Watercolor Palette Redux

In preparation for Gail Wong’s portion of the Line to Color Mt. Vernon workshop last week, I swapped out a few colors in my portable paint box, but in the short time we had to practice, I hardly got a chance to use the colors she recommended during class. But I intend to give them a full workout in a couple weeks during Frank and Gail’s Seattle workshop.

For the record, here are the colors currently in my box. Indigo, Quinacridone Gold and Quinacridone Sienna are the latest additions, based on Gail’s recommended palette. I don’t miss the Naples Yellow and Brown Ochre (which I had to take out to make room for the two Quins) I had been experimenting with after seeing those colors in Marion Rivolier’s recommended palette for her Capturing Space Through Form and Color workshop in Barcelona. She seems to favor more opaque colors like Naples and Cadmium Red, while Gail prefers the transparents.

I’m not as fickle about colors as it may seem. After taking a couple of watercolor classes and reading numerous watercolor books, it’s apparent that every artist and instructor has a favorite palette that they tend to recommend, since they understand the mixing behaviors of those colors well. Eventually, I intend to figure out what my own palette is (edited 4/18/14: A year later, I think I'm close), but for now, I’m trying to learn what I can from each instructor by using the recommended colors. So when I go to Barcelona, I’ll put back in the colors Marion recommends.

One thing is certain: I love the flexibility of easily swapping out half pans of paints in my mint tin! No wonder this type of setup is so popular with sketchers.