My Stash-Busting Travel Gouache Palette

"Stash bust" (verb) - a term borrowed from the crafting world, meaning to 'use up leftover materials before buying new.'

My Travel Palette Strategy

Normally, I refill my palettes with the tried-and-true tubes that have proven themselves worthy over the years. When I run out, I buy more. I have my core colors that never let me down. But I recently accepted the fact that I own way too much gouache, maybe over 200 tubes by now. I did several gouache brand tests over the years which has resulted in lots of gouache that I used briefly and then tucked away in the drawers.

My travel palette is the perfect place to test different brands, especially for the ‘dried pan’ format.

Some colors, like burnt umber, are notoriously dry and like to crumble out of the palette before the others. The binder can make a difference, and every brand uses a different formula. So I keep trying different burnt umbers until I discover one that lasts the longest. Same goes for other colors.

But this is a long game, because I only refill my palette two or three times a year. I like to live with my colors for a long time, learning the mixes through lots of repetition, and building that muscle memory so that I don’t have to think about it as much, because painting outside is hard enough as it is! But six months is more than enough time to either fall in love with or hate a specific color!

For the most part, all of my brands perform admirably in the dried pan format. They are all considered professional quality (not student-grade, which don’t do well dried). My colors rewet beautifully and give me opaque color, with a few exceptions.

The brands I use the most: Winsor & Newton Designer’s Gouache, Daniel Smith Extra Fine Gouache, Shinhan Professional Designer Gouache, M. Graham Artists’ Gouache, Schmincke Horadam Gouache.

What’s in my Palette (September 2026)

What I’m Doing Differently This Time

I’m using a few colors that have been sitting on my shelf for years. I’d rather use them up before they dry out (maybe not all tubes dry out but I’ve discovered a few bricks in my stash over the years). I bought some limited sets of colors from different brands to test out. Some of them were gifted to me, others were spontaneous purchases then forgotten.

I’ll talk you through some of the changes I made (if I don’t mention a color it means it stayed the same as last time, typically because it works so well or I have several tubes of it).

Lemon yellow (PY3) vs. vanadium yellow (PY184, also called bismuth yellow in some brands)

These are very similar. They are both a bright, cool yellows. PY3 mixes beautifully with everything because it’s transparent. It doesn’t overpower the mix. The Schmincke Horadam version of PY184 is semi-opaque, and I want to test out how it handles in the dried pan. My hunch is that it will reactivate a little stronger and provide a punchier mix. We’ll see! I’ve had this tube for so long and I’m glad to finally use it.

Daniel Smith Burnt Umber & Daniel Smith Ultramarine

I think I may have tried these years ago in a dried pan but I don’t remember! So I’m giving it another go. I only have a few tubes of Daniel Smith and I was ‘saving them’ because they are a little more expensive to buy in the UK, but it’s better to use them before they dry out.

Replacing Shinhan Shadow Green Pale with Shinhan Viridian

I really enjoyed shadow green pale for a long time. It’s a nice muted, desaturated green which I used a lot in foliage and various Scotland landscapes. But it’s not great for mixing. Viridian on the other hand is a beautiful mixing color. Combine it with quinacridone magenta for a gorgeous purple. Or to create a very rich black, add some burnt umber or red. I used to use Viridian all the time, and I’m looking forward to playing with it more again.

Burnt Sienna

I’ve combined Daler Rowney Burnt Sienna (PBr7, PR101, PBk11) and Winsor & Newton Burnt Sienna (PY42, PR101) about 50% each. The reason is that I find W&N’s burnt sienna to be slightly too transparent. It’s a nice mixing color, but I wanted something just ever so slightly more opaque. Daler Rowney’s is too opaque on it’s own so I figured diluting them together would be perfect. Plus I’ve had my Daler Rowney tubes for far too long and I don’t want them to dry out.

The Bonus Colors (expansion pans)

Last time I used buff titanium and white in the expansion pans (the long skinny ones). Although I really enjoy buff titanium, I figured I might as well go for a couple more mixing colors there instead.

Shinhan Opera (AR52) is the brightest hot pink in my stash. It’s technically a dye, therefore not lightfast at all. But that doesn’t matter for my studies because I don’t sell them. It’s a REALLY fun color. I love it for underpaintings- letting a little hot pink show through gives a painting such an energetic feel. It’s also good for brighter oranges or flowers.

Naples Yellow (PY42, PW6) is a light yellow ochre type color that I like for earthy mixes and highlights. Since I’ll be going to the ochre mines in Provence I am hoping I’ll get some use out of this color in the landscape.

White

I’m comparing M. Graham Titanium White and Shinhan Primary White, both PW6. M Graham uses honey in their binder so I want to see if it takes longer to dry out completely. Or if it rewets opaque or not.

My Palette

I made an instructional video about how I setup my palette for this ‘dried gouache’ format. You can watch it here (opens YouTube).

I use the Portable Painter Classic with the expansion pans. I have used it for several years and absolutely love it for both watercolor and gouache. I love that it folds up and fits inside the water cups. Such a clever design.

Buy the Palette

Buy the Expansion Pans

Or if shopping in the US, buy directly from Portable Painter. Use code “SARAH” (all caps) for 10% off.

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