Please make sure you read to the bottom of this post for a HUGE SURPRISE and a Giveaway!!
Wet Paint Art store has put out a custom Schmincke Palette every year or so since 2011. I purchased my first professional palette from them in 2013 and have been enthusiastic about every iteration that has come out since. The palette is such a great deal and it allows both new watercolorists and more experienced artists to explore the Schmincke brand. I was tickled pink when Wet Paint asked me to choose their newest colors for the 2018 edition of their custom palette. It has been a joy to work with Kate, their custom services manager, throughout this project. Everyone has been so generous and helpful as this project moved toward today.
In November of 2017 Kate asked me if I’d like to choose the next twelve watercolors that would go into the new custom palette. I can’t tell you how beyond thrilled I was. You see, I have two brands of paint in my palette now, Schmincke and Da Vinci. All other brands have been usurped by these two. Schmincke has some wonderfully unique watercolors that I cannot get anywhere else and since this palette is such a fantastic deal, I’ve always supported Wet Paint every time there was a new palette out. To think you get a quality tin and twelve half pans which should cost over two hundred dollars. This year’s 2018 palette will retail for $75, what a serious bargain! The custom Schmincke palette is available only through Wet Paint and their independent art store partners.
There are a couple extra special things about this palette that makes it especially coveted this year and I’ll tell you about them in a moment. But let me first go through the watercolors that come inside.
12 Half Pans of Schmincke Watercolors:
Pure Yellow (#216)
Chromium Yellow Deep (#213)
Transparent Orange (#218)
Brilliant Opera Rose (#920)
Ruby Red (#351)
Cobalt Turquoise (#509)
Sap Green (#530)
Phthalo Green (#519)
Helio Cerulean (#479)
French Ultramarine (#493)
Transparent Sienna (#653)
Payne’s Blue Grey (#787)
Pigment | Transparent | Staining | Granulation | |
Pure Yellow | PY154 | Yes | Semi | No |
Chr.Yellow Deep | PY35+PO20 | Semi | Semi | No |
Transp. Orange | PO71 | Semi | Semi | No |
Brill. Opera Rose | PR122 | Yes | No | No |
Ruby Red | PV19 | Semi | Semi | No |
Cobalt Turquoise | PG50 | Semi-Opaque | Semi | Yes |
Sap Green | PY153+PG7 | Yes | Semi | No |
Phthalo Green | PG7 | Yes | Semi | No |
Helio Cerulean | PB15:3 | Semi | Semi | No |
Fr. Ultramarine | PB29 | Yes | No | Yes |
Transp. Sienna | PR101 | Yes | Semi | No |
Payne’s Blue Grey | PR101+PB29 +PBk 7 |
Semi-Opaque | Semi | No |
Above is a photo of what the palette looks like inside. The half pans shown are NOT the ones included. The Schmincke Custom Palette is on Pre-Order right now at Wet Paint.
You’ll notice that I have chosen the brightest and most radiant colors available. Here’s my take on color. I can always dull down a bright color but brightening a duller one is difficult. I find, with the brightest, most transparent watercolors, I get the best most luminescent brilliance to my paintings. Transparency allows for multiple glazing and layering of color which adds to the depth of a painting.
The two outliers in the twelve watercolors are cobalt turquoise and Payne’s blue grey. Both are semi-opaque which goes against my “all as transparent as possible” rule. Yep, you’re right if you noticed that! Here’s the problem, I LOVE turquoise and cobalt turquoise is by far my favorite. That pigment (PG50) doesn’t come in anything transparent so far in any brand, so I suck it up and use it diluted. The Payne’s Blue Grey is also so gorgeous that I just cannot say no. Also, since I use it mainly for my shadows and it’s usually diluted, it works well and looks much more translucent than it could at full strength.
