for me, in addition to the basics, almost every palette I have has, Dioxazine violet (Pv 23 or 37),Cobalt Violet and cobalt teal. warm purple, cool purple and a vibrant turq. I may not use them in every painting, but they always make me happy to see on paper.

This is a wonderful color selection! Though I really like the Serpentine, I just cannot live without green gold and buff titanium.

Oooh. Not only is your signature set lovely, so is the designated western palette. That's gorgeous. ❤

Your signature palette is so very well thought out...mines not. I'm always second guessing my choices. I do prefer the 3 transparent oxides. Red, yellow and brown in my palette as my earths too. And I always have PB 36 Cobalt turquoise. And Perm Rose PV 19 from WN. And my beloved Sap and Green Appetite from DS. One of my strangest loves is Misty Morning from Roman Szmal. I just can't be without it. Love how after it dries it turns into this calm soft pinky blue color. So lovely. I don't like Phthalo's so I guess my mixing power will always be not as strong. But in the past when I have added them, they go untouched. So, I've removed all of them from my palettes along with all the cadmiums which I never use either. Love your palette, looking forward to seeing what you do with 24 colors!!!

I appreciate your knowledge on pigments, I might watch again with pen and paper, I can never remember the pigment numbers 🙄, I know I have a majority of those colours and by looking at the your selection they are worth a try, thank you. 😊

Fantastic... your philosophy is very similar to mine. I also have only one primary yellow and that is, of course, Nickel Azo Yellow PY150. It really simplifies my mixing strategies. I also adore Cobalt Turquoise 🙂

VERY interesting way to think about color! I need to spend some quiet moments looking at the condition of my pans and tubes to see what's most used and then do some mixing and swatching. I tend to select various limited palettes by subject or mood, but I'll bet there's a lot of consistency over time that I haven't recognized.

Very interesting to see another artist’s palette decisions. Palettes are always a work in progress. I prefer tubes now to pans and I am currently working with a 12 colour palette - Sennelier Yellow Light, Rose Doré Madder Lake, Helios Purple, Viridian, Hookers Green, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Deep, Phthalocyanine Blue, Warm Sepia, Cinerous Blue- all from Sennelier. The twelfth colour is Monté Amiata Natural Sienna from DS which is my ochre substitute. I earlier had White Nights Lemon but I felt one versatile yellow is enough! I tend to stick to these colours and don’t end up using fancier colours (DS has tempting options!) so I don’t really plan to expand beyond 12

Seriously those greens and blues are stunning!

I know I'm late to the party on this video, but here's my two cent's worth... I too go back and forth between PR122 and PV19, still looking for that perfect cool red. Right now, I'm using Red Rose Deep from Da Vinci, but I also love Quin China Rose from Turner. My other "must haves" are PY97 as my middle yellow. Perylene Violet is an absolute must have (really like WN). I use it for so much shadow work. I love Lucas' raw Sienna for my earth yellow, lighter than yellow ochres. DV's Burnt Sienna Deep is a lovely deep burnt orange, DS Perylene Scarlet for my other red. I also tend not to use the orangey reds. I make a custom mix dark green from PG7 and PBr25. DV's Manganese Blue also has a permanent home in my palette. I geek out on watching other painters palette combos and how they put their favorites together. It's wonderful inspiration to try new things. I recently picked up a stick of Serpentine and I'm loving it too!

I loved seeing the swatches and hearing the thought process behind the color selection! This was a very fun and interesting video!

What a great video! I think it's a great reminder that just because companies call colors primaries, does mean others cannot be. Personally, I just acquired nickel azo yellow and am in love. My new palette is almost identical to yours! Rich green gold is another new favorite and is similar to your green. Green appatite and lunar black are phenomenal with their granulation. Although I think I just have way too many greens, turquoise/teal colors, and most of the quin. magenta/red/orange variation. BUT I paint nature (so mostly botanicals, fish, foliage & lake landscapes). It's amazing the range of colors fish can be, not to mention sunrises/sets over water. Loved this video!!

