Setting up a new (travel) palette is one of the nicest ways to spend a day (or multiple days). It can be overwhelming to pick the colors though. In this blogpost I will explain my though process for setting up a palette. First I will give a short summary of how I approach buying new colors based on watercolor names and pigment codes, because this can be very confusing. This will be followed by the general principles that I follow to pick out colors. At the end of this page some of the examples of my travel sketches using my Mijello Fusion 18 well palette.

No matter which palette you are setting up and for what purpose, I hope that my process and some of the considerations can be of use to you too. If you still don’t know what type of palette to choose, I suggest you read my previous blog post on different types of palettes.

Making sense of names and pigment codes in watercolor paints

When describing a color in this blog I will give the name and pigment code, and when relevant the brand. The names and pigment codes of watercolor paints can be confusing. Different brands give different names to the same color and some pigments give a range of colors. If you buy a good student grade or professional brand watercolor, the name and pigment code is indicated on the tube or (packaging of the) pan. Generally, the logic is as follows: PY = Pigment yellow; PO = Pigment Orange; PR = Pigment Red; PV = Pigment Violet; PB = Pigment Blue; PG = Pigment green; PBr = Pigment Brown; PBk = Pigment Black.

For primary and secondary colors (yellows, oranges, reds, violets, greens and blues), pigment codes often seem to be more accurate in describing the color compared to the name. For example, most colors with pigment code PY154 look quite similar, but different brands give this color different names: winsor yellow, pure yellow, permanent yellow, and imidazolone yellow, just to name a few. There are some exceptions regarding the consistency of colors with the same pigment codes. For example, PV19 forms the basis for many different shades of magenta, pinks and reds. For example, PV19 forms the basis for many different shades of magenta, pinks and reds. For earth tones it can get even more confusing, because a pigment code like PBr7 can form the basis for colors ranging from yellowish raw sienna to dark burnt umbers. And of course there are many mixed pigment colors where you never know how they will look like until you see it swatched out (for example sap green).

You can buy dot cards (cards that contain a small dot of watercolor for specific brands that can be reactivated and painted out). This is a perfect opportunity to test out colors and see how they behave. But even dot cards can become expensive if you want to try out different brands from different paint manufacturers. When I want to buy a new color, I often look up information about the paint, its properties, and what brands are recommend or not. These are the sources I tend to use:

I check videos on Youtube where artists compare either paints with the same name or with the same pigment number. Just search “watercolor comparison [insert pigment number]” or “watercolor comparison [insert color name]” and you will find them. This is useful for seeing how these artists feel the paint handles, including things like how easily it rewets if you let it dry in a palette, how it feels on your brush, how it spreads in water etc.
There are a number of websites that I find incredibly useful when it comes to seeing and comparing colors:
- Jane Blundell has an extensive blog with an overview of swatches of almost any watercolor brand, organized by cool and warm of different color families, as well as extensive information on color mixes.
- Kimberley Crick Art has an overview of watercolor swatches of different colors of various brands organized by pigment, including information from her own extensive lightfast tests. Her website is a treasure when you want to compare different colors and see how long a color lasts when exposed to light (the information from manufacturers is not always accurate).
- Handprint.com by Bruce MacEvoy is a somewhat older website, but absolutely invaluable if you want to know more about watercolor pigments, lightfastness information and chemical properties. His website is not always easy to navigate but if you google “handprint [pigment number]” you generally get to the right place. And if you are interested in the chemical and physical properties of your watercolors, just browse around the watercolor section of his website for a while.

Guidelines for choosing colors for your watercolor palette

There are a few things I consider when I choose colors for my watercolor palette. I prefer single pigment colors where possible, because they tend to be good mixers. In the end what colors you bring also depends on what you want to paint. If I go to places with rocky beaches and bright blue waters, I will likely bring my cobalt turquoise. For a climbing area with red rocks I might bring more orange earth tones. If I want to paint flowers (not something I have done often) I would bring more transparent primary and secondary colors and convenience greens that are good for glazing. If I want to paint portraits I would probably choose fewer granulating colors. However, I generally consider the following things when I set up a palette:

1. Primary colors

Artists sets often include a cool and a warm version of the primary colors (yellow, red, blue). With these six colors you could mix almost any color you want. The picture below gives two examples of color wheels. The one on the left is an example of a more traditional split primary color wheel. There are multiple options for colors to include to have a split primary palette. I have listed some options below:

Cool yellow, often called lemon yellow or hansa yellow light. Many brands use PY3, but there are some doubts about the lightfastness of this pigment. I’m using PY175 or PY154 (going a little bit more towards mid-yellow, but in my opinion still bright enough). I also really like Nickel Azo Yellow (PY150) which is quite dark and mustardy in mass tone (with almost no little water added) but when you dilute this color it gives a very bright, transparent, glowing yellow. Cadmium lemon yellow (PY35) is also a good, more opaque option.
Warm yellow, often called Indian yellow or new gamboge. It depends a bit on the brand, but usually these colors are mixes of two pigments. But they are still lovely. A single pigment alternative is PY110 (Isoindolinone yellow).
Warm red, for example pyrrol red (PR254), pyrrol scarlet (PR255) or cadmium red (PR108).
Cool red, for example quinacridone rose (PV19) or quinacridone magenta (PR122)
Warm blue, for example ultramarine blue (PB29) or cobalt blue (PB28)
Cool blue, phthalo blue green shade (PB15:3) or you could bring a phthalo turquoise (PB16, but also often a mix of PG7 and PB15).

