It’s that time of year again, when I assess how useful my palette has been over the last year, and whether I want to make any changes. If you’ve been following for me for a long time you know I do a “refresh” every 9-12 months. I like to curate my palette then live with my choice for a long time to really get to know the colors. It helps me deeply understand them and learn to mix intuitively.
In this Post
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Choosing Core Colors
I’m primarily a landscape painter – and more often painting outside than not – so my colors must be landscape friendly. What I’ve learned over past 8 years is that Scotland has a special look that I don’t see in a lot of other locations, except a small few. My colors tend to be earthy with lots of vibrant greens and blues mixed in. OK, I guess you could find those colors in many places around the world – but it’s how you use them that matters!
In order to choose my colors, I rely on past experience and desire. I lay out all of my tubes of paint and pick 15 or so that jump out at me. From there I can start narrowing it down. A couple of years ago I switched almost exclusively to Daniel Smith because out of all the brands I’ve tried, I love the consistency, rewetting, color choice, and results. Watch my first Daniel Smith swatching video.
Non-Toxic Watercolors
When possible I want to avoid using colors with heavy metals (no cadmium, cobalt, nickel, etc.). This is one reason I end up making a couple of custom mixes (specifically to avoid cobalt and nickel azo yellow in some popular colors). Read more about toxic watercolors to form your own opinions.
My Core Colors for 2025
If you were to limit yourself to six colors, what would you choose? My preference is usually a split primary, meaning I have two versions of each primary color (red/yellow/blue).
This time I only have one yellow because I also wanted a dark brown. Brown Iron Oxide could easily be replaced with burnt umber, but I just love this particular hue. With these six colors I can happily paint anything I want! But why stop there? My favorite palette is the Portable Painter, and it fits 15 colors (more with the expansion pans), so there is plenty of room to play! I especially love surprising color combinations and granulation so I knew I’d add a few of those later.
- Daniel Smith Lemon Yellow (BUY)
- Daniel Smith Quinacridone Lilac (BUY)
- Daniel Smith Deep Scarlet (BUY)
- Daniel Smith Enviro-friendly Brown Iron Oxide (BUY)
- Daniel Smith Ultramarine Blue (BUY)
- Daniel Smith Phthalo Turquoise (BUY)
Here are a few color wheel mixes to demonstrate the variety I can get with only three colors:
Choosing Bonus Colors
When thinking about my ‘bonus colors’ I ask myself: “Does this color make me want to paint??” If the answer is YES, it gets considered. But it MUST play nicely with others, so I do lots of tests to find out what colors make it to the next round.
I paint all my favorite subjects – rocks, water, coastal, forest, mountains…I just play and have fun! I let the color guide me and see what I’m reaching for and what I’m intuitively mixing.
A few fun granulating mixes:
Some of my test paintings:
Along the way I take color notes so I can keep track of the “hot” colors – what do I keep using? What have I not used? What is exciting me the most? What do I want to experiment with this year?
My Bonus Colors for 2025
After much debate, I settled on these eight bonus colors:
- Daniel Smith Sodalite Genuine (BUY)
- Daniel Smith Buff Titanium (BUY)
- Schmincke Horadam Potter’s Pink (BUY)*
- Daniel Smith Lavender (BUY)
- Daniel Smith Perylene Green (BUY)
- Custom Mix 1 (equivalent of Undersea Green): Combine Ultramarine blue, lemon yellow, Quinacridone burnt orange (buy), and a hint of EF Brown Iron Oxide or similar)
- Custom Mix 2 (equivalent of Quinacridone Gold, without using PY150): Combine Quinacridone burnt orange and lemon yellow. You could also add a touch of brown or red to suit your tastes)
- Custom Mix 3 (similar to Schmincke Deep Sea Violet or Jackman’s Petal Shadow): Combine Ultramarine, Potter’s Pink, tiny bit of Quinacridone Magenta or lavender, and a hint of granulation medium (buy) if you want LOTS of texture.
