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Category: how to set up a new watercolor palette

New Watercolor Palette Loaded and Ready to Paint!

New Watercolor Palette Loaded and Ready to Paint!

I finally made the choices for 40 colors on my new watercolor palette!
I made a color chart for each color.  I always recommend making a color chart of the colors on your palette because sometimes you can’t really tell what the color looks like sitting there in the well.

On my chart I list the manufacturer as well.  Then I get the chart laminated a Staples so that it will hold up and not fall apart if it gets wet.  I abbreviate the manufacturer names as follows:
Daniel Smith = DS
Winsor Newton = WN
Sennelier = Senn.
Holbein = HB
Schmincke = Schmin.
I hope you can read the chart that I made shown in these photos. 

More About Yellow Watercolors

More About Yellow Watercolors

I like to make a color swatch of each color.  This takes some time but it is fun to do!  You can learn a lot about your colors this way.  I start by cutting pieces of watercolor paper 3″ x 1.5″.

I write the name of the color and the manufacturer of the paint on the back side of the paper.  Then I wet the front of the paper and paint it.  I try to have lay the color on thick and thin to see how dark it can get.  When it is dry I write the name of the paint on the front of the paper.

When I decide on a color, I start to lay the tubes of paint around my palette to see where they will go.

New Watercolor Palette!

New Watercolor Palette!

What a treat for me to get a new watercolor palette!  People often ask me what colors I use and how do I set up my palette.  I want to share with you the best way to set up a new watercolor palette.
This is the biggest palette that I have ever bought.  This is the Mijello Silber Nano Palette.

It has room for 40 colors!  Yippee!!!

Now the fun part is to decide which colors will go where.  I always use a color wheel to figure out where to put my colors.

The first thing to do is to pull out the tubes of color that I want to add to my new palette.  This will take some time and careful thought.