Personally, I have found that I can leave out the warm yellow and warm red if I bring transparent orange (PO71). I can mix a beautiful warm yellow by combining the cool yellow and the orange (see the color wheel on the right in the picture of the two color wheels). I can also mix a gorgeous transparent, bright red shade if I mix the orange with quinacridone magenta (PR122). To be honest, I don’t often paint something that requires a lot of bright red, especially when painting outdoors. I personally like my primaries to be more transparent so I can use them for glazing and I can mix a transparent version of almost any color.

The left color wheel is an example of a standard split primary color wheel. In the right color wheel I have included Transparent Pyrrol Orange (PO71) to replace the cool and warm red. As you can see, I can still mix every color in the color wheel. These are by no means the only colors you can use to create a color wheel (see the list above). This is a very useful exercise to test your own colors and see if you have any gaps in the colors you could mix.

2. Earth colors

Earth colors are among my most used colors. I know I can mix a color very close to my earth colors with my primaries (see also the picture above), but I use them so often that I do not want to do that. I will generally bring an earth tone in a yellowish, reddish and dark brown tone. They are really useful when painting outdoors. You can easily use a bit of burnt sienna to tone down greens. Burnt sienna (or burnt/raw umber) is also extremely useful to mix warm and cool greys and blacks together with ultramarine. Yellow ochre is a color that is often seen on sunny buildings or warm reflected light. These earth tones can also be a bit more opaque, and therefore will always be different from what I can mix with my primaries. There are many more beautiful earth colors, but in a more limited palette I will personally always include:

Yellow ochre (PY42 or PY43) or Raw Sienna (PBR7)
Burnt Sienna (PBR7 or PR101). I prefer the PBr7 for the lovely greys I can mix with it.
Burnt umber (BBr7), EF Brown Iron Oxide (PBr6), or Raw umber (PBr7)

3. Granulating colors

I love granulating colors! They make it so easy to add texture to a painting. Granulating colors have larger pigment particles that start flow around and settle in clumps and patterns, especially when you add a lot of water and let it move a bit on the paper. If you want to create pebbles, greenery or rocks, granulation is your friend. My favorite single pigment granulating colors are:

Watercolor mixing, Mars black, Lunar black, watercolor granulation — *All the colors in my Mijello Fusion Palette mixed with PBK 11 (top left for the pure shade of PBK11).*

Mars (or lunar) black (PBk11). If you mix this color with any other color you will get beautiful, heavily granulating mixes. It is particularlly useful for rocks and tree bark.
Potters pink (PR233). This is a natural looking pink that is not too overpowering but can help warm up other colors and adds some lovely texture to beaches or brick walls.
Ultramarine blue (PB29). Ultramarine blue is always granulating, but French ultramarine more so than normal ultramarine blue. Ultramarine finest by Schmincke has the least amount of granulation. You can make lovely granulating greens and purples with this color.
Goethite (PY43 or natural). You don’t even need to mix this color, it will give you a sandy beach all by itself.
Cobalt teal (sometimes called cobalt turquoise blue, or turquoise green) (PG50 - sometimes PB28). This color is almost impossible to mix. You can mix turquoises but not this exact teal shade that gives such wonderful tropical feelings. I also love it together with natural browns and oranges for creating rusty textures. Depending on the brand it will show more or less granulation. It is also just one of my favorite colors!

I also have some lovely granulating multi-pigment colors. The Schmincke super granulating colors are really nice, but roman Szmal also has some of my favorite multi-pigment granulating colors (Aquarius green, Autumn green and Aquarius violet). I know I could mix them, and will generally not bring these colors in my travel palette, but they are so incredibly beautiful and convenient!

4. Secondary and convenience colors

It is possible to mix secondary colors (colors you can mix from two primaries, so orange, green and violet) and convenience colors, but maybe you do not want to always mix them because you use them so often. Especially when painting outdoors, you might want to quickly get an impression before the light changes. Or they just give you a really good basis for further mixtures. I don’t have a habit of bringing many secondary colors or convenience mixtures in my travel palettes, because I tend to mix my colors. The exception is of course the transparent orange (PO71) that I use to replace some of my primaries. In general, these colors can be really useful and fun depending on what you want to paint. I tend to bring a few single pigment secondary and convenience colors to speed up mixing, or because I just really like them.

Phthalo green blue shade (PG7). This is a garishly bright, unnatural looking green color, but it is the basis for many greens when mixed with any yellow, orange (I love the mixes with transparant orange PO71) or browns. Just look at your premixed greens, many of them contain this pigment. It also mixes surprisingly beautiful purples and violets when mixed with quinacridone rose (PV19) or magenta (PR122).
Perylene green (PBk31). This is an almost black shade of green (it has a black pigment code) and can easily help you get dark and moody greens. It also gives you very dark violet-shade blacks and greys when mixed with quinacridone rose (PV19) or magenta (PR122).
PY 129 (called green gold, brown gold, rich green gold and other names depending on the brand). It is a very greenish yellow and not the prettiest color on its own. It mixes the most beautiful natural greens though when mixed with any blue or green. And mixed with quinacridone magenta (122) it will give you really nice coral tones that are useful for landscapes and skintones alike.
There are bunch of other colors that I just really like and sometime put in my travel palette, like perylene maroon (PR179) or perylene violet (PV29), Dioxazine violet (PV23), or quinacridone orange (PO48). While PO48 looks similar to burnt sienna, it behaves very differently in mixes.
I recently added a convenience mixed green to my travel palette to try it out (Daniel Smith Sap Green) and find that I do use it quite often if I quickly need a green.

Setting up a watercolor palette 2: color choices

Making sense of names and pigment codes in watercolor paints