How to Set Up a Watercolor Palette Like an Artist

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Welcome to the exciting journey of crafting your perfect watercolor palette as a new artist. In this guide, we’ll dive into the art of selecting pigments, arranging your paints, and personalizing your palette. Get ready to infuse your artwork with the shades of your unique vision!

The Palette: Your Artistic Garden

Understanding the Watercolor Palette

The watercolor palette is your garden of colors, the place where you cultivate and harvest the hues you’ll use to bring your artistic visions to life. Think of it as your personal color playground.

Much like a gardener selects plants for their garden, you’ll choose the colors that resonate with your creative spirit. The possibilities are endless, from the serene blues of a calm pond to the vibrant reds of a blooming rose. This is your opportunity to create a world that’s uniquely yours.

Watercolor Palette Basics

Essentials for a Well-Balanced Palette

Creating your watercolor palette is like planning your garden layout. You want a well-balanced selection of colors that work harmoniously together. When choosing colors for my palette I took color mixing into consideration. Each of the pure pigments and convenience colors work together harmoniously. Here’s how to get started:

1. Primary Colors: The Foundation of the Watercolor Palette

Your watercolor palette should begin with the primary colors. These are the building blocks of your palette. These are my first professional watercolors I have warm and cool leaning versions of red, blue and yellow:

• Phthalo Blue (green shade): A serene cool blue, like a deep ocean.
• Hansa Yellow Light: The radiant bright glow of a lemon hanging on a tree.
• Quinacridone Rose: The deep, passionate reddish pink of a blooming rose.
• French Ultramarine: A rich blue reminiscent of the vast sky.
• New Gamboge: The cheerful brightness of a sunflower.
• Pyrrole Red: A vibrant and bold red, like a candy apple.

These primary colors are your foundation, and you can mix them to create a broad spectrum of secondary and tertiary colors.

2. Secondary Colors: Expanding the Watercolor Palette

Much like a gardener expands their selection of plants to diversify the garden, you’ll introduce secondary colors to broaden your palette, these are the watercolors in my carefully crafted palette :

• Cascade Green: Exhibits the diversity of the forest itself.
• Green Apatite Genuine: Morphs from olive green to bright yellow-green.
• Undersea Green: A deep seaweed color, this is a versatile green mixture.
• Phthalo Green (blue shade): Perfect for mixing other colors like teal.
• Lunar Blue: The texture resembles the moon and it can present very deep.
• Moonglow: This grayish purple creates stunning effects.
• Imperial Purple: Another purple with a lot of character and movement.
• Quinacridone Magenta: Reminiscent of a vibrant berry.
• Opera Pink: A fugitive color (not lightfast), but the neon bright pink is too amazing to ignore.
• Aussie Red Gold: As vibrant as fiery Autumn leaves.

These secondary colors bring versatility and variety to your palette, allowing you to explore a wider range of shades. When you are deciding which secondary colors to use think about the type of paintings you like to make and what colors you will need.

3. Earth Tones: Adding Depth to the Watercolor Palette

Earth tones in your palette provide depth and warmth to your artwork:

• Burnt Sienna: The warm hue of sunlit earth.
• Burnt Umber: A deep, rich brown, like fertile soil.
• Raw Umber: A cooler brown, similar to damp earth.
• Lunar Black: Magnificent granulation that resembles the texture of the moon. I only use it for granulation effects. I mix my own blacks.
• Lunar Red Rock: This color seems to sing like the Red Rock Amphitheater in Colorado.
• Lunar Earth: Similar to Burnt Sienna but with more character and granulating effects.
• Quinacridone Gold: Wow, that was what I spoke when I first encountered this golden hue. I use this color often!
• Nickel Azo Yellow: Now, my go-to yellow. I would choose this one if I could only have 1 yellow in my palette. It is so rich and diverse!

These earthy colors are essential for creating natural and textured effects in your paintings.

Personalizing Your Watercolor Palette

Choosing Colors That Resonate

Creating your watercolor palette is a deeply personal endeavor, much like designing a garden that reflects your tastes and preferences. From the brands you choose to the types of pigments, every choice is unique to your journey. Here’s how to infuse your palette with a touch of your distinctive style:

1. Personal Favorites: What Speaks to You

Much like a gardener chooses their favorite flowers, select colors that resonate with you. Consider the colors that evoke emotions, memories, or experiences. These hues will infuse your artwork with personal meaning.

