The New England Palette

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Before I first traveled to Vancouver, I researched colors that might be particularly useful there, such as paints in the M. Graham “Pacific Northwest” kit, and the palettes of PNW artists such as Molly Hashimoto. Based on that research, I decided to add Dioxazine Violet and Perylene Green to my travel palette, and to make sure to bring Quin Burnt Orange, Payne’s Gray, and Indanthrone Blue (the latter is one of my favorites so I probably would have brought it anyway). I did used those colors on that first visit… but isn’t that a self-fulfilling prophecy? If I hadn’t had them on hand, or hadn’t expected to need them, would I have independently decided they were useful?

In my six months living in Vancouver, I found I used those colors less and less. Granted, I did a lot of painting from photos and of other parts of the world. But regardless of the subject, I found that I could still get good results using my typical colors: mixing a bit of PV19 into my blues and browns instead of using a Diox Violet mix, mixing dark greens with Indigo or Indanthrone and yellow, and using TRO instead of QBO most of the time.

As I return to New England, where I have lived most of my life, I thought it would be funny to research a “New England” kit in the same way – as if I were a visiting traveler – and see how it stacks up against the paints I typically used there.

Research Sources

M. Graham’s New England Set

I used M. Graham’s PNW set as one data point for my Vancouver research; as luck would have it, though they are a PNW company, they have an equivalent set for New England. The colors are:

  • Cranberry Red (Naphthol Red, PR112)
  • New England Yellow (Cadmium Yellow Light, PY35)
  • Deep Sea Blue (Ultramarine Blue, PB29)
  • Brown Bread (Burnt Umber, PBr7)
  • Deep Irish Green (Hooker’s Green, PG7/PY110)
M. Graham New England set

Paul George

Paul George is a watercolor artist in coastal Massachusetts. I profiled his palette previously. He uses lots of colors, but common colors with the M. Graham set include:

  • Cadmium Yellow
  • A bright naphthol red (PR188 in his case)
  • Ultramarine Blue

For his other colors, George uses various variations on the red, yellow, and blue, including:

  • Cadmium Yellow Deep
  • (yellow-toned) Raw Sienna
  • Alizarin Crimson
  • Phthalo Blue
  • Cobalt Turquoise

His only green is Phthalo Green (PG7). He does not use many earths; his Burnt Sienna substitute is a very reddish mix DS Quin Sienna.

Kelley Vivian

Kelley Vivian is primarily a gouache artist, but I’m including her palette anyway because I love her paintings of Acadia National Park, Maine. Her top colors are:

  • Cadmium-Free Yellow
  • Permanent Alizarin Crimson (PR176)
  • Ultramarine Blue (PB29)
  • Prussian Blue (PB27)
  • Burnt Umber (PBr7, PY42)

Poppy Balser

Probably people in Nova Scotia wouldn’t like me lumping them in with New England, but the Nova Scotia coastal palette has a lot of similarity with Maine, IMO. Poppy Balser’s palette is also nice and simple to explain:

  • (yellow-toned) Raw Sienna
  • middle yellow
  • Quin Rose
  • Cobalt Blue
  • Ultramarine Blue
  • Cerulean Blue

Of these, the Raw Sienna, Quin Rose, and Cobalt Blue are used most frequently, with many paintings containing just that triad.

Research Synthesis

I’m seeing some themes. People tend to gravitate toward “warm” or traditional primaries for this area, e.g. Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, and Ultramarine. The coolest red you’re likely to see is Alizarin Crimson, not Quin Rose or Magenta. People generally shy away from “modern”/cool CMYK primaries or pastels. Colors added to the traditional triad often include a middle-of-the-road brown, e.g. Burnt Umber, and sometimes a middle green, e.g. Hooker’s.

It all feels very…non-specific?

Maybe this is because the “standard” landscape palette was developed in temperate areas like this one, or maybe it’s because New England simply calls for a wide variety of flexible mixing colors rather than specialists. After all, it’s a four-season climate, and unless you get specific about which season you are talking about, it’s hard to get specific at all! For example, the spring, summer, fall, and winter palettes I developed here are all different.

