I had an epiphany the other day. For the last six months I’ve been staying loyal to ONE brand of watercolors. There were two valid reasons for that, ok, make that three:
- I LOVE Da Vinci watercolors. No other brand paints as well for me. In other words, these watercolors love me back.
- Da Vinci paint is of the highest grade but also is one of the least expensive paints offered as professional, artist grade paint.
- I’m ridiculously loyal. To a fault. A fault that I trip over, fall and break my nose to keep. Silly me.
Ok, so here’s what happened.
I was perusing another artist’s blog. Her name is Helen Wilding, she’s awesome and we obviously agree on our philosophy on color. She even purchased my Schmincke Rainbow palette, smart girl! She had just updated her palette with her final choice for 2019. (Here’s her 2018 choices for comparison). Yes she said, she was a little late in doing so but OH THE COLORS to choose from. Yep, I can relate. I LOVE color.
While looking at her beautiful, bright, eye searing choices of color I was struck dumb. Her palette was so…
I had a yearning in my heart for some of these colors. It was painful to see their beauty and know they weren’t in my current palette. Several of them even lived in unused tubes in my studio. But alas, I was only using Da Vinci. Then it struck me. WHY am I only using Da Vinci?? I don’t think I know of any other artist who stays brand loyal. Nobody. And I’m pretty sure Da Vinci isn’t gonna complain if they don’t even carry the colors I wanted to add to my repertoire.
So what was I DOING forcing myself to NOT paint using some of my beloved colors??!?
Holy heck Batman, let’s let them all back in and everybody plays in the pool! Let’s be egalitarian about it, EVERYBODY can play in my palette! Schmincke, Holbein, Winsor & Newton, of course Da Vinci and even an M. Graham is in there. Oh and a Jazper Stardust from Etsy’s handmade watercolor company has a color playing well with others in my palette. Yep. We’re all friends now, no leaving kids out in the cold, unused and unloved. Come on in and stay awhile, the water’s fine! Hahahaha! (*she laughed manically*)
Ok, so moving, rearranging, EXPANDING, lol. We’re adding a BUNCH of brights.
For Instance:
- Holbein Bright Violet (You are eye searingly beautiful)
- Holbein Bright Rose (YOU are possibly my favorite color of all time! Who knew a color could be BRIGHTER than Opera pink??!!!)
- Schmincke Pure Yellow (hello my old friend, I’ve MISSED YOU, *said in a vampire whisper*)
- Schmincke Helio Cerulean (Oh you tease! So glad to have you back, you badly named but beautifully unique Phthalo Blue!)
- Schmincke Transparent Orange (I love you, I just love you so much!)
- Winsor & Newton Limited Edition Quin Violet (How many violets can a girl love? LOTS!)
- Holbein Pyrrole Red (How have I LIVED without you for so long? Helen showed me the error or my ways.)
I’m also keeping a bunch of awesome and unique colors from Da Vinci like Red Rose Deep, my favorite of the Permanent Rose contenders. This color is seriously awesome, a tiny bit bolder than most PV19 watercolors. Rose Dóre, a truly unique color. It’s not orange, not red, not pink. It’s kind of watermelon-y. I love it. I also love Alizarin Gold. What a wonderfully rich reddish burnt gold color! I’ll be staying with Da Vinci for all the usual suspects that are in most artists’ palettes. Like Ultramarine, Manganese, PB60, Leaf Green, Phthalo Green BS, Cobalt Turquoise, Prussian blue Green Shade, Quin Violet.
The Shadow Colors:
I’m hyperventilating. I have my two favorite shadow colors back! I had to choose two so Moonglow didn’t make it. Alas, I’m a little weepy about that. BUT I do have my coveted Payne’s Grey Bluish by Schmincke and my Neutral Tint by M. Graham back in DA HOUSE!!! M. Graham’s Neutral Tint is the only one that’s totally transparent, so that’s COOL.
I’m also ridiculously lucky. I have a half a tube of original Daniel Smith Quin Gold and two half pans of Original Daniel Smith New Gamboge. They’ve both been out of production for several years so I feel really lucky to still have some left. I’m going to enjoy them myself instead of selling them on eBay. Yup, I’m smart like that. It only took someone knocking on my brain to wake me up to the possibilities.
