Regarding picking colors as a beginner, I did something *really* geeky. I went through the artists I most liked on RU-vid and in watercolor blogs and put their palette colors in a spreadsheet. Some, like Jane Blundell, have different palettes for different purposes ("ultimate mixing", her classes, Australian landscape, or whatever). With all of them in the spreadsheet, I looked for the colors that were most common across them. Now, I had just gone on permanent disability, so I didn't yet feel the cash crunch, so I ended up with this expensive plan: I bought about 50 colors and would find out which ones I liked or used the most. Not the best plan, admittedly. Too many choices! The first part of the process was sound, though. If I had gotten, say, 12 or 18, or 24, it would have been better. On the plus side, I have learned I have two painting "moods." One used more earthy colors, the other more vibrant and clean colors. But I have a lot of colors that are too close and/or go unused. But, as Sarah recommends, I got small tubes to start, and get larger for those I like and use a lot. For mastering a palette, Sarah's comments on using a specific, limited set is a good one. I did mixing charts across my blues and yellows (including earthy yellow/light browns) and found the combinations that made the most sense for me. From there, I could eliminate some, as well as some greens. I have yet to force the greens off my palette in order to not waste them, but I'm trying to mix more of them as practice. I hope this diatribe was interesting to someone!
Fascinating! I'm a spreadsheet need so I can totally relate! As for my unused colors, I'm going to make dot cards to give away because there are some brilliant colors, just not right for me anymore
Can you share the spreadsheet? :D This sounds so fascinating! I did the same thing except for oils and instead of making things easier for myself I list them all out in a janky and unorganized google doc lol
ART HACK TO STOP BEADING OF PAINT ON YOUR PALETTE Sarah, I noticed your paints are beading on your plastic palette. You may already know this, but a great hack to fix this problem is to use a kitchen scourer pad with toothpaste on it. Gently rub the toothpaste all over the mixing areas on the palette with the scourer. This scuffs up the surface, and your paints will no longer bead up. Also works on metal palettes. BTW: Absolutely love your channel. You are an amazing artist, and very inspirational. I hadn’t used gouache since my days at college studying graphic design- and we used it for packaging design. Since finding your channel I have found a new appreciation for gouache, and now I paint landscapes with it all the time. Thank you💜
I love hearing why and how artists choose their paints. It is so informative. I am a more generalist painter but also like urban sketching so transparent paints are very impt, I also started with a cotman set and it really helped me learn. As I ran out of paint I replaced with artist grade. Even now as a color runs out I decide if it fits my needs or research another. So I always have one or two wild card colors. It keeps it exciting. Each new color is an adventure.
June 23, 2022 I am trying to paint again. My tiny little dog, Rudy, has always been at my side (or feet if I have a pillow for my cold toes in my winter studio) Early in the year, he went from very healthy for such an old man to very sick. I had to help him pass early in the year. After moving to a new state and not knowing ANYONE his passing was especially difficult. Thinking I would paint my way through my surprisingly intense grief I soon discovered that the only wash that happened when I picked up a brush was sadness. I stopped trying. Here it is, late June, and balance is coming back to my heart but not my painting. It is like I forget how. I can still do doodles in my bible and wildflowers (there are so many in Montana!) in my sketch book but I have not felt like taping a sheet of good paper to my board and going all in. I started buying new paints and brushes... that used to help jump-start my creativity... but that did not juice my soul either. Watching random videos on a sleepless night, your's popped up. Some of the dried up places in my imagination came alive. Then this video... I do not need new paint (as much as I love it). Before I stopped painting earlier in the year, I was excited about trying different triads, your videos, triads plus, were just what I needed. I think I'll call this the summer of Sarah Burns, and use you as a crutch to start doing what I love again. Your voice is as beautiful as your art. ...Debs in Montana (USA--though your accent sounds like you might know of Montana), ready to splish-splash again
I’m sorry to hear you’ve been struggling - and I totally understand. When I go through hard times, sometimes I can’t create anything and I feel dead inside for lack of better words. It’s a terrible feeling, since I am an artist inside and out. I’m so honoured you find my videos inspiring and helpful to get you through this time. I’m just another person on a creative journey, making an effort to share the ups and downs 💕
I had most all of these colors in my stash, just had to pick up the PY184. I made a palette with all your choices and took it with me to the park for the remainder of the summer to paint while my kids played. Such a great selection and so much fun to play with new colors! Loved this video and part 2!
