Gouache: Finding the perfect autumn palette

In my recent post about mixing charts, I mentioned that I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect autumn palette. I’m pretty much knee-deep in mixing charts by now, but I think I’ve finally found my perfect autumn palette.

After mixing dozens of colors, I landed on the following 5 colors that I think make the “perfect” combination.

• Prussian Blue
• Cadmium-Free Lemon Yellow
• Burnt Sienna
• Permanent Alizarin Crimson
• Perylene Black

And of course, white, but I’m not counting it because you always need white on the palette.

At first I tried this without burnt sienna. It’s possible to get some vibrant oranges by mixing the alizarin with yellow, but burnt sienna has just a bit more of a rusty undertone which is perfect for Scottish autumn scenes.

Just out of curiosity, I ventured into the forest to take some reference photos, then imported them into Procreate to use the new palette-picker which finds the best palette based on a photograph (A really cool feature, thanks Procreate!).

Here is a test using all five colors:

Of course, it’s not just about what colors you choose, it’s how you use them! So I’ll continue to explore this palette as autumn unfolds, and share some more results soon!