Although I shared my palette as recently as last month (January 2024), I made a bunch of changes during my month’s “puttering time.” I swapped around some A and B team paints based on usage, and also removed some altogether (cleaning the pan and putting the tube in my “maybe giveaway” box). When I last shared my palette, my active collection was 44 (22 in each palette); now it’s down to 35 (21 in my A team folio palette, while my B team is down to a pocket palette of 14).
A Team
I shifted the focus from bright colors (top row) to earth colors (bottom row) after observing that I tended to reach for earth colors from the B team, particularly since I mainly paint landscapes and birds.
Top Row (Bright/Light)
- Titanium White (PW6)
- Imidazolone Yellow (PY154)
- Quinacridone Red/Coral (PR209)
- Quinacridone Magenta/Lilac (PR122)
- Phthalo Blue RS (PB15)
- Phthalo Turquoise (PB16)
Middle Row (Dark)
- Rich Green Gold (PY129)
- Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150)
- DV Perylene Scarlet (PR149)
- DS Quinacridone Red (PV19)
- DS Indanthrone Blue (PB60)
- HO Payne’s Gray
Bottom Row (Earth/Granulating)
- WN Naples Yellow Deep (PBr24)
- DS MANS (PBr7)
- WN Gold Ochre (PY42)
- DS TRO (PR101)
- DV Indian Red (PR101)
- Ultramarine Blue (PB29) [double size because it gets used up quickly]
- DV Cobalt Blue (PB28)
- DV Cerulean Blue Genuine (PB35)
- SH Cobalt Turquoise (PG50)
B Team
I accidentally drew the pocket palette as having 16 slots (8 per row) when it actually has 14 (7 per row), so just ignore the blank ones on the far right, which actually don’t exist.
Top Row (Bright)
- Hansa Yellow Light (PY3)
- Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65)
- Naphthol Scarlet (PR188)
- DV Permanent Rose (PV19)
- DS Carbazole Violet (PV23)
- Phthalo Blue GS (PB15:3)
- Phthalo Green (PG7)
Bottom Row (Earth/Dark)
- HO Yellow Ochre (PY42)
- DV Raw Sienna (PBr7)
- Quinacridone Burnt Orange (PO48)
- DV Burnt Sienna Deep (PR101)
- Perylene Maroon (PR179)
- DV Manganese Blue Mix (PB33/PB15)
- Perylene Green (PBk31)
Change summary:
- Promoted/Added to A-Team: Gold Ochre, Indian Red, Cerulean Blue, DS Quinacridone Red (PV19)
- Demoted to B-team: Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65), Phthalo Green (PG7), DV Permanent Rose (PV19)
- Removed from both: Quin Gold, Transparent Orange, Pyrrol Red, Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone, Opera Pink, Quin Violet, Prussian Blue, Lunar Earth, Ultramarine Violet, Chromium Oxide Green
I actually really like the B team now; I cut so many of my “meh” colors that it’s practically all-stars left. These colors are basically A-team quality, I just don’t use them super-often, but want to keep them around as many of them may be seasonal. What I didn’t expect is that the B-team itself would end up being so usable! While I didn’t consciously intend to, I left enough variety to make a totally nice, usable palette. It’s just lacking some blues because I put so many of them in the A-team.