How I set up a watercolour palette

I have a few different watercolour palettes, but this one is the first one I set up myself. It’s a metal watercolour palette with two wings that fold out, one to each side. I find it really handy because it gives me a ton of mixing space. 

It’s also really handy as a travel watercolour palette. Be warned though – it’s not watertight so you’ll want to allow the palette to dry before packing it anywhere. I usually travel with it in a large ziploc bag, even when it’s essentially dry, to make sure I don’t have any unexpected leaks.

Watch me review this watercolour palette on my YouTube channel.

Benefits for this style of watercolour palette

• It holds a ton of different watercolours. The version I have holds 48 half pans. You can also use a combination of full pans and half pans, depending on whether you have certain colours that you use a lot. 
• You can get tiny ones that only have space for 12 half pans or 6 full pans. These would be great for situations where a small size is of the essence, like when you’re hiking. Or if you’re the kind of painter who uses a limited palette.
• You can start using it right away without much hassle. I’ve used inexpensive plastic palettes and the paint will bead up in the mixing areas which is quite annoying.
• They’re inexpensive. Depending where you live, you can likely pick one up for $20 or less. 
• You can fill it up with exactly the colours you want. Rather than buying a pre-filled palette where the manufacturer chooses the colours for you, with this empty one, you can fill it with whatever colours you prefer using.
• It has a handy spot to fit a paintbrush or two, right in the middle of the paint wells.
• You can move around the paint wells as you add new colours. This means if you find you no longer use a colour, you can simply pull out the little plastic well and add a different one.

Drawbacks for this type of watercolour palette

• The mixing area will eventually stain. It does take a while, but it’ll happen eventually. I’m not bothered by it but some people will find the staining affects their perception when mixing other colours.
• It’s not waterproof. If you toss this into your bag right after using it, expect that it’ll leak everywhere.

Setting up your palette with tube watercolours

I purchased this palette so that I could fill each pan with tube watercolours. While this can be a pricey choice to begin with, it’s a great way to save money in the long run because one tube can fill up the pans up to several times. You can also start with only a handful of colours and continually add as you go so that it’s a little more budget-friendly.

To start, I’d recommend choosing one warm and one cool version of each primary colour. The ones below are some good starter colour options but definitely aren’t your only options.

• Yellow
  • Warm – Cadmium Yellow Deep or New Gamboge
  • Cool – Hansa Yellow Light or Cadmium Yellow Light
• Blue
  • Warm – Ultramarine or Cobalt
  • Cool – Pthalo Blue (Green) or Cerulean 
• Red
  • Warm – Cadmium Red Light or Pyrolle Scarlet
  • Cool – Quinacridone Magenta or Permanent Alizarin Crimson (make sure it says permanent – an older version, known as Alizarin Crimson) is not lightfast)
• Burnt Sienna – this colour is indispensable when mixed with Ultramarine Blue to make a nice grey.

Squeeze your colours into individual pans and insert into the palette. I also labelled the sides of the paint pans with a fine sharpie, so that I knew what paint I had used. Let any new paint dry for a couple days before you close it up. 

Buy your own

Supplies from this post are available at many art stores or on Amazon:

US

• Watercolour palette
• Watercolour paint set – artist quality

Canada

• Watercolour palette
• Watercolour paint set – artist quality