There are many hundreds of different watercolours available, made with hundreds of different pigments and pigment mixtures. Over many years, I've been exploring the various pigments and colours available to find the ones I think are the most interesting and/or generally useful.
I have a rather large collection of tubes and many are squeezed into more portable storage palettes, and of course I have my painting palettes. Here I thought I'd go through my favourite watercolours, and explain why I like them. I don't necessarily paint with them all and of course never in one painting!
I was looking for a large palette that would hold many different pigments. I didn't need a mixing area in this one, as it was not for painting, but for demonstrating and explaining the differences between various colours and pigments. So I didn't look in traditional watercolour supply stores, but makeup stores. MAC makes empty pro palettes for makeup artists to fill with lipsticks. They are rather flat wells, so don't hold a lot of paint, but they don't need to. They are inexpensive, another bonus.
I bought a 24-colour lipstick palette. You could, of course, spray the lid section white and use this as a painting palette of 24, but I bought an extra 24-colour insert, creating a 48-colour storage palette.
Here it is filled with my favourites. Some of you would be able to make a pretty good guess at what colours are here.
But I won't leave you totally in the dark about what they are - here's a paint-out of the top section. I've now updated this post with the full palette names but just cover the caption to test yourself :-)
And here is the bottom section. There is one spot empty. It's probably the spot for Potter's Pink. Not a colour I use a lot, but a rather beautiful pigment. I'd have to rearrange the colours to put it in though...
Of the 47 colours, 42 are Daniel Smith, 2 are my own custom mixes using DS paints and 3 are other brands - a Da Vinci, and Old Holland and a Schmincke.
I haven't included any cadmiums, even though they are excellent pigments with specific uses. I have them in my other storage sets!
Well done to Bob who pretty much nailed the guessing below :-)
I'm gonna' say...
ReplyDeleteBuff Titanium
Hansa Yellow Light
hansa Yellow Medium
Hansa Yellow Deeep
Quinacridone Gold
Benzimida Orange Deep (Da Vinci)
Transparent Pyrrol Orange
Pyrrol Scarlet
Pyrrol Red ?
Carmine
Pyrrol Crimson
Quinacridone Rose
Imperial Purple
Moonglow
Sodolite Genuine
Indanthrone Blue
Ultramarine Blue
Ultramarine Finest (Schmincke)
Phthalo Blue (RS)
Prussian Blue
Phthalo Blue (GS)
Lunar Blue ?
Cerulean Blue
Cobalt Turquoise
Blue Apatite Genuine
Viridian
Phthlo Green (BS)
Jadite Genuine
Hematite Genuine
Perylene Green
Undersea Green
Green Apatite Genuine
-Blank-
Sap Green
Green Gold
Rich Green Gold
Yellow Ochre
Geothite Brown
Raw Sienna
Burnt Sienna
Quinacridone Burnt Orange
Transparent Red Oxide
Indian Red
Piemontite Genuine
Burnt Umber
Raw Umber
Jane's Grey (Your Mix)
Lunar Black
Well Bob if anyone was going to be able to almost get them all in one, it would be you :-) So close that I'll give all the answers...
ReplyDeleteBuff Titanium yes
Hansa Yellow Light yes
hansa Yellow Medium yes
Hansa Yellow Deep it could have been but is the single pigment New Gamboge (almost identical in colour but a little different in behaviour)
Quinacridone Gold yes
Benzimida Orange Deep (Da Vinci) yes
Transparent Pyrrol Orange yes
Pyrrol Scarlet yes
Pyrrol Red ? no - Pyrrol Crimson
Carmine yes
Pyrrol Crimson no - Quinacridone Rose
Quinacridone Rose no - Schmincke Purple magenta PR122
Imperial Purple yes
Moonglow yes
Sodolite Genuine yes
Indanthrone Blue yes
Ultramarine Blue yes
Ultramarine Finest (Schmincke) no - cobalt blue
Phthalo Blue (RS) yes
Prussian Blue no - cerulean chromium
Phthalo Blue (GS) yes
Lunar Blue ? no blue apatite genuine, but they are similar
Cerulean Blue no - Old Holland manganese blue genuine (discontinued)
Cobalt Turquoise no - cobalt teal blue
Blue Apatite Genuine no - cobalt turquoise
Viridian yes
Phthlo Green (BS) yes
Jadite Genuine yes
Hematite Genuine no - Jane's Black (custom mix phthalo green + pyrrol crimson)
Perylene Green yes
Undersea Green yes
Green Apatite Genuine yes
-Blank-
Sap Green yes
Green Gold no - serpentine genuine
Rich Green Gold yes
Yellow Ochre yes
Goethite Brown ochre yes
Raw Sienna yes
Burnt Sienna - nearly - Quinacridone burnt orange
Quinacridone Burnt Orange - nearly - transparent red oxide
Transparent Red Oxide nearly - burnt sienna - you had them all :-)
Indian Red - yes
Piemontite Genuine yes
Burnt Umber yes
Raw Umber yes
Jane's Grey (Your Mix) yes
Lunar Black yes
Game over!
Aren't they gorgeous?
Yes, they are gorgeous :-) I love, love, love your colors ..................and ice cream.
ReplyDeleteWonderful collection of colors, and I love your ingenious palette!
ReplyDeleteSo lovely! And tempting. And inspiring 🌺
ReplyDeleteHi Jane :)
ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm wrong.. but I can't find Indian red in the pictures nor in the descriptions below them...
You are right - it's between burnt sienna and Piemontite. I'll add it into the caption.
DeleteThanks Jane ;-)
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ReplyDeleteHi Jane ... When I recently purchased New Gamboge from Daniel Smith, I noticed that it's a two pigment version (PY97, PY110). Is this single pigment version you've often mentioned in your blog from an older stash or is it available from DS?
ReplyDeleteYes it is now - both good pigments. One of the (few?) advantages of living on the other side of the world is that we sometimes tale a while to get new stock, so if i hear a favourite pigment is being discontinued I generally search a few tubes of the old stock, even if the new formula is perfectly fine. So this is old stock of the PY153. I also have a supply of the two pigment versions of Sap Green, Undersea Green and even the discontinued DS cadmiums.
DeleteSo helpful and once again - inspiring! Thanks for alllll your posts.... Your passion imbues your knowledge and wisdom.
ReplyDeleteLauri
That is such a great idea to use the make up palette for this! Love it :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your posts. They are clear, practical and inspiring. I’ve been struggling with the range of DS colours and others I’ve acquired over the last three years, and now I can see how to organise and use them to better effect in my work.
ReplyDelete