In my art studio I can have as many watercolour pans as I want, but when I leave the house to go urban sketching—I’m limited. There are a stock collection of watercolours that I always take with me, but I usually have a couple of spaces left for some rotating colours, depending on the subjects I’m sketching.
How to Limit my Watercolour Palette to one Green
There’s three greens I like using in the studio on a regular basis, but there’s only room for one green in my travel palette. I wasn’t sure which one I should take.
I always have a warm yellow (new gamboge/NG), cold yellow (Hansa Yellow Light/HYL), and French Ultramarine/FUM with me, so I decided to experiment to see which greens I could make with this trio.
Mixing my trio of Greens
I discovered that:
- Green Gold and FUM = Sap Green
- Sap Green and HYL = Green Gold
So I knew I only had to take one of these greens with me, but I wasn’t sure which one.
Mixing Olive Green
It came down to figuring out the simplest and quickest way to make the Olive Green.
After a bit of experimentation, I discovered I could make Olive Green from either Sap Green or Green Gold. But the simplest way to create Olive Green is by adding New Gamboge and French Ultramarine to Sap Green.
So decision made. Sap Green is the only premixed green I need to take with me on location, and I can use it to create Green Gold and Olive Green. Problem solved.
Try this exercise for yourself
If you’re having a dilemma about which version of a colour you should take with you on location, try a similar exercise to see how you can use your standard selection of watercolours to create the palette of colours you like to use.
Colour theory can be a complex topic to master. But when you go through the process of mixing a small group of colours to create you ideal palette, it makes colour theory more relevant. Share your colour theory experiments in the comments below.
Watercolours used in this pigment experiment
Daniel Smith French Ultramarine
Daniel Smith Hansa Yellow Light
If you use Winsor Newton watercolours, take a look at their Colour Stories on the Winsor and Newton website. They go in depth into their different pigments, and explore the origins and historical usage of them. It’s a great way to discover new pigments.
