Many of you ask me what are the colors I use when I paint with watercolor?
When I talk about painting with watercolor, I mean the touch of color that I add to my drawings, with watercolor, in a loose and spontaneous way, that is, watercolor in Urban Sketching.
So in this article, I’m going to talk about colors, and more specifically about the colors I use when I paint with watercolor.
The support: the watercolor boxes
Before we talk about color, let’s talk about watercolor boxes. On the market, there is a wide variety of watercolor boxes, empty or full, of different brands and sizes, plastic and metal. There really is something for everyone.
You can find empty watercolor boxes, which you can fill with the colors that you like, and boxes from different brands, such as Windsor&Newton or Schmincke, among many others, which already come with an assortment of colors of very respectable quality and reasonable price. Good option for beginners.
In this case, you can use the colors offered by the brand, or you can also change some colors for others, and thus begin to personalize your box.
For example, since I don’t use Black, I removed it and replace it with another color which was not in the box.
Although they weigh more, I prefer the metal boxes, because they are solid, inside you can easily organize and fix the watercolor godets, and on the back they have a ring to hold them while you paint.
I have a few different boxes of watercolors, but I mainly use two “pocket” boxes, a larger one, with a wide variety of colors, and a smaller one, with a reduced range of colors, the essentials when I want to take little material to go out to draw.
My “larger” watercolor box measures 12cmx 7cm. Despite its small size, it contains a good assortment of colors, currently 19 half godets, (or colors) that I will detail below. Nineteen colors is more than we need.
My watercolor “mini box” measures 7.5cmx 4cm. Also made of metal, I can fix it to my notebook with a magnetic clip. You can see how, in this post, on my Instagram account.
My colors
In my largest box, I can carry almost all the colors that I like, about 19 at present. It is more than enough. Not because we have many colors we get more beautiful drawings.
My colors.
You can find below the list of the colors I use. I’ve been using them for most of them for years, and I never get tired of them.
– 1- Yellow Aureolin, W&N
2- Indian Yellow, W&N
3- Transparent Orange, Schmincke
4- Cadmium Red, Schmincke
5- Opera Rose, W&N
6- Permanent Rose, W&N
7- Violet Windsor, W&N
8- Ocher, W&N
9- Burnt sienna, W&N
10-Burnt Umber, W&N
11- Bladder Green, Schmincke
12- Hooker Green , W&N
13-Colbalt Turquoise light, W&N
14- Cerulean Blue, W&N
15- Cobalt Blue, W&N
16- Ultramarine Blue, W&N
17- Intense Blue, W&N
18- Indigo Blue, W&N
19- Payne’s Grey, W&N
If you haven’t read it, I recommend Felix Scheinberger‘s book about watercolor in Urban Sketching.
It is a practical and accessible manual to enter the world of watercolor.
My mini sketching kit
Soon I will tell you about my mini watercolor box, and the colors that I consider essential to fill it without carrying too much material.
I hope this article has been useful to you.
Now it’s your turn to get to know your box of watercolors, experiment with the colors you have, see which ones you like best, and play with them to get to know them better.