Some essential color for me is definitely raw sienna/yellow ochre PY42/43 or PBr7 (preferably the more transparent one), Imidazolone Brown PBr25, quin. Red/rose PV19 and a cool yellow like PY175, i have PY150 too but since i draw illustration or anime, using PY150 is a bit too harsh for skin tone. tho PY150 is my preferred yellow for mixing green. For granulating one there’s always the trio or potter’s pink, cerulean blue (red shade) and cobalt teal i have other granulating color too, since i love making color separating mixture for background

i love your reasoning and the colors included, sometimes you just narrated my thoughts, haha. These days I gravitate to quirky moody or muted palettes but this is such a good staple palette. I have a small 12 color set I take with me everywhere because it's versatile enough to work for anything and the color choices are close to yours! Edit: Oh, I forgot to mention a few of the colors I can't do without, even in a 12-color palette. Quinacridone Gold hue! Sometimes it is my only yellow, for the same reasons you mentioned: it can work as both a cool and warm tone and also it glows. PB:15/PG7 mix, I use it as a turquoise, blue or green..adjusted if needed. i need a transparent and staining turquoise at all times, I use staining layers a lot for shading. Transparent earth red, either Transparent sienna (Schmincke) or Transparent Red oxide or po48, although I dont really want to use this one up now and run out XD Also pr122 magenta and indigo, if it's not obvious, haha

I came here looking for an answer to using multiple brands of paint in a palette because it seems impossible not to. But this video is even more informative and interesting from a utilitarian point of view because it includes a concentrated modulated multiple combinations perspective. This is what I am looking for, a starting point for a foundation to work around. I want to be able to mix from a 24-count set and pull in occasional cameo colors. Well done! Thanks for sharing.

I like all your choices - it made for a beautiful selection of colors. I tend to go for a lighter yellow more often, so my own palette would probably need a Lemon Yellow. 🍋

Your method of organizing palettes is brilliant!

PR254 Pyrrole Red is my favorite color and I need it on every palette! Followed by PY43 Yellow Earth colors, PB29 French Ultramarine, and PB28 Cobalt Blues! Rest of my palette is up for mood-shifts, whims, or calculated balance ;)

First comment! I just hope it does not get deleted 😐. So looking forward to this 🙂

I love when people walk me through their palettes. I don't know why but I've always loved how people arrive at their colour choices, even if I wouldn't personally arrive at the same ones. I just bought Daniel Smith's PB 16 - Phthalo Blue Turquoise - and I absolutely love it. I had already bought their Phthalo Turquoise, the PG 36/PB 15:3 mix, but I like PB 16 way more.

My red earth is Transparent brown oxide :D Nice video! UPD oh! And the strangest colour I can’t live without is bloody Perylene maroon from Holbein, which will be my warm red in split primaries

This is my third time watching this demo, and now I've gained valuable insights: I understand that the color on my palette isn't just for standalone use but also serves as a mixing tool. In addition to creating large separate swatches, I've started a notebook to swatch all my paints from different brands alongside their pigments. Thank you, Vee!

I love the PB36 + PR122 mixture. I’m going to try that but with Quin Rose instead of the PR122.

I have just started learning about watercolors. I do have one ride or die color, it’s DaVinci’s Soulshine. Someone has said that it is just Indian yellow, but I do love it!

PY150 is the best yellow, the only one I need on my palette. Others I can't live without are W&N Burnt Sienna, M.Graham Ultramarine Blue, W&N Cobalt Blue, W&N Sap Green, M. Graham Pyrrol Scarlet, and W&N Cobalt Turquoise Light.

Nothing like putting together your own favorite split primary colors. M.grahm sap green is spectacular!

I love the way you chose things so logically. You are a very pleasant person to listen to. I wish your video could have been longer. Now you’ve got me thinking: why did I ever buy a jillion colors because they are pretty with very little planning. Hmm, you’ve definitely put me to shame! I’d love another video where you mix with your 12 signature colors. Thanks so much.

My same top 2 favorites are pb 16 turquoise as well as quinacridone magenta pr 122...haha

My ultimate 3 primaries are exactly the same as your illustrative trio. ❤😊

I'd love to see a video of your favourite mixes!

What a lovely video. I love artists that are brave to use their heart colours.

Damn those colour swatch are fire! I love listening to palette story!

I love this video. Here are some colors I can’t live without: Quinacridone Rose, Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Blue, Sap Green and Hansa Yellow Medium.

Love your palette selections! Thank you for talking us through it. PR209 if often my warm red choice too, and PB16 has been slipping in as a cool blue for awhile now too. :)

It's so interesting to see other artists preferred primary palettes, I've seen many who are heavy on brown, yellow or green so yours definitely stand out. I'm still new to watercolors so I dont know what I like yet, but I'm almost out of wn cotman perm rose, cad red deep hue and cerulean blue so I guess these are my current favorite/most used so far 😅

LOVE this! You have chosen some colors that i longed for right away but didn't allow myself to get because so many more experienced painters suggested others. (Except that Serpentine was still among my first and still most-loved.) So Perfect!