My Thoughts

If I were to give an out-of-towner specific advice about this area, compared to others I have traveled to, this is what I would say:

  • Because it’s a changing landscape, use a flexible mixing palette of primary triads, or customize your palette to the season you will be there.
  • Convenience greens should generally be bright, like Hooker’s Green, rather than yellowy or muted, like typical Sap or Olive Greens. See my post Mixing Watercolor Greens for the Foliage of the Northeast, Season by Season.
  • If visiting in the fall, pack plenty of vibrant reds and oranges!
  • Tree trunks are more gray than brown; there’s no single color I have found that matches. My favorite mix is Transparent Red Oxide (PR101) + Indanthrone Blue (PB60).
  • If visiting the Atlantic coast, e.g. Maine or Nova Scotia, don’t underestimate how much you have to neutralize your blues to almost gray. I often find the ocean is both more muted and greener than I expect. Deep reds, maroons, oranges, and earth tones can help neutralize your greens, turquoises, and blues. Experiment to find neutralizing pairs.

The New England Palette

As you might expect from a person who mostly honed their palette in New England, this is mostly just a subset of my current palette.

New England Palette

Top Row:

  1. Azo Yellow (PY151): My current fad yellow, I love that it is basically in between a lemon and a mid yellow so I don’t have to choose. Great for spring green mixes or any basic yellow use case. Alternatives: Benzimidazolone Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Hansa Yellow (Light or Medium), Cadmium Yellow (Lemon or Medium).
  2. Hansa Yellow Deep (PY65): My fall yellow. Much warmer yellow for mixing oranges or toning down Phthalo Green. Alternatives: New Gamboge, Cadmium Yellow Deep.
  3. Naphthol Scarlet (PR188) – My summer red. Red-orange is also handy for fall leaves, orange pumpkins, and achieving a that wide range of reds. Alternatives: Quin Coral (PR209), Pyrrol Scarlet (PR255), Transparent Orange (PO71).
  4. Quinacridone Red (PV19): A middle ground between Quin Rose and Alizarin Crimson, this is an effective rose and magenta mixer while still giving a reddish feel especially in deep concentrations.
  5. Indanthrone Blue (PB60): Moody, shadow blue for all sorts of slate blue mixes, stormy skies, and tree trunk browns (with TRO).
  6. Phthalo Turquoise (PB16): Summer green mixer, mixes gorgeous deep greens with Nickel Azo Yellow. Also a useful base for ocean mixes. Alternatives: Phthalo Blue.
  7. Phthalo Green Yellow Shade (PG36): Mixes brighter spring greens than the Phthalo Turquoise, especially with the Azo Yellow. Alternatives: Phthalo Green Blue Shade (PG7) works the same way. Hooker’s Green is a reasonable convenience alternative (especially Holbein’s bold version), but you can mix it yourself with this and the Nickel Azo Yellow.

Bottom row:

  1. Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150): This gold/yellow with an earthy masstone is a great mixer for all sorts of intense-but-not-neon greens and golds.
  2. Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (PBr7): A yellow earth is a very useful landscape mixer for muted greens, dry grass, various browns as well as gentle yellow tones in the sky that don’t go green. Alternatives: Raw Sienna or Yellow Ochre.
  3. Transparent Red Oxide (PR101): Earth orange is a crucial mixer for all sorts of tree trunk gray-browns with warm blues. Alternatives: Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber.
  4. Perylene Red (PR178): A middle red is useful for fall maples as well as iconic urban or manmade elements e.g. Cape Cod lighthouses, Red Sox logo, Fenway Park Citgo sign, etc. Can mix gorgeous deep reds with blue, eliminating the need for a dark red. A tiny touch effectively neutralizes blues and greens. Alternatives: Cadmium Red (PR108), Pyrrol Red (PR254).
  5. Ultramarine Blue (PB29): The standard dark/granulating blue, useful for mixing browns, making shadows, and sky zeniths. Alternative: Cobalt Blue.
  6. Cobalt Turquoise (PG50): A springy turquoise that mixes bright greens with yellow, lilac and lavender with rose, or perfect blue skies with Ultramarine.
  7. Payne’s Gray: It’s just useful to have a cool-to-neutral gray/black for shadows and gray skies. I find this useful during monochrome winters and high-contrast summers alike. You can also mix your own grays, so it’s not crucial. Alternatives: Neutral Tint, Indigo, black.