thin plastic or cardboard, you can stick in another 4 full pans or 8 half pans. The half pan model holds 16 colours with room for a brush and a sponge, or fill it with 32 half pans with the thumb hole covered! Both models are very versatile and you can choose to put the paint directly into the wells rather than using pans if you prefer.
Using pans does allow you to try different colours and move them around easily.
Other palettes may have larger mixing areas, more or less paint wells, be suitable only for home use or very compact and portable.
Search for palettes and the options are endless - plastic, aluminium, steel, brass of all shapes and sizes. There is even a round one that holds about 80 colours! See more on palettes in the 'Palette' tab or click here
You can use any number of items as a mixing area - from an enamel butcher's tray to a white dinner plate to a number of small sauce dishes available from many discount shops. The main considerations are
It is a bit more expensive than the folding palette above but allows you to use either full or half pans of your colours.
This model is for full pans, another is for half pans. You can buy empty pans and fill them yourself from your tubes or buy full or half pans of your chosen colours. It has nice deep mixing wells and is compact for travelling. If you fill in the thumb hole with some thin plastic or cardboard, you can stick in another 4 full pans or 8 half pans. The half pan model holds 16 colours with room for a brush and a sponge, or fill it with 32 half pans with the thumb hole covered! Both models are very versatile and you can choose to put the paint directly into the wells rather than using pans if you prefer.
Using pans does allow you to try different colours and move them around easily.
Other palettes may have larger mixing areas, more or less paint wells, be suitable only for home use or very compact and portable.
Search for palettes and the options are endless - plastic, aluminium, steel, brass of all shapes and sizes. There is even a round one that holds about 80 colours! See more on palettes in the 'Palette' tab or click here
You can use any number of items as a mixing area - from an enamel butcher's tray to a white dinner plate to a number of small sauce dishes available from many discount shops. The main considerations are
- do you have enough paint wells for you paints? and
- will your brushes fit into the spaces to get the paint? Make sure your palette is appropriate for the size of painting you are doing, the brushes you are using, and the desk/table or plein air setup you are using.
Colours and more colours....
Some watercolorists have quite a collection not only of palettes, but also of colours for different purposes. Others have one palette and stick with it for everything. I know of one artist who used only 5 colours, all Winsor and Newton - Ultramarine, Quinacridone Gold, Quinacridone Magenta, Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna. She does wonderful paintings with great colour harmony with these very intermixable colours. For more limited palette ideas, see the Watercolour Triads Tab and many posts in my blog.
I use a palette of 20 colours that will do all I need for most subjects, though I don't use all colours in one painting of course. I have another collection of special colours for specific use that stay in my studio, and I have a lovely small travel palette of colours that I keep with me all the time, with a couple of travel brushes, a pencil and a small sketchbook. For planned plein air sketching trips I take my third brass palette, a compact unit with 24 colours, and a more comprehensive sketch kit. You can see some of the sketches I have done in the Tab 'Plein Air Sketches'.
I have tried many hundreds of colours, some of which have made it into my general palette, many of which have not. Notice how close in hue (colour) many of them are, though different in characteristics - some granulating, some not, some opaque, some transparent. Choosing the right ones for your purposes is one of the many challenges, and one of the many joys of watercolour. You can see many more of these in a series of posts on Watercolour Comparisons in my blog here. You can also see hundreds of painted watercolour swatches here.
I use a palette of 20 colours that will do all I need for most subjects, though I don't use all colours in one painting of course. I have another collection of special colours for specific use that stay in my studio, and I have a lovely small travel palette of colours that I keep with me all the time, with a couple of travel brushes, a pencil and a small sketchbook. For planned plein air sketching trips I take my third brass palette, a compact unit with 24 colours, and a more comprehensive sketch kit. You can see some of the sketches I have done in the Tab 'Plein Air Sketches'.
I have tried many hundreds of colours, some of which have made it into my general palette, many of which have not. Notice how close in hue (colour) many of them are, though different in characteristics - some granulating, some not, some opaque, some transparent. Choosing the right ones for your purposes is one of the many challenges, and one of the many joys of watercolour. You can see many more of these in a series of posts on Watercolour Comparisons in my blog here. You can also see hundreds of painted watercolour swatches here.
My Palette
I have been asked what colours I use in my palette, so I will show it here, but keep in mind this is what suits me for what I paint, and deliberately includes some very granulating colours.
My main palette colours are the 20 on the left. These are the colours I keep in a lovely brass paint box in my studio.
The four 'extra's on the right are in my plein air palette, which is a more compact brass box with all 24 colours.
I have arranged my colours with a cool triad of Hansa Yellow Medium PY97, Quinacridone Rose PV19 and Phthalo Blue red shade PB15 (though Phthalo Blue Green Shade could be used here, and is the cool blue I recommend), with the appropriate cool Phthalo Green PG7 and neutral Buff Titanium PW6:1 along the top row.
In the second row I have a warm triad of Quinacridone Gold PO49, Transparent Pyrrol Orange PO73 (though Pyrrol Scarlet is a lovely warm red alternative here, and the colour I recommend as a warm red option) and Ultramarine PB29, with an appropriate mixed green, Undersea Green PB29+PO49, and neutral - Burnt Sienna PBr7.
The third row has a granulating earth triad of Goethite PY43, Indian Red PR101, and Cerulean Blue PB36 with a slightly granulating Sap Green PG7 + PO49, (though Green Apatite Genuine is another lovely option), and Burnt Umber PBR7.
The final row has a deep neutralised triad of Raw Umber (PBr7), Pyrrol Crimson and Indanthrone Blue (PB60) with a deep green Perylene Green (PBk31) and my Jane's Grey mixture (PBr7 + PB29).
