Now seems like a good time to review what’s in my palette. It’s been awhile – my last palette map was nearly a year ago, in March 2023. I keep swapping stuff in and out so much that I never feel it’s in a stable state, but you have to snapshot sometime.
A-Team
The A-team is a folio palette containing my 22 favorite colors (of the moment).
Top Row: Brights
- HO Titanium White (PW6) – probably seasonal, winter & spring, for pastels
- HO Imidazolone Yellow (PY154) – default primary yellow
- DS Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65) – warm yellow/orange mixer
- DV Quinacridone Red (PR209) [coral] – warm red/orange mixer; sunset specialist
- DV Permanent Rose (PV19) – or any quin rose/red
- HO Quinacridone Magenta (PR122) – fave violet mixer
- HO Phthalo Blue Red Shade (PB15) – sky fave, preferred to more common Green Shade
- WN Phthalo Turquoise (PB16) – green mixing fave
- DS Phthalo Green (PG7) – possibly seasonal, winter & spring; mixes bold turquoise, lime, etc.
- HO Payne’s Gray – convenience gray/black; more useful for travel than studio
Middle Row: Deep/Intense
- MI Green Gold (PY150) – fave mixing yellow; bold green mixer w/ Phthalo Turquoise
- DS Quin Gold (PY150, PO48) – possibly reduplicative with PY150, but a favorite color
[Mixing] - DV Perylene Scarlet (PR149) – new fad, bold scarlet red, transparent & mixable
- DV Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone (PV19) – cool deep red; cloud mixer w/ Phthalo Turquoise
[Mixing] - DS Indanthrone Blue (PB60) – fave shadow blue; gray/black mixer with TRO; pine green mixer with PY129
- DS Rich Green Gold (PY129) – also possibly reduplicative with PY150, but my preferred pine green mixer. Conveniently placed next to Indanthrone Blue.
Bottom Row: Earth/Granulating
- WN Naples Yellow Deep (PBr24) – sunset specialist; warm underlayer
- DS Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (PBr7) [MANS] – favorite earth color; dry grass and sand mixer; hard to decide between this and Raw Sienna
[Mixing] - DS Transparent Red Oxide (PR101) [TRO] – favorite earth color; gray and brown mixer with blues
- DV Ultramarine Blue (PB29) – All sorts of uses; mixes shadows with TRO; sky zeniths; violets; granulation in clouds
[Mixing] - DV Cobalt Blue (PB28) – blue sky favorite; gentle cloud mixer
- SH Cobalt Turquoise (PG50) – turquoise seas; interesting splashes of turquoise in clouds
What’s different from last year?
It’s interesting to see what’s changed and how much is the same from my last “snapshot.” I feel like I’ve made a lot of changes, but really mostly I just keep undoing and redoing the same ones. Since last year, I:
- Added 7 colors: white (again, maybe seasonal), Nickel Azo Yellow, Naples Yellow Deep, Perylene Scarlet, Cobalt Blue, Cobalt Turquoise (I had omitted the Cobalts for toxicity reasons last time), Payne’s Gray
- Dropped 3 colors: Transparent Orange, Indigo, Smalt
This palette has 4 more colors due to keeping all the pan sizes small (22 vs. 18). 15 colors are the same (not counting minor brand differences).
B-Team
The B-team is another folio palette with another 22 colors in a similar arrangement. This is more just “overflow” than an intentional attempt to make a palette that works, but it’s usable and has a certain kind of charm. It has a strong emphasis on earth colors, since most of my Desert Palette ended up here.
Top Row: Brights
At the moment, my brightest colors are here, though this may switch up in spring.
- DV Hansa Yellow Light (PY3) – likely a seasonal spring color
- DV Permanent Red (PR188) – likely a seasonal summer color
[Mixing] - HO Pyrrol Red (PR254) – bold middle red, like but rarely use; thought I’d use it for winter but didn’t
- HO Opera Rose (PR122, fluo) – also possibly a seasonal spring color; neon, fugitive
[Mixing] - HO Phthalo Blue Yellow Shade (PB15:3) – common in tutorials, but usually I prefer red shade
- DV Manganese Blue Mix (PB33, PB15) – interesting, highly granulating, not usually my favorite but may use in spring
Middle Row: Dark/Intense
A tribute to my love of jewel tones.