I am fairly new to watercolor. I love your idea of creating a signature palette, and I want to work towards that for myself!

Can’t wait to see the video! 😁

I have only started watercolour painting after a hiatus of several years. I had disperced with my paints. I was gifted a 24 colour palette , Tambi Gansai, certainly ok but as the time passes I call for different attributes, transparent, granulating. I have been trying to establish a signature palette using Daniel Smith. This video has been extremely helpful and unscrambles my confusio yo a great extent, I have a couple of favourite coulors , Quin gold, quin rose and phthalo blue being among them. I am sure they will feature in my final set.

I love listening to how you picked your colors! I’m also wanting to start to narrow down my favourite colors, and have smaller, separate palettes for different purposes, so I came here to look for some inspiration! Definitely need to paint more and try the colors/mix the colors more to narrow things down though.

Thank you for this inspiring video! I love your sharing of your thoughtful process off choosing colors. i'm still so torn about what colors are my essential ones, but I do love qor's cobalt turquoise.

I'm very interested in your variations to the classic split primary but I would've loved to see you do some test mixes with them just to showcase what they're capable of

I like a lot of pigments, am a bit of a nerd like that, and I like to have different palettes for different purposes, I enjoy putting them together and I enjoy making them very different from each other. I sometimes mix brands to get what I want. I love Roman Szmal’s granulating black, it seems to work with absolutely every other colour, and you can move the granulation to where you want it. It really has taught me about how using a lot of water can change things. I buck the trend by liking to have a mixing white, so I can make my own pastel like mixes, a favourite is a very pale mix of chromium oxide with or without a hint of yellow, wonderful for botanical new shoots and roots and tender parts where a stem meets a flower. I mainly settle on around 18-20 in a set, but have smaller sets too. Two favourites pigments are chartreuse by Isaro, I forget the pigment number, Kremer does a version called Irgazine yellow. I also love Sennelier’s Chinese orange, really beautiful. I am not too fussy about longevity as I do not sell my work, so Jackson’s Alizarin Crimson is just the most glorious colour. I have a cut swatch with half in the dark and half on my desk, just knocking about, and it has not faded as of yet. My big love are the Kremer sets, they are great paints to use, glorious colour and a robust and variable result every time. I have a small set of 8 full pans with a gold, which I also copied quite closely with Jackson’s own, both are really good small sets to use. The sky is the limit where pigments are concerned and if your bank account can stand it, which mine often cannot! You showed us your western palette, do you also have an eastern one? That would also be interesting. I liked your meander around your choices, and your palette of 12 is lovely. Serpentine has not made it to any of mine yet but is wishful thinking for over five years now! Until it materialises I will mix something similar from Green apatite…. Which will not be the same but as near as I can get.

I love your choice of colors. Recently I made my palette for outside sketching. And there are Nickel Azo Yellow, Cobalt Blue and PB16 as well. As for the second yellow, I chose Sennelier Raw Sienna PBr7, but I'm not convinced for this color. Reds are PR255 and quin. rose PV19. Greens are Aquarius Green and Cobalt Teal. As brown is Iron Chrome Brown PBr29. As shadows are Shadow Violet and Misty Morning from Roman Szmal. Love them both. And Roman Szmal Ginger Red for bricks and Aquarius Grey for walls and roads, they are special choice for Urban Sketching.

Love the choices, although I would personally remove the pb16, because it feels that it can already be mixed with the turquoise and pb29, and get a pyrrole scarlet or vermillion there instead. The pr209 is magenta leaning, so you would never be able to mix vibrant oranges or orange-reds with it.

Enjoyed listening to your reasoning... I learned a lot and I love your palette!

very interesting - thx for sharing.

Very good! I agree with you on the whole palette, especially happy with PY150 and leaving out a Lemon Yellow! I use W&N Aqua Green instead of Cobalt Turquoise, but they're almost the same. I will try the Trans Yellow oxide, it looks perfect for that Ochre/Raw Sienna range. I love Holbein's Marine Blue and did not know they changed the formula, sad to hear! I think you have a great 12 palette! Also I'm going going to try the PR209, I also am not in love with Pyrrol Scarlet, like, it's OK, same with Ultramarine Blue.