Which Tin?
For now, I’m using the “square Schmincke tin” that came out just before my “rainbow” one. Only because to fit the gutter in my rainbow palette I need Winsor & Newton or Van Gogh empty half pans and right now all of those I have are filled with Da Vinci colors. I’ll have to go hunting for more empty ones. So for now I’m utilizing my square tin, taking out the insert and filling it to the brim with gorgeous BRIGHT colors.
If there are any of you out there who have some empty W&N or Van Gogh half pans you’d be willing to part with, I’m totally ready to trade you a bee magnet for any half pans. (I’ll just tell Bumble he’s going on a little vacay. Yes, I’m willing to sell my first born to get some half pans! What? Is there something wrong with that?? Geez, he’s a bee magnet. Any fridge will do!)
As you can see, I have both half pans and full pans in my palette. That’s for TWO reasons.
First, I do have colors that I use the most often. It makes sense to have those as full pans. Second, I use them as place holders! It can be really hard to tell one color from the next in a color family so if I have the space, I pick my most popular color in that color family and make IT a full pan. THEN when I’m painting I don’t have to think, I know where a color is in reference to the full pan.
For now, this is my palette. I may find that I really DO have too many reds. Right now if I include all orange, pink, red and purple in the REDS category, I have half my palette as some kind of red. That’s a lot. But I’ve realized that I hold on to rules too much. I want to let my muse out to play. Right now she loves pinks. Since I intend to do a lot of flowers soon, that’ll work well. Maybe in a few months it’ll be greens. Oh the fun to play without rules!
So finally, here is a list of all the colors in my palette (with links for your convenience!).
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First Row:
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Second Row:
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Third Row:
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Fourth Row:
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Fifth Row:
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Sixth Row:
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Tracy
I’m always fascinated by artists’ color choices! And I think we each have our own version of “convenience” colors versus what we are willing to mix. Like…no way could I have that many colors and not have several earths in there. Yeah, I can mix them, but when I’m sitting out plein air, I don’t want to mix every brown (or green) I need 😉 It wasn’t the reds that caught my eye, but the number of pinks/violets! But those are important to YOU. What a super cheerful palette Jenn! I’m also very impressed at how many colors you got into that palette – that’s the one that Schmincke puts 18 colors in, right? I have that size….have to go see about rearranging it because it’s really my favorite size – just fits in the hand nice when I choose to hold my palette when painting outside 🙂
sandra strait
I’ve thought about being totally brand loyal and then I see something new that I just have to try and that’s all she wrote. I don’t think I’d ever be able to stay with one brand of anything.
Love the colors you’ve chosen!
Karen Colson
just….YUM!!!
Helen Wilding
Oh how funny – and now I’m looking at YOUR new square palette -goodness we could go back and forth like this forever! It’s so happy making to have someone see colours like I do that I’m a bit lost for words. Thank you 🙂
Teresa Robeson
You crack me up! I loved reading your descriptions of the new colors (which are truly fall-in-love-worthy)!
Phoebe
I’ve been debating about getting a watermelon/coral color and was thinking about Rose Dore, but DS Quinacridone Coral recently caught my eye. I haven’t officially decided on which one to get yet, but it does help make the decision that I can buy DS locally. I’ve never been brand loyal, but Daniel Smith sure does tempt me everytime I use their watercolors (except for Winsor & Newton Indigo – I could not live/paint without it!). Some of my favorite DS are Rose of Ultramarine and Aussie Red Gold, both of which would fit in nicely with your brights!
Sandra
Oh my your palette looks so fun. I have my favorite colors as well and they run across several brands and multiple palettes. I often have several palettes open at once for that very reason. 😁
Mario Romera
These Jazper Stardust watercolors are rubbish. Very coarse grain and lack of medium. I bought the gemstone set and had to go through the painful process of regrinding and adding gum arabic for 15 minutes each to make them real watercolor. Some of the pigments were useless anyway. I will stay away from this brand.