- WN Transparent Orange (DPP) – I now think I may typically prefer Perylene Scarlet for similar mixing situations
- DS Perylene Maroon (PR179) – dark red; useful for mixing; not my favorite due to drying shift
[Mixing] - DS Quin Violet (PV19) – muted violet; interesting but not really useful IMO
- DS Carbazole Violet (PV23) – useful seasonal winter and PNW color but not my favorite tbh
[Mixing] - DS Prussian Blue (PB27) – dark cyan; questionable lightfastness and sticky texture make this a “sometimes” color for me, but it makes great greens and is in many tutorials (especially older)
- WN Perylene Green (PBk31) – shadow green; black mixer with Perylene Scarlet; hard to decide between this and Payne’s Gray
Bottom Row: Earth/Granulating
This is just a huge collection of desert colors. Stars on my favorites.
- HO Yellow Ochre (PY42) – generally I prefer MANS
- ⭐ WN Gold Ochre (PY43) – seasonal for fall
- DV Raw Sienna (PBr7) – sometimes preferred to MANS, esp for muted subjects
- ⭐ DS Quinacridone Burnt Orange (PO48) – interesting, discontinued color, nice for warm glazes
- DV Burnt Sienna Deep (PR101) – alternative to TRO; same pigment, less granulation
- DS Lunar Earth (PBr11) – interesting very granulating earth orange/brown
- ⭐ DV Indian Red (PR101) -I sometimes like this very granulating earth color for browns & clouds; makes a nice gray with Cerulean Blue
- DV Ultramarine Violet (PV15) – low-strength but very granulating, nice for clouds
- ⭐ DV Cerulean Blue Genuine (PB35) – granulating light blue; I prefer cobalt for skies, but this is a nice mixer
- WN Oxide of Chromium (PG17) – opaque dull green; nice for desert foliage
Gouache
I’m tired of painting out swatches, so here’s a photo of the gouache colors I use the most.
- HO Permanent White (PW6)
- HO Primary Yellow (PY3, PY74)
- HO Marigold (PY83)
- SH Vermilion Hue (PR255)
- HO Primary Magenta (PR122)
- MG Ultramarine Blue (PB29)
- MG Prussian Blue (PB27)
- HO Primary Cyan (PB15:3)
- HO Phthalo Green (PG7)
- HO Yellow Ochre (PY42)
- WN Burnt Sienna (PY42, PR101)
- MB Payne’s Gray (PB29, PBk6)
- WN Perylene Black (PBk31)
I also have some more tubes, which I don’t use as often (unofficial B-team):
- MG Zinc White (PW4) – no real reason to use this over PW6
- HO Lemon Yellow (PY3) – primary is more useful actually
- MG Quinacridone Red (PR209) – too streaky/transparent
- WN Perylene Maroon (PR179) – just never think of it; can make dark reds from other combos
- HO Scarlet (PR254) – just never think of it; can make reds from PR255 + PR122
- WN Primary Blue (PB15) – I thought this would be a PBRS but it’s more PBGS. Fine for when I run out of Holbein Primary Cyan, but no real reason to keep both in stock.
- MG Lamp Black (PBk6) – curiously I use this more with watercolor, e.g. for silhouette foregrounds
No-Buy-Year Guidelines
This year, I resolved not to buy paint. After all, between the 44 watercolor paints + 20 gouache paints listed above and some additional colors tucked away in drawers, I definitely don’t need more experimental paints. It’s hard enough to decide between the colors I do have!
However… as I’m running out of Indanthrone Blue, already I realize I need to relax the “no paint buy” guidelines just a bit to allow for refills of my favorite/most used colors.
In general, it seems like I should refill A-team (though look for a B-team equivalent first, if possible), but B-team colors may not need to be replaced. I can always game the system by moving colors between A and B teams. But if I actually fully use up a B-team color and then am tempted to push it up to A-team so that I can refill it, maybe it belongs in the A-team after all.