I want to mention the fugitive (not light fast) nature of Brilliant Opera Rose. I used to be worried about that until I took Tracey Fletcher King’s “Delicious Paint” course. Tracey has degrees in both fine arts and teaching. She is my guru when I have any difficult questions. I asked her about Opera being not as light fast as an artist would want. Her answer gave me the joy of being to use Opera again. If you mix Opera with other very lightfast colors then there is little worry about fading as the other colors it’s mixed with will keep it from being a problem. If you glaze you always have other layers over Opera so it’s not a worry. Opera is a florescent color and is so unreal in nature that it isn’t usually used by itself. So use it and enjoy this unique color!
Transparency is most important when glazing, putting one thin layer of color over another. The transparent and semi-transparent watercolors make the very best glazes because then you can see through to the next layer of color and it gives wonderful depth to your paintings. If you put a more opaque color overtop, you lose that “seeing though” aspect because opaque means NOT see-though, lol.
About The Color Chart:
I must confess. I have NEVER done a color chart in my entire life as an artist. Yes, this seems weird. Here’s why. I am a little dyslexic and have never “gotten” a color chart when I look at it. Are you one of those people who look at a color chart and think,
“oh, puuurrrtttyy. But I don’t get it.”
Ya, well, don’t feel bad. Neither did I. BUT. I learned something by doing this one for Wet Paint. They put a color chart up with every new palette to show the range of mixes you can achieve. That’s what doing this taught me. I won’t find it useful later on as I don’t think like a color chart, I’m intuitive with my mixing and don’t use charts to figure out what color I want to mix. But, as I said, it sure did give me an idea of just how variable the colors were that I could achieve. It was worth the time. That’s what I want you to get from what I’m saying here. It was worth the time and effort and plotting of squares to do this behemoth. Now I’ll mount it on my wall as a piece of art, lol. Do a color chart, I’m pretty sure you won’t regret it.
In my chart, the diagonal axis where each color meets it’s twin, I did a dilution to show the subtlety of that specific pigment. This is how you read a color chart, if you wanted to know. The dominant color (more of it in the mix) is the one on the left hand side of the chart. The recessive (less of it in the mix) is the one on the top. So, the mixture of Pure Yellow (dominant) with Payne’s Blue Grey (recessive) is in the top right spot. The mixture of Payne’s Blue Grey (dominant) with Pure Yellow (recessive) is in the bottom left spot. Make sense?
Granulation:
Not my favorite thing most of the time, I must say. But then I haven’t moved into painting nature scenes, water, trees and other textural elements. Watercolors are ground up pigment combined with binders. With select watercolors, granulation happens when some of the pigment separates from the binder and settles into the valleys of the paper. As it dries the pigment in and out of suspension leaves the paper looking textured and grainy. This is great for sand, water, mountains and anything else you want to make look textured.
Some pigments are more granulating than others, for instance Ultramarine blue . Most iterations of Ultramarine are highly granulating. Many artists look for granulation in some of their paints as they love that strangely wonderful texture that happens spontaneously. There are two granulating colors in this palette, cobalt turquoise and French Ultramarine. To the right you’ll see that there are darker bits of cobalt turquoise sprinkled throughout the color, that’s the granulation that has fallen out of suspension. It sure can be pretty!
The Big Reveal:
(why you’re gonna really, really want this palette even if you already have all the colors it offers…)
There are a couple extra incentives to make you really want this palette.
- The first three hundred people who order the palette from Wet Paint get one of my coveted bee magnets. Bumble is my mascot. You can have one with the palette you purchase, gratis. On me, because I love you. :o)
- The tin. This is the first colored tin offered in North America! Usually palettes are black or grey, so boring. Artists are NOT boring, we’re bright and vibrant and full of life. We color our world around us so why shouldn’t the tin that holds our precious watercolors match our spirits? Well, now it does! TADA!!!!
Don’t you just LOVE that the outside of the tin matches the inside palette colors??!!! Don’t you totally want to pet this pretty little tin palette and sing it a lullaby? YA, me too. God help me, when I saw this tin I was overcome with joy and love. Wet Paint worked really hard to get it for you, it wasn’t easy. But when I suggested it and they said it had been on their radar, they went after this tin ferociously for me so we could offer the FIRST PRETTY PALETTE in North America. How’s them apples, huh?