2. Thematic Palettes: Crafting a Story

Just as a gardener designs themed gardens, you can create thematic palettes for specific projects. For instance, a coastal palette might feature various shades of blue and sandy beiges, while a floral palette could burst with pinks, purples, and greens. I would consider my palette Tolkien-inspired, from the glorious hills of the Shire to the vibrant light of Lothlórien. My palette inspires me to create dreamlike imaginations.

3. Experimentation: Cultivating Creativity

Watercolor is all about experimentation, much like a gardener trying out new plant varieties. Don’t be afraid to add colors to your palette simply because they intrigue you. You might discover a new favorite or a unique combination that defines your artistic style. Some watercolor brands sell sample sheets if you would like to try paints out before purchasing a tube.

The Arrangement: Harmonizing Your Watercolor Palette

Organizing Your Colors for Inspiration

Just as a gardener plans the layout of their garden for visual appeal, arranging your palette in an organized and inspiring way can enhance your creative process. Here are a few ideas.

1. Color Wheel Harmony

Consider organizing your colors according to the color wheel. Or place complementary colors (those opposite each other on the wheel) next to each other for a striking contrast. These arrangements help you explore various color relationships.

2. Warm and Cool Zones

Create warm and cool zones in your palette. Warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows) on one side, and cool colors (greens, blues, purples) on the other. This setup can help you easily find the right temperature of color for your painting. Or group warm leaning colors together and cool leaning colors together.

3. Transition Shades

Arrange your palette to include transition shades. These are colors that bridge the gap between two distinct hues. They’re like pathways in a garden, guiding your viewers’ eyes through your artwork.

Care and Maintenance

Maintaining the Beauty of Your Palette

Just as a gardener tends to their garden to keep it thriving, proper care and maintenance are essential for your watercolor palette. Here’s how to keep it looking fresh:

1. Cleanliness is Key

Regularly clean your palette, removing any dried or unused paint. This ensures that your colors remain true and vibrant. (However, leaving your palette a mess can result in unexpected surprises, so take that into consideration.)

2. Refreshing Your Palette

If you notice certain colors have become muddy or contaminated, don’t hesitate to refresh your palette. Simply wet them and remove the old top layer of paint and when all else fails re-squeeze fresh color in its place.

3. Travel-Friendly Palettes

For artists on the move, consider a travel-friendly palette with a secure lid. This way, you can take your colors with you, allowing inspiration to strike wherever you go.

Tubes vs. Pans for Your Watercolor Palette

You may be wondering what is the difference between watercolor tubes and pans.

Watercolor tubes are small tubes that contain a mixture of pigments and binder solution. The colors are saturated and when combined with water can be used to paint on watercolor paper or background.

Watercolor tubes contain paint with a wet consistency and squirt out of the tube like a paste. They are ready to use immediately or can be added to a palette and dried for later use.

Watercolor pans are small rectangular cakes comprised of pigment and binder and are hard and dry to the touch.

Watercolor pans require water to reactivate the pigments for use.

Both these options are viable for artists to create professional works of art.

I choose to work with tubes because watercolor tubes are more cost-effective and can be used in a variety of palette options if needed. My palette consists of watercolor pans that I have filled with my choice of watercolor tube paint.

Now You Have Crafted Your Watercolor Palette

Crafting your watercolor palette is a journey of self-expression, much like creating a garden that mirrors your tastes and preferences. Each color you select is a brushstroke of your unique artistic voice. Just as a garden flourishes with the right combination of plants, your watercolor palette will bloom with colors that inspire you.

So, let your imagination run wild, experiment with shades that captivate your heart, and organize your palette like a visual symphony. With each stroke, you’ll create a world that’s uniquely yours, infused with the vibrant hues of your joyful expression.

Check out other great Watercolor Guides to help you on your journey!

• Watercolor 101: A Splashy Start
• Mastering Watercolor Techniques: Deep Dive
• Exploring Dynamic Water Color Paint: Which Brand to Choose?
• Unraveling Watercolor Paper: A Beginner Guide
• How to Coptic Bind a Watercolor Journal (From a watercolor paper pad)

I truly hope that this has been a helpful resource that inspires you to dive into the world of watercolor. Whether you choose these colors to get started or pick your very own. I would love to know how your art is coming along with your unique watercolor palette!

I’d love for you to be my companion in this journey, join my newsletter, and let’s walk this journey together as we GROW HOPE!

Until we meet again,

Raeanna