7 Colours, Endless Possibilities: The Perfect Watercolour Palette

My students often ask me what colours they should buy when they are ready to invest in some professional quality watercolour paints. This is such a personal question and very much comes down to personal taste! I don’t believe there is a hard and fast number of paints or specific colours you should start with. I have spent 15 years honing my palette and continue to try new things and make adjustments. But, if I had to whittle down my palette to the absolute basics, I would choose these 7 colours.

Why 7 colours you might ask? It was the fewest colours I could get down to without compromising my style of work and work flow. Realistically you can make most colours with just the three primaries (not taking into account staining, granulation, lightfastness and transparency). Quinacridone Gold and French Ultramarine are my luxuries in there.

This is not your typical traditional watercolour palette assortment. I mix almost every colour that goes into my artwork so this palette is focused entirely on colour mixing and maximising the colours I can mix from a minimal selection.

If you enjoy the video and want to learn more about colour mixing, I have an online course called The Magic of Colour Mixing. You can check it out here:

https://nataliemartin.com.au/pages/th...

Colour mixing is something I’m truly passionate about. You gain more control over your artwork and can develop further into your creative voice, you can save money by not buying as much paint, you remove limitations of working exclusively with premixed paint and have a whole lot more fun with it all!

I’d love to know, what’s the colour you can’t live without? What would you change in your essential set of 7 colours?

Here’s a list of the 7 colours with their specifications:

Daniel Smith Lemon Yellow
Pigment: PY175
Lightfastness: 1 - Excellent
Staining: 2 - Low staining
Granulating: No
Transparency: Transparent

Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold
Pigment: PO48, PY150
Lightfastness: 1 - Excellent
Staining: 2 - Low Staining
Granulating: Yes
Transparency: Transparent

Daniel Smith Quinacridone Rose
Pigment: PY19
Lightfastness: 1 - Excellent
Staining: 3 - Medium Staining
Granulating: No
Transparency: Transparent

Windsor & Newton French Ultramarine
Pigment: PB29
Lightfastness: 1 - Excellent
Staining:
Granulating:
Transparency:

Daniel Smith Pthalo Blue (Green Shade)
Pigment: PB15:3
Lightfastness: 1
Staining: 2 - Low Staining
Granulating: Yes
Transparency: Transparent

Daniel Smith Payne’s Grey
Pigment: PB29, PBk9
Lightfastness: 1 - Excellent
Staining: 2 - Low Staining
Granulating: Yes
Transparency: Semi-transparent

Daniel Smith Burnt Umber
Pigment: PBr7
Lightfastness: 1 - Excellent
Staining: 2 - Low Staining
Granulating: Yes
Transparency: Semi-transparent

Dear algorithm, in Australia we spell colour with a u, unlike our American friends who use the word color. Please be kind to me.

Product Descriptions and Links:
Brushes - Polina Bright Synthetic Round Brushes
www.polinabright.com/natalie_martin

Paper - Saunders 300gsm Cold Pressed in White

Paints - Daniel Smith Watercolour Paints
https://www.amazon.com.au/s?k=daniel+...