I am in the midst of this same process of eliminating extra paints and building a smaller palette. I, too, am obsessed with color charts. They really are helpful in learning what the colors do. I have so many charts, it has become a bit of a family joke. :) This video was very helpful, Thanks, Sarah for sharing.
This is super useful and very informative. I really love this colour palette and it is very helpful to me as a beginner in watercolour. Thanks, Sarah! I will watch your swatching video as well.
Thank you for all of your hard work that goes into sharing this valuable information for us. Your videos are so professionally done; with soothing music, calm voice and excellent angles to see those colors shine. You're the best!
I am very happy to have seen this video. I was thinking of customizing my own colors (because buying so many paints is way out of my budget), but until now I hadn't seen anyone mix the watercolors and let them dry on the palette, they just mixed on the spot, so I wasn't sure if it was the "right" thing to do. But thanks to what I've learned from your videos, I now know (kinda) what pigments make certain colors, so I can make my own watercolors without breaking the bank. Thank you☺
I have a limited pallette of around 9 colours that I absolutely love and I've stayed with them for ages I've got to know them well. Thanks for sharing Sarah 🙌
Thank you. I am so happy to have found you, your landscapes are amazing and this video was enlightening. I am rethinking my palette and making pages of testing swatches, but only learning. I gained a ton of information from you.
Thank you so much for giving us a glimpse of your exhaustive process. Choosing a palette is very personal, not only the colors, but the number of colors, brands, etc. Good on you!
just watched a few of your pigment choosing videos... seeing that you mixed phthalo green with quin magenta to get purple. i never would have imagined that... just tried it with my watercolors and my mind is blown. i like to mix pigments on the paper and they look gorgeous as they mix... so thank you for that gem! (i use DaVinci paints and never choose the ones that have the California 'toxic warning')
Sarah, this was amazing, gorgeous to watch, calming to listen to and so unabashedly honest as well as incredibly educational. I feel my understanding of colour mixing just went up so many notches. I studied colour theory and mixing when training in illustration at art school 43 years ago now, I did learn a lot about the colour wheel, complimentary colours, secondary colours etc but I didn’t get a real grasp on the need to investigate your own unique palette so as to have an intuitive and instinctive knowledge of the colours harmony’s and weaknesses and strengths. I have recently returned to painting after many years absence and started colour mixing in an effort to work out the palettes of some of my favourite artists and that has been so enlightening. However this video and the way you have structured your exploration of your colours is illuminating to me. It’s taught me that just a handful of colours that make me sing is so much more worthwhile than a whole studio full of colours that overwhelm. Thank you so much for making it.
Miriam this is exactly why I made this video! I'm SO glad you felt it. I was not trained in color theory, so this method is the only way I know how to "learn color." It is difficult but also super fun and inspiring to just play and learn by experience.
I always find it so interesting when people talk about overcoming the challenges of limited palettes and having to get used to it and learn how to learn to get out of them what you want... and often talking about 12 colours. I think I kinda shot myself in the leg in a way when I started because I used an 8 color palette. So I had to learn how to mix, sure. But everything automatically kind of fit together very well and knowing where to start mixing was always super easy, there's only one option usually. Now I have the opposite problem. I can comfortably handle a palette with 3 to about 8 colors, I find 12 somewhat overwhelming and I have a 24 color palette full of all kinds of random custom colors... which I use exclusively to pick 3-4 for a new fun limited palette. I can't handle more than that, everything ends up looking super chaotic and doesn't fit together and it takes me ages to figure out how to mix what I want lmao.
Love your videos xxx I bet it’s been super helpful to do those lovely postcards for your patrons so many paintings Sarah! You should be so proud of yourself. I’m proud of you!! You paint so often, I need to paint more xxx so inspiring
This was so good!!! It is great to see your process and have a lot of my own questions and quandries validated:) Thank you for sharing so many insights into these colors, as well as your experience. Also, I have never seen custom mixing for a pallette! Great 💡 idea!!! Thank you so much Sarah!