- The last well is taken up by white gouache which I always keep in my palette.
*I’m using up the last of my Schmincke tubes. After they run out, I’ll switch to the Daniel Smith Potter’s Pink.
Current Favorite Watercolor Palettes + Supplies
Organizing my supplies is another hobby – I have lots of containers, palettes, and bags that I use for various occassions. Here is a brief list of some of my favorite watercolor palettes and tools:
- Portable Painter Classic (BUY) – Or if shopping in the US, buy directly from Portable Painter. Use code “SARAH” (all caps) for 10% off.
- I added the “expansion” pans where the brush usually goes. (BUY)
- Portable Painter Micro (BUY) for my set of 6 core colors. Or you can add expansion packs which allows you to fit more colors (BUY)
- Travel Brushes by Craftamo (BUY) – coming March 2025
- For larger washes, I need a bigger brush. I love the Silver Black Velvet #12 and #14 – I’ve been using the same ones for over 6 years now! (BUY)
- Studio palette: I use the Studio Essentials palette (BUY)
- Caran D’Ache Waterbrush – Great for travel. I like the button design. I have the medium and large. (BUY)
- Arches 9×12 Cold Pressed Paper Block – 100% Cotton Paper, 140# (300gsm). Incredibly sturdy paper, handles everything I throw at it! Not vegan friendly. (BUY)
- Hahnemule 100% cotton Sketchbook – I like the 19.5×19.5 square. (Non affiliate link)
Watch the Video
Interesting in building your own custom palette? Watch my process for choosing colors in years past (with lots of insights at different points in my art journey):
Hi Sarah! Thank you for walking us through your process so throughly, I always learn so much from you! I’m finally upgrading from my trusty Cotman 12 color travel set and am trying to finalize my color picks.
I’m aiming for a split primary and some extra warm/brown leaning colors for my Utah landscapes, about 16 colors. Do you have any recs?
And could I swap out Ultramarine Blue for Phthalo Blue? I really love that color. Hopefully I could use PB to make your summer cloud mix, it looks so dreamy and fun to play with! Thanks again for all your help!
Current plan:
Primary: Quinacridone Lilac, Deep Scarlet, Lemon Yellow, New Gamboge, Phthalo Turquoise, Ultramarine Blue or Phthalo Blue (RS) ?
Extras: White gouache,Brown Iron Oxide, Buff Titanium, Quinacridone Gold, Sodalite Genuine, Lavender, Summer clouds mix
Those colors will be wonderful! You can get such a wide variety of mixes. I’d love to see your Utah landscapes, if you end up posting them on social media, tag me! Or email me 🙂
Hi Sarah: I’m slowly getting into watercolours and love your approach to painting. I’ve been a graphic designer for almost 50 years and so hard for me to get free with a brush. I too started with a Winsor and Newton travel kit and will try your recommendations on paint colours. Many thanks for your classes and tutorials. Greetings from Nova Scotia.
Hi Sarah useful information but jackmans handmade watercolours are non- toxic and more affordable than Daniel smith and are excellent quality
I’ve started to try some Jackman’s – I also love that they are “local” ish to me
Hi Sarah! Useful information as always. I just set up a new palette and made myself a ‘cheat sheet’ to refer to as keep forgetting which colour is where. I’m also starting to use a lot more Daniel Smith colours and love them. Here on Canada’s west coast the colours are very similar to yours in Scotland. I find I’m using the granulating colours a lot (great for rocks, etc). I have the DS Deep Sea Green and find it useful. I love your ‘Summer Clouds’ mix, so will try that for sure. I’ve been mixing Lavender with Naples yellow (a tip from Shari Blaukopf) to make something close to Buff Titanium (which also have but it’s not on my palette). Add more Lavender to that mix and it makes some beautiful greys. New on my palette is Schminke Deep Sea Green which granulates and I love it! Also, as usual, I continue to recommend your website, newsletters and YouTube videos to all my painting students!
Lavender and Naples Yellow is an amazing combination!