Liz Steel is an inspiring contemporary watercolor artist known for landscapes and urban sketches, perfect for this series because she has written a lot on color and has shared her 17-color palette. Let’s take a look!
| Slot | LS Has | Some Alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Yellow | DS Hansa Yellow Medium (PY97) | Pure Yellow (PY154), Brilliant Hansa Yellow (PY97), or cool yellows such as Lemon Yellow (PY175) or Hansa Yellow Light (PY3) |
| “I Just Like It” Yellow/Orange | WN Naples Yellow | Dealer’s choice |
| Gold | DS Quin Gold (old PO49 version) | Rich Green Gold (PY129); DIY mix with Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150) + earth orange; any yellow-orange (e.g. PY110, PY65); any earth yellow (see below) |
| Red-Orange or Scarlet | DS Transparent Pyrrol Orange (PO71) (old formula, very red-toned) | Pyrrol Orange (PO73); any scarlet such as Pyrrol Scarlet (PR255), Scarlet Lake (PR188), or Cadmium Red (PR108) |
| Primary Magenta | DS Quin Rose (PV19) | Quin Magenta (PR122), Magenta (PV42), Alizarin Crimson hue |
| “I Just Like It” Pink/Red | WN Potter’s Pink (PR233) | Dealer’s choice |
| Granulating Violet Blue | SH French Ultramarine (PB29) | |
| Granulating Green Blue/Australia Skies | DS Cerulean Blue Chromium (PB36) | Cobalt Blue (less green), Phthalo Blue GS (not granulating), Prussian Blue (not granulating) |
| Dark Blue | DS Indanthrone Blue (PB60) | Indigo, WN Payne’s Gray |
| Mid Blue/Luminous Shadows/California Skies | DS Cobalt Blue (PB28) | Cerulean Blue (more green), Ultramarine Blue (esp. green shade) |
| “I Just Like It” Turquoise | WN Cobalt Turquoise Light (PG50) | Dealer’s choice |
| Natural-looking Mid Green | DS Sap Green (PG7 + PO48 + PY150) | Oxide of Chromium (PG17); DS Serpentine; mixed greens from Phthalo Green (PG7) |
| Earth Yellow | DS Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (PBr7) | Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna |
| Earth Orange | DS Transparent Red Oxide (PR101) | Burnt Sienna, Quin Burnt Orange |
| Cool Brown | Van Dyke Brown | Raw Umber; mixed browns from TRO + Indanthrone |
| Buff | Buff Titanium | light value Raw Sienna |
| Gray | Steele’s Gray (personal mix, TRO + Ultramarine) | favorite gray, black, Neutral Tint, or complementary mix |
There’s a lot to love about Steele’s palette (aside from the fact that some of my favorite colors are on there!) There’s an intentional, well-though-out variety of pigment types: transparent, opaque, granulating, non-, etc. There are almost no “on the nose” colors (my pet peeve). It’s quite a limited palette but also includes some wacky ones, like Potter’s Pink, a pigment so extremely low-tinting and high-granulating that to me it enters the realm of a special effects paint.
As a color nerd, my absolute favorite thing is that she provided reasoning for every color! (I may or may not feel the same, especially about subjective things, but I love reading the reasoning!) Go check out her blog for all the explanations.
What’s especially interesting to me in any limited palette is the colors that are left off – that the artist can do without – even though I may consider them essential. For example, Steele does not have:
- Any Phthalo Blues! All her blues are granulating, and most of the colors are lower tinting strength. I can see how a Phthalo color would throw off the balance of the set. When I was taking Liz’s class, I tried to get along without a Phthalo Blue, but ended up re-adding it as soon as the class was over.
- By the same token, Phthalo Green (although it is a component of Sap Green).
- A middle red. Liz mixes them with TPO + Quin Rose.
- A dark crimson or scarlet like Alizarin Crimson, Pyrrol Crimson, or Perylene Maroon. Liz makes dark reds by adding a bit of blue to her middle red mix, but personally I find it difficult to get a crimson that I like in this way – they all go purple.
- Perylene Green – she mixes dark greens with Indanthrone Blue.
- Burnt Umber or Indian Red equivalents (though she has many other earth tones).
- Any purple (she mixes them with Quin Rose and Ultramarine).
I love a palette that leaves off some of the “must have” colors and still finds a way to include some fun ones!
Even though Liz Steele and I have different styles (and her palette reflects that), I am totally in awe of her color knowledge and reasoning, as well as her attitude toward creating “watercolor magic” with unusual, granulating, or oddly-mixing colors. What an inspiration!