Recently someone asked me what I use to carry watercolors out and about with me.
I use a variety of things. Depends on where I am going and what I intend to draw and how long I"ll be.
But every single day, everywhere I go, I am using a tiny
Jack Richeson child's palette, which I got
at my local art store, to test drive a limited palette of just 8 colors.
I first learned about this palette from Roz Stendahl's class in
Sketchbook Skool--in the klass called "Beginnings."
I popped out that paints that came with the kit to use the tiny palette. Then I put in eight Daniel Smith watercolors which I have been testing recently, and would like to try out in some of my sketches.
What I am testing here is quite intentional.
First, the two color combination that I learned from Roz as a great way to practice monochromatic sketching: the indanthrone blue and the burnt sienna. I paired them together on the right for easy access and refilling.
Second, a muted tone triad (which I also first discovered thanks to Roz) of indanthrone blue, deep scarlet, and nickel azo yellow. I like these colors and how they run a bit neutral when combined, which fits the natural subjects I tend to like to sketch. You can see I placed that across the top row, building from the blue which I had already put down.
Third a much brighter triad of colors I love! I learned about these colors somewhere else, and I have no idea where. I have had them in my paintbox for a long time, and am reacquainting myself with them. This is ultramarine turquoise, quinacridone magenta, and isoindoline yellow. This triad filled out the second row.
Finally, I had one little well left. So into this I put Cascade Green. I like this color, like the green base it gives me now and then. And I love the way it mixes with the quin magenta.
The only thing I'd like to have on here that I don't currently have is a transparent orange. I don't own any. Yet.
Here are some of the mixes--you'll see each triads at the top. On the bottom left, I show burnt sienna mixed with the green (which results in browns) and the blue (which results in grays). On the bottom right, I substituted the Cascade Green into each triad in place of the blue, just to see what would happen.
One of the best things about this palette, for me, as I learn about colors, is how inexpensive and tiny it is. I can buy three for under $10 and use them for different color combos. And because the wells are so tiny, if I put paints into it that don't work out, I can either wipe them out without too much loss of paint, or use them up in monochrome paintings pretty quickly. When I find something I really like, I move it into a slightly bigger palette (made from a candy tin) which holds full and half pans.