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