Looking down the columns you can see the first is yellows (Raw Umber is a neutralised yellow), the second is reds, the third is blues, the fourth is greens, the fifth is neutrals.
The last, slightly separate row, is a range of interesting extra colours that I use for particular purposes. I may change these around from time to time, but at present they are Rich Green Gold PY129, which is lovely in landscapes for foliage, the beautiful granulating Cobalt Turquoise PB36 that works beautifully for seascapes and oxidised copper, Transparent Red Oxide PR101 which is a wonderful slightly wild granulating colour that I use for sandstone and to add a glow to earth passages, and Moonglow, (PB29 + PR177 + PG18) which is a gorgeous granulating neutralised purple that works beautifully for shadows in foliage, florals and so on.
This palette of colours is lovely to use and mixes well as it is almost entirely single pigment colours, with the exception of the very useful (for Australia) Undersea Green, Sap Green and Moonglow, and my own 'Jane's Grey'. I use Daniel Smith watercolour though Da Vinci are also wonderful for basic colours.
My main palette colours are the 20 on the left. These are the colours I keep in a lovely brass paint box in my studio.
The four 'extra's on the right are in my plein air palette, which is a more compact brass box with all 24 colours.
I have arranged my colours with a cool triad of Hansa Yellow Medium PY97, Quinacridone Rose PV19 and Phthalo Blue red shade PB15 (though Phthalo Blue Green Shade could be used here, and is the cool blue I recommend), with the appropriate cool Phthalo Green PG7 and neutral Buff Titanium PW6:1 along the top row.
In the second row I have a warm triad of Quinacridone Gold PO49, Transparent Pyrrol Orange PO73 (though Pyrrol Scarlet is a lovely warm red alternative here, and the colour I recommend as a warm red option) and Ultramarine PB29, with an appropriate mixed green, Undersea Green PB29+PO49, and neutral - Burnt Sienna PBr7.
The third row has a granulating earth triad of Goethite PY43, Indian Red PR101, and Cerulean Blue PB36 with a slightly granulating Sap Green PG7 + PO49, (though Green Apatite Genuine is another lovely option), and Burnt Umber PBR7.
The final row has a deep neutralised triad of Raw Umber (PBr7), Pyrrol Crimson and Indanthrone Blue (PB60) with a deep green Perylene Green (PBk31) and my Jane's Grey mixture (PBr7 + PB29).
Looking down the columns you can see the first is yellows (Raw Umber is a neutralised yellow), the second is reds, the third is blues, the fourth is greens, the fifth is neutrals.
The last, slightly separate row, is a range of interesting extra colours that I use for particular purposes. I may change these around from time to time, but at present they are Rich Green Gold PY129, which is lovely in landscapes for foliage, the beautiful granulating Cobalt Turquoise PB36 that works beautifully for seascapes and oxidised copper, Transparent Red Oxide PR101 which is a wonderful slightly wild granulating colour that I use for sandstone and to add a glow to earth passages, and Moonglow, (PB29 + PR177 + PG18) which is a gorgeous granulating neutralised purple that works beautifully for shadows in foliage, florals and so on.
This palette of colours is lovely to use and mixes well as it is almost entirely single pigment colours, with the exception of the very useful (for Australia) Undersea Green, Sap Green and Moonglow, and my own 'Jane's Grey'. I use Daniel Smith watercolour though Da Vinci are also wonderful for basic colours.
In September 2015 Daniel Smith produced dot cards of my palette. The 20th colour - Jane's Grey - is now available from Daniel Smith.
This is the palette I work with as a starting point for all my paintings, though I will add other gorgeous pigments where I want special effects in a painting or sketch.
There are two colours that I choose to include that are different from my recommended colours in my Ultimate Mixing Palette suggested set. I use Transparent Pyrrol Orange, but recommend Pyrrol Scarlet. I also use Phthalo Blue RS but recommend Phthalo Blue GS (Green Shade). You can find a full explanation about these subtle but important difference on my Blog here.
Paint comparisons.
I have been testing some key colours from Da Vinci, Old Holland, Winsor & Newton, Daler Rowney, Rembrandt, Maimeri Blu, M.Graham, Lukas, Daniel Smith, Schmincke, Art Spectrum, QoR, American Journey, Sennelier, Mission Gold and many others to compare how different paints perform. Some brands are easier to obtain in one country or another so I hope to be able to give more options about comparable paints. I have been using Daniel Smith almost exclusively since 1995, and they work very well for me, but I have been very impressed with Da Vinci, the new Schmicnke colours (since 2017) and more recently the new Roman Szmal colours (2019).
What I am looking for is preferably single pigment colours, permanence, easy to re-wet in a palette, strong colour and paint-out well in diluted or 'juicy' washes. I am also looking for colours that are very versatile in mixing or such a useful premixed colour that it is worth having from a tube. Finally I am looking for special use colours - extraordinary granulation or something that cannot be mixed. I am posting my samples on my Blog by brand, so please have a look. You can look for 'Watercolour Comparisons' or use the search function to find specific colours or brands. I am also gradually adding them to the 'Painted Watercolour Swatches' tabs which have hundreds of samples to compare.
What I am looking for is preferably single pigment colours, permanence, easy to re-wet in a palette, strong colour and paint-out well in diluted or 'juicy' washes. I am also looking for colours that are very versatile in mixing or such a useful premixed colour that it is worth having from a tube. Finally I am looking for special use colours - extraordinary granulation or something that cannot be mixed. I am posting my samples on my Blog by brand, so please have a look. You can look for 'Watercolour Comparisons' or use the search function to find specific colours or brands. I am also gradually adding them to the 'Painted Watercolour Swatches' tabs which have hundreds of samples to compare.
This page last updated May 2019