Ok, seriously, this tin is not only pretty but it’s filled with twelve professional grade Schmincke watercolors. The tin officially holds twenty four half pans, twelve in each row. It measures 2 ¾” x 8 ½” when closed and 8″ x 8 ½” when open. *It is possible that this palette may actually allow for one more half pan in each row, some other sized palettes do. But since I don’t yet have it in my hot little hands yet (I have to wait just like you guys do), I’m not sure it’ll have the extra space.
Now that I’ve gushed about this Custom Palette I guess I better tell you how to order one. Go to Wet Paint and add the palette to your cart and pay for it. You will then get an email when the Schmincke palette is ready to ship. Expected arrival is late June barring any delays at customs. Wet Paint ships to customers in the order the palette was purchased so the earlier you buy, the earlier you’ll get it when they hit the store. Please know, these palettes are limited in number and they will probably sell quickly, especially since it’s such a beautiful tin. Only the first three hundred customers will get one of my complimentary bee magnets. The palette also comes with an insert that tells you a little about me and some information about all the watercolors inside.
Finally, I want to give you a list of a few extras that you might want to think about ordering when you order your palette. I’ll be going into detail in future posts about why I think these extras are worth purchasing but until then, let me just help you spend your money, lol.
Extra colors to flesh out your palette:
Paper:
I will be talking about paper and how to choose it in an entire blog post imminently. Until then, here are some great suggestions from Wet Paint.
Hahnnemühle Watercolor Book – This is my goto journal for painting. Wet Paint offers all five sizes, you’ll definitely find one you LOVE. I especially love the landscape 5″x8″. I reviewed them here.
Hahnemühle Postcards – these will be in store in a few weeks so if you would like some just add them to your cart or ask Wet Paint to set aside a tin for you. They could even ship with your new Schmincke palette to save on shipping! I love these delightful on-the-go postcards. Read about them here, here and here. They come in Rough and Cold Pressed versions and even better, the rough and CP versions are in different gorgeous tins! You get 30 postcards per tin. Just think, you could purchase this and keep the postcards, a few pens, an eraser, a little water container and a bunch of other ephemera all together. Then all you’d need is your Schmincke palette and this tin. Out you go to paint in the field! You’re welcome. ;o)
Hahnemühle Britannia Quattro Block – This is a recent love of mine. I’ve been using the 10″x10″ paper with several paintings as I use my schmincke palette colors. I LOVE the square size of it and Wet Paint offers the 10″x10″, 12″x12″ and 15″x15″. I have talked a little about this paper here. In that post you’ll see “Jenny’s Squirrel” which is the first of the Schmincke Palette paintings I’ve posted. Nothing like being the first!
Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolor Paper – I will also be talking about this paper in the coming weeks. Wet Paint has sent me a cut down sheet to test and give my opinion. I have reviewed their spiral bound Professional 140lb journal (5×7) but have not tried the sheets yet.
Brushes:
Silver Black Velvet Brushes (round short handle & travel) – I will be reviewing these in the next few weeks but I’ll let you in on the secret, they are great brushes! I love the rounds and the travel brushes. The sleeve of the handle with travel brushes so I never have to worry about them being unnecessarily damaged.
Jack Richeson Grey Matters – This is a solid brush that allows for less detail than the brush above but it’s also a great price. If you don’t need a detail brush and you’re more of an abstract painter with loose strokes, this brush is good for that.
Ephemera (extras):
Kneaded eraser – it doesn’t leave eraser bits all over your paper which get caught in your watercolor! NEED!!