Wow, I loved this! I have so many sketchbooks filled with swatches! I’ve been curating my palette for over 25 years, and I do this same thing Sarah! Actually using a limited palette makes your paintings cohesive, harmonious as well as learning exactly what these colors can do, just like you said. You said just everything that a person needs to know regarding the practice of watercolor. Each of us will have colors that will speak to us and make our work distinctively ours. The things that you didn’t stress enough is THE IMPORTANCE OF PRACTICING, PRACTICING, PRACTICING. You eluded to it but it really is hours of just putting colors together to see what they will do! Please do not take that as a negative ( the practicing) . This was a really great view into the watercolorist learning her craft! Thanks! ClaudiaSJI
@@SarahBurnsStudio well I’ve watched a lot of your videos but this one just really sounded like me talking and was just so cool to know others practice like I do. ClaudiaSJI
I sincerely appreciate this video and insight. Far too often people will hoard colors and never get to know them. Going through the process and really putting a color through its paces is always incredibly refreshing
@@SarahBurnsStudio I maybe *ahem* hoard myself, but I make a point to use different paints and constantly swatching/mixing/rearranging, and learning from it. With small limited palettes for different projects to get that same familiarity/continuity that you get here. There is real value in that approach, absolutely. Perhaps the best thing I've done is give myself grief if I "cheat" on a color. If I'm eyeballing it online, and it's gorgeous etc etc, but I already own it? I clearly don't know the color well enough and we need to rekindle that flame. So it'll be featured in my work until we can re-establish, and I stop having wandering eyes.... 😂
That's great! I think ultimately you just need to stay inspired. And if a new color does that, have fun 😁 for me I get most inspired by knowing my colors in and out, and translating what's in front of me to paper
Thank you for this video, all of your videos are wonderful. I'm putting a palette together to go camping and paint forest landscapes and this has helped immensely.
I change subjects and moods as well as usually want ‘accurate’ colours and therefore I actually use tons of colours, never regret buying any unless the quality is terrible. I keep getting more and more and live them all!for individual painting is use more limited pallets. Keep making more swatches tests and notes (written) I just started a new mix mini book. And I have many swatches and notes. I just keep learning. I buy tons of empty pans and premix always preferring the largest size tubes or for gouache the HimI/Miya. I also mix watercolour and gouache and have all the dr ph martens Hydrus which I also add into custom watercolour and gouache mixes. I also add a touch of honey into pan dried Holbein gouache so they no longer turn into useless incredibly expensive rocks! Currently I desire both Ivory black and Bismuth yellow lol! The bismuth keeps being sold out for me for over a year and it was only a couple of weeks ago I determined my lamp black need. I’m going for m. Graham if possible as it’s less than half the price of the Windsor and Newton where I live and who I purchase from. Plus I adore all the m graham I have even if they remain moist. I look for quantity plus quality. What fills in my collections gaps and what is most useful for pre made custom mixes and straight fro the tube. I build up over time and stalk sales!
Wow 😮! Thanks for sharing this part of your painting journey with us. It was very inspirational and helpful for me to know that it’s okay for me to choose my own personal favorites to make my own palette. As a beginner/intermediate artist ( I am starting on my third year of watercolor painting, self-educated/taught) I had started out with a travel set of colors and was beginning to notice that I was using & liking certain colors and sometimes adding different brands together to form my own palette. I was kind of worried about doing that. After watching your videos I am glad to know that it’s okay to have my own personal palette.
this was so helpful for me as i'm getting back into watercolor after several months away and feeling overwhelmed by all the colors i already have. off to do some swatching and testing!!
Great to see your process when choosi g colors. And your arwork really looks like that cohesive palette. I do have 2 bigger ones with almost every color but i use them not nearly enough to remember every color and mix. Downside is that i struggle with finding colors that mix and work together well sometimes. But i wouldn't throw everything in the bin right now. I think these palettes will last me a few years. But maybe i'll buy just a starter set for travelling and test a very limited palette on the go for when i travel. It's a bit annoying to bring the bigger ones with me. Maybe i'll get more mixing experience with that.
I think it's totally fine and good to have a few palettes, each for different uses and moods. I just do this so I can intimately learn my colors, it's the way that works best for me. But I know lots of people who thrive when they have multiple palettes.
