Palettes

My Urban Sketching Kit as of Spring 2025

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Earlier this year, when I decided to get more serious about urban sketching, I put together a small kit based on my expectations of what would work well. Now that I have some experience, let’s judge how I did! With particular emphasis on critiquing my palette choices, since they are what I obsess about the most.

Spring Palette 2025

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Another season, another palette! I’ve been doing very little studio painting but a fair amount of plein air sketching this month, so I’ve been able to adapt my colors to what works for me in the field. I thought I would take you on a little journey showing what I started with, what changes I made, and why.

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Is “split primary” the best starter palette?

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I’ve read a lot of beginner watercolor advice, and I’d estimate that 80% of books/blogs/videos recommend starting with a “split primary” palette. Common starter kits also follow this blueprint, such as Daniel Smith’s Essentials set, which I started with. But is the “split primary” palette really the best set of six colors for a beginner?

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Limited Palette Study: Azo Yellow, Perylene Red, Ultramarine Blue

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On my watercolor discord, I joked that an “evil primary triad” would be Hansa Yellow Light, Pyrrol Red, and Ultramarine Blue. In most triads, you optimize for vibrance in one area while sacrificing it in another; in this triad, although the primary colors themselves are bright, all the secondaries – oranges, greens, and violets – would be muted and dull.

Of course everyone then got invested in proving me wrong and painting gorgeously with this (actually fairly traditional) triad.

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Winter Palette 2025

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Quite often I will prepare a palette for the coming season, but I suddenly realized that we’re running out of winter and I haven’t done a winter palette yet! But today it’s still cold as balls, the outdoors coated in snow and ice, so it still feels relevant.

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