Beautiful palette

I haven't unwrapped my pans from the two Schmicke sets I bought during Jackson's last December sale. I'm still working on swatching the various packs of dot cards I bought. One day I will get to making my signature palette.

This Is an amazing palette..i want to recreate..love it

Wow, that is very in-depth… And I have to say I agree 100% with all of your choices for the exact same reasons! I have been evaluating my color choices and narrowing down my pallets/brands for the last few months… And this video helped me pick the green I’ve been trying to figure out, also your feelings and ideas about earth colors match mine exactly… Great video!

Kindred spirit! I love all the transparent colours and my all time favourite blue is Marine by Holbein. One not in your palette that I use is transparent pyrrol orange PO71.

I love Marine Blue PB 16 is my favourite...so I stocked up on the original before it changed. Strangely enough, I don't include it in my 12 colour palettes. I select colour that I can use for skies there....such as phthalate blue green shade, and Ultramarine Finest by Schminke. The PB29 from Scminke does not granulate, so that is why I chose it. I always include a PR122, usually my favourite Quinacridone Magenta from QOR. PBk11 as in Lunar Black is always there because of it's granulation. And Buff titanium for dried grasses and the special colours it creates in mixes. I just bought M. GRAHAM'S QUINACRIDONE Red PR209, and am adding that version as my warm red to the 12 paint palette.... I still have a hard time selecting just 12...I recently kicked out PG7 and am keeping PY129 Azo Green from M. Graham. I am also removing my beloved WN Indigo in favour of Anthraquinone Blue from M. Graham..

The colors I can't live without are PO48 and the Perylenes (PR179, PV29, and PBk31)

I absolutely have to have quinacridone gold and indigo in EVERY palette. It doesn't feel like it's MY palette, if those two aren't there.

PB 15:3 by Pinax is my favorite color. I'm specifying the brand because I bought the same pigment by Schmincke and it wasn't as saturated and greenish as I like QvQ

I just love this video, and I rewatch it every now and then! I always include Perylene Green in mine...Have you tried the PBk32 deep version from Roman Szmal? That is on my list to try sometime!

The pigments are all well thought of, all are excellent colours. But I think your signature palette has one blue too many. An Aquarius grey PW6:1 or a Turner's Yellow PY216 could give you pastel like mixes but it is all your preferences. The PBk11 is a good choice, perhaps the most interesting black, but I wonder if you find it useful. I have it and still haven't discovered what to do with it. Overall a selection of safe, standard pigments.

I'm a bit of a personalised palette fiend, so this video is a great insight into how someone else approaches the paint selection process for different types of palettes.

This was interesting! I enjoyed hearing your process for selecting a limited palette! The paints I can't live without are WN Quinacridone Magenta PR122, MG Ultramarine Blue PB29, WN Transparent Yellow PY150, WN or DS Perylene Green PBK31. I like to have those pigments as my minimum in every palette. 🎨

Happened upon this video as I am in the process of revising a travel palette with 21 half pans, especially interested in your using PBk11. I had been waffling about that & will now use instead of a Payne's Grey. Also maybe PR209 as warm red instead of PR112 -- will do some swatching. I too "love" PB16. Thanks.

I like Azo Green PY129 very much! I agree about PB16 Marine Blue. I stocked up. My earth red is Quinacridone Rust PO48 from M.Graham and I also stocked up on that. Another earthy rust is Golden Barok Red from Old Holland with PO65. It is the only paint made with that pigment that I am aware of.

I loved your video and your palette! I'm gonna get the 2 oxydes too. Still hesitating for the reds ( Quin or Pyrrole)? 🤔

Great Video thank you. I love your palette, its bright and happy. I dont use black at all. I use bloodstone genuine. I find Black too harsh. I also love DS Serpentine Genuine , Hermatite Geniune, Sodalite Geniune, Geothite Geniune. I too do not like opaque Ochres in palettes and always remove them.

😀👍

I love that Marine Blue💕 Why did they change that formula? I only have one tube, so it is like gold. Thanks for sharing.

Colbalt Teal!

Hello from France

I'm all in.

I looove cerulean. Which one is the one in those swatches? The Holbein one? I watch your video about granulating colors by Mijello and fall in love with the Cerulean as I only have White Nights and Jackson's with very low tinting strength so I'm thinking in getting the Holbein or the Mijello one. Thank you so much! Without you I never known that Mijello has a true cerulean

Wow, your palette is very functional. 😂 Some of my palette are missing important colors in them. I like working with missing colors there. It’s nice to have functionality, but I just don’t care anymore. If the colors is pretty for the time being, I’ll use it. If it’s not, it’s not being used. I spend hours sorting out palettes of 3-12 pigments and colors.🤷🏾 I work around a lot.