Masterson Rinse Well – I couldn’t live without my Rinse Well in my studio! It saves me from getting up and down to change my water. This is an inverted bottle with a well that you can drain into the base and let fill with clean water again and again. I find one fill up lasts most of a whole Saturday of painting. I LOVE mine. for Canadians, it’s cheaper to purchase it from the US Amazon link (Use THIS link and then search for “Masterson Rinse Well”, thank you, I appreciate it as an affiliate!) and add shipping+conversion than to buy it from Amazon Canada. Oh the annoyances of being a Canadian shopper!
Fineliner Pens – An artist always needs a waterproof black pen. I like several brands, Staedtler, Sakura Pigma Microns and Zebra technical pens. Microns are by far the best buy here.
I would love to hear from all of you about this palette and I sure hope you all love it. I’m so proud to be a part of putting it together and to have my name associated with the first pretty palette to hit North America is such a joy. There will be many blog posts supporting this palette in the next six weeks. I’ll be talking all about extra colors you might want to add, brushes, paper, and how to use your watercolors in mixes. I’ll also be blogging about the split primary palette, single pigment colors and how to to get your artwork to look the way you want it to. With all of the above there will be lots of art, reviews of products and there’ll even be a GIVEAWAY!!
Wet Paint has generously donated a Custom Schmincke Palette for me to give away here on my blog. That giveaway started today, May 30, 2018 and will end June 5, 2018 @11:59 Pacific Standard time. If you want to keep abreast of all of the above, you might want to subscribe to my blog. There will be six weeks of information coming on how to successfully use this palette. There will be huge amounts of helpful tips, tricks and hints on how to be a better, more successful artist too so please SUBSCRIBE and keep in touch! Thanks for making it all the way to the end, I sure appreciate your loyalty!
Susan Cuss
What Fab news! The palette looks wonderful, and that’s a great giveaway!! Yay! Congrats Jennifer.
PennyH
You are soooooo evil! The sweet custom pallet is bad enough and right in my color wheel… but then you added those 12 extras…. how can one live without them…..So E-vile!
Jenny
WOWwowWOW! Conratulations Jenn! such BIG news, so happy and excited to hear all of this. I could print this post, there is so much good info! That colored pallet is scrumptious and SO is this giveaway!!! I might just have to do one of those color charts 😉 I am so happy for you!!! yay Jenn!!!
Antonea Payan
This palette is eye candy all the way. I’m so excited to find you as your choices are right up my alley.
Opera rose, Payne’s grey, and cobalt turquoise is speaking to me! Can’t wait to see you put it to action.
Karen
Love the custom color palette you put together and the new colorful tin! Beautiful!
Tracy
That palette says HAPPY to me! I added a couple of your extra colors (that I don’t already have – gotta get the free shipping) . This looks like a great palette for the summer wildflowers at Mt. Rainier (I live nearby).
And OMG, thank you for choosing a Payne’s grey instead of (yet another) black (ack) in a Schmincke palette 😉
Pennyh
Well, I hope you’re happy. I’m a watercolor whore and had to have this, plus 3. I’m not sure if you are on my favorite or least favorite persons’ list right now. 😀
denthe
Wow Jenn, what a wonderful opportunity to be able to choose your own happy colours! Congratulations! You are very knowledgeable about watercolours so it doesn’t surprise me that they asked you, but still, what an honour! I can understand you were thrilled. I love that colour chart you made. Amazing the great variety in colours you can create. And another great giveaway! I won’t participate in that though, I seldom use watercolours and I would feel guilty having this special palette and then not use it the way it deserves to be used. But you will make someone very happy! Have a great weekend!
Janis Jessop
hi Jennifer,
I have a question about Payne’s Gray Bluish…I have another one of these, besides the one in the palette I bought, with yours in it. Both are #787 and both mine say that the pigment s are Pbk6,Pb15:6 and PB15:2. I am wondering where you got the pigment info listed on this blog as being Pr101, Pb29 and PBk7…the Paynes Grey Bluish 787 that came in your set does not have that pigment info…it has the PBk 6 + the 2 Phthalo blues…I find this very odd Maybe you had a big typo??? Please let me know. thanks…Janis