Colours

The Ultimate 18-Colour Portrait Watercolour Palette: Realistic Skin Tones, Depth, Light and Shadow Portraiture is the most demanding subject in watercolour because the human face is unforgiving. We know what skin looks like. We recognise warmth and pallor instinctively. We see subtle shifts in tone, shadow, surface and light without consciously analysing them. A portrait palette must handle softness and strength. It must produce complexity without muddiness. It must deliver d

Cityscapes push watercolour into one of its most dynamic roles. Unlike landscape painting where colour shifts with the season and the sun, a city demands control over materials ….

Nature doesn’t show up in neon primaries. Think of a forest at dusk, a craggy cliff under overcast light, a mist-shrouded valley at dawn. Most of what you see are neutrals, subtle warms, soft transitions, textured earth, and shifting atmospheres.

Animals are made up of layered neutrals, subtle transitions, and low-chroma colours. Using too many paints often results in muddy mixtures or oversaturated fur.

As artists, we often believe we need every colour on the shelf to create expressive, vibrant, or realistic paintings. But in professional practice, the opposite is often true: the most versatile palettes are the most focused ones . After years of experimenting with dozens of pigments, I finally refined my working setup into a cohesive, efficient, and powerful 13-colour oil painting palette . This set is designed for portraits, cityscapes, landscapes, and mixed subjects , and