I was wanting for your video about your new colours since you have announced it on ig! 😍 I use the colours you had on your palette for the past year and am loving them ♥️ now I am heading over to part 2 of this video 🏃
I just found your channel! So happy I did 💕 My current palette is 52 colors and I’m realizing how much I don’t use! I don’t need any new paint, I need to go through a similar journey. Thank you for this video 🥰
I'm always tempted to add more, but I've found SO much value in slowing down and really getting to know a handful of colors and how they play together over a long period of time :)
What a nice video, Will soon jump into next one. I’ve also used neutral tint, and I’m not pleased with that and parens grey are okey, but I feel I wanna check it out a little bit more. I had Ivory black in my first watercolors, also W&N, but I had the black metal box. I have tried Sennelier, D S and Schmincke and I can’t say I like one better than the other, that have some difference in colors. One have this color. The next haven’t, but they have … instaed. It Take some time to decide . I maybe try to decide to try the limited palette for a longer time and get to know the colors better and then change those I don’t like, just like You. It seems like a good idea. Thanks for this and see You soon, both in the next part and hopefully on stream soon.
I have lots of colors and I’m thinking of making my own custom palette. There are colors that I absolutely love and use a lot, but I have yet to do color charts to see how they mix and complement each other. Lately, I have been liking pre made palettes with 12 colors because it forces me to use the colors provided to me and it takes away the mental strain of thinking about colors lol 😂 but I need to stop being lazy and get to start making my own custom palette
Thank you for sharing this, it's very useful. I'm only in the beginning of my learning path, so I basically use preset palettes I bought, (12-24-36 colors), but I'm sure I'll get there some day when I want to set up my own selection of colors. I'll remember this video when I get there. 😊💖
@@SarahBurnsStudio I think the 12 colors one can buy for starting is quite okay, one can mix lots of colors with it. I have a Daler Rowney set I use the most, and I bought the Mei Liang set too with 36 colors. Plenty of possibilities. 😄
Fellow obsessive researcher here! ☺️👋 That's how I found M. Graham Neutral Tint, which is just stunning! (It's a PG7 & PV19, violet shade if I remember correctly. It leans violet, is so clear and makes absolutely beautiful mixes). And I'm so curious now! Regarding cool yellows, have you tried Roman Szmal PY109? It's very cool, but slightly warmer than PY184 and and PY3, it's super bright and makes stunning mixes. I find it higher in tinting strength than PY175. The downside for me is that it only comes in pans, but it's worth it for me to scoop it out of the pan ☺️ But hey, no bashing on opaque colours here! For me my loved ones are PW6:1, PY159, PY216, the whole range of PR101s and PBr24 - Plus a few more, I'm sure. 🥰
@@SarahBurnsStudio Yes! I don't love that they only come in pans, but a few colours are worth it to me. One of them is PY109 (they and Turner are the only brands that make it, but I don't recommend the Turner one. It's pretty, but most of the tube seems to be water - I have never encountered such a shift in volume as it dried before.) Another few are their PBr24 (deeper and more orange) and PO73 (deep, rusty, moody with a slight pink undertone) which are distinctly different from other brands, plus their PR209 which is very bright and seems more lightfast. ☺️
just discovered your channel ^_^ i loved listening to your process, it's almost how my internal dialogue sounds like when i'm nerding out about color choice XDky
A few simple questions…I may have missed it in the video, but I’d like to know, please…do you allow your paints to dry in the palette, then rehydrate? Or do you keep the paint wet, as it comes from the tube? If so, how do you keep them from growing mold? Thank you! Jacqui ❤️
I was wondering if you have come across Oto Kano who mainly does colour mixing. She has a video channel, where she among other things, compares different brands of the same colour. On her website you can access all the information she has researched on colours - it is huge! Ultimately of course it comes down to your own preference as you see it when trying it out for yourself but I have found her work very helpful. ☘️
I usually use 100% cotton paper for watercolor because it’s a much better experience and shows the true nature of the paints. Ages ago I bought some Arches in bulk and I’m still going through it :)
@@SarahBurnsStudio Oh, sorry, I think wasn't specific enough. I was referring to the two Daniel Smith colors you chose for your new limited pallette, Quinacridone Burnt Orange and Diospide Genuine. They are both very unique and i haven't been able to find something simmilar yet.
You’re removing what I’d consider my idea sap green. Ouch. I’m trying to pick colors for a very limited palette for (vintage/rustic look) line and wash use. I’m thinking Prussian Blue, Yellow Ochre, a desaturated red (I don’t have any in tube/pan so I’ll have to mix one myself), and maybe a green. Either a desaturated Phthalo Green or a Sap Green (more Olive/Golden Green than some brands’ Sap).
Haha I guess that is relative. There are lots of sets of 12, 24, or more. Many people use far more than that. I have plenty of videos that show my travel palettes which are smaller.
