What’s in my palette? July 2024

I haven’t painted a ton since I moved this summer, but I still found time to make some small palette changes since my pre-move palette check. Generally, when I reached for something two or more times out of my B-team, I thought carefully about pulling it up to A-Team!

A-Team (Folio Palette)

Top row:

• SH Aureolin Hue (PY151)
• DS Permanent Yellow Deep (PY110)
• DV Quin Red (PR209)
• DS Quin Red (PV19) [double]
• HO Quin Magenta (PR122) – replaced Diox Violet
• HO Phthalo Blue RS (PB15) – added back in
• HO Phthalo Blue YS (PB15:3)
• DS Phthalo Green YS (PG36)
• DS Rich Green Gold (PY129)

Middle row:

• WN Naples Yellow Deep (PBr24) – moved up from bottom row
• DS Quin Gold (PY150, PO48) – replaced both Nickel Azo Yellow and Quin Burnt Orange with the premix! I keep going back and forth between the components and the mix, but I feel like QG is the best-of-both-worlds that balances both nicely and is more distinct from PY129 and PR101.
• DS Perylene Red (PR178) – moved down from top so I stop confusing it with PR209 in the palette
• DS Indanthrone Blue (PB60) [double]
• HO Payne’s Gray (PB15, PBk9, PR122) – moved up from bottom row/replaced Perylene Green. Realized it’s easier to get a strong color and I can also make dark greens.

Bottom row:

• DS Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (PBr7) – made this smaller, even though I use it a lot, mainly because it tends to flake out of the pan when it’s larger.
• DS Transparent Red Oxide (PR101) [double] – made bigger
• DV Lavender (PW6, PV15, PB29) – added! Kind of on the fence about it but it’s pretty and nice for skies/cloud shadows. More convenient than having those colors separately, especially since I usually use them together.
• DV Cobalt Blue (PB28) – made smaller to make room for more colors
• SH Cobalt Turquoise (PG50) – the first color I added back in! So pretty in skies, makes lovely lavenders. I don’t use it often in the field, but I find I grab it a lot for photography-based painting, especially when I’m in a dreamy mood.

B-Team (Pocket Palette)

Top Row:

• HO Imidazolone Lemon (PY175)
• HO Imidazolone Yellow (PY154)
• DS Pyrrol Scarlet (PR255)
• DS Carbazole Violet (PV23) – bumped for PR122
• WN Phthalo Turquoise (PB16)
• DS Indanthrone Blue (PB60) – I have this on the A-team, this is just a copy in a smaller pan

Bottom Row:

• MI Green Gold (PY150) – aka Nickel Azo Yellow
• DS Quin Burnt Orange (PO48) – with PY50, replaced with QG
• HO Yellow Ochre (PY42)
• WN Gold Ochre (PY42)
• DV Indian Red (PR101)
• SH Ultramarine Blue (PB29)
• WN Perylene Green (PBk31)

DV Perylene Red (PR149) isn’t on here anymore, but I have it in a tube. Other tubes not represented are white and black gouache.

Conclusion

Mostly, I just undid the changes I’d made for Vancouver! I moved Dioxazine Violet, Perylene Green, and Quin Burnt Orange back to the B-team. I acknowledge that these are good local colors, but I’ve mostly been painting from photos at home lately – and anyway I like the colors I like! I feel like I alternate between making changes to try new things and returning to my old favorites, and this is an old-favorites version.