You've inspired me to do the same....scale down on the amount of colors!

I really enjoyed your thought process! I'm another nickel azo fan...I live in fear this will become an extinct pigment someday lol. I always have trouble with a red/orange earth because I like PR101, AND Pbr7 burnt sienna AND quin burnt orange, PO48 (which, yes, I AM stocking up on!). I often have QBO and burnt sienna both on my palette. I live in the Pacific NW and perylene green PBk 31 has to be on my palette (no black, although since you like granulation, I'm curious why you didn't go for DS' Lunar Black). My totally frivolous color is Fuchsite Genuine from Daniel Smith. I usually just carry a small tube, but with many glacial lakes and waters around here, a glaze of fuchsite adds a wonderful sparkle to water (look up pics of Diablo Lake in North Cascades national park to see what I mean).

Great informative video. I just wish you had given us the brand name of each of your favorite colors. Thank you for sharing

I really need to do this. My art studio desk where i sit to paint has 7 pallette and total approximately 120 different colors accross probably 8 brands, Oh that is insane. I really need to do something about it....but I love every single color. I just counted...11 brands..ugh

I love Rose Dore from wn and prussian blue - I"m using jackson's but any brand is fine for me.

Nice set of colors. I use a lot of earth tone for food painting and from your pallet i want to try yellow iron oxide i normally use yellow orche but not very satify from its opaque property. Your metal pallete look so pretty the one pink and gold color, may i know where do you get it as i am in Thaialnd too. Thank you.

This really helps! Timing is perfect. I gravitate towards pb16 for mixing purples with pr122. Been testing out Roman Szmal Pbr29 iron chrome brown with pb60 indathrone blue and loving the dark greys reminiscent of paynes grey and indigo. I prefer that to ready made ones. I love Rembrandt pbk11 oxide black for velvet texture in mass tone and crazy granulation when diluted. I can never part with nickel Azo yellow py150 (if ever discontinued, I'd start a riot)

Now I kind of want a tube of PR209...

Do you think this would be a good beginner combo?

I can't live without sap green and Paynes gray

Hello, what paper do you recommend? And what are the brands of your 12 signature palette? Thank you!

which pb36 cobalt turquoise is this? is it daniel smith?

Colour selection is a very personal thing so whatever I'll mention below is also my personal opinion based on my experience. So don't take it as a rule. In this 12 colour selection you don't actually need the two greens. And that because you have already four blues and if you replaced the greens with two more yellows or even better with a Cool Yellow and a Transparent Orange you would be able to expand the mixing range of all colours and particularly the Green ones. Your selection lacks a very cool yellow. A Lemon Yellow or a primary Yellow. PY150 is a warm one and PY 42 is an earthy more muted one but not cool either. The black also is not needed because it can be mixed as a chromatic one with the phthalos that you have already included in your palette. It is better to use a chromatic black instead of any ready made black because chromatic blacks or darks are made with the colours that you already have in your palette and as such look more relevant to the hues of colours that you use on your paintings. So here are the colours that I would include in a 12 colour selection named by their pigments. PR122 ( that is a Q. Magenta). PR209 ( Q. Red). PY150 Transparent Yellow PY184 or PY3 ( cool Lemon Yellow). PO71 Transparent Pyrole Orange that is a great mixing colour for almost everything PB36 Cobalt Turquoise PB16 Phthalo Turquoise PB35 Cerulean PB29 Ultramarine PY42 Transparent Ochre PR101 Transparent Red Oxide And instead of Black PB60 Intanthrene Blue ( as a darkener) or Indigo that you can mix by mixing in equal parts PG7 with Magenta the PR122 one or the PV19 one.

What is the name of your PR209?

Show me some paintings so I can see how you use your paints, please.

Hello ! May I ask why focusing on 12 or 24 colors ? It can be 18 or 20 ... Both would fit in your small tin as well...😆

I like the pallette, but for me it is missing a bright cool yellow. But I enjoy super bright yellow greens.

Thank you very much, really great video I LOVE IT hoping someday I can follow your signature pallete......I am new subscriber to you new channel. I will follow your PY 150 for my cool and warm color, can you please (help) recommend a cool and warm blue and red color (also in single pigment) in Holbein brand.