How To Make A Watercolour Colour Chart
I have just completed my first YouTube Watercolour Tips video as I wanted to share a really useful idea that’s helped me with my watercolour journey.
I’m always picking up bargains at art shops, and I’m very lucky to have such a generous family who buy me watercolour related goodies as birthday and Christmas presents. This has resulted in me acquiring many different tubes and pans of watercolour pigments and I was finding it difficult to keep on top of what I had and what they would look like when I came to using them.
Where the idea came from
I decided one weekend to have a good sort out and I came up with the idea of creating mini colour and tonal charts to keep with my paints so that not only would I know where everything was, I would also know what each pigment would look like when I came to using it. I now have these charts with all my different pigments and now I find it really easy to find the pigments I need very quickly. It’s a great way of organising things, it was fun to do, and I made a few discoveries along the way.
Click to Enlarge
Click to Enlarge
Click to Enlarge
How to make the colour chart
These instructions work well for the Windsor & Newton Artists’ Watercolour Field Box
- Any piece of scrap 140lb/300gm Rough watercolour paper will do
- Remember to draw the grid to match the layout of your own palette
- Paint each swatch to match the position of each pigment in your palette
- Variegate each swatch from intense to weak so you can see how the pigment reacts and granulates with different amounts of water.
- Use a “fine” waterproof gel pen to write in the names of the pigments in each swatch
What I Learned
I was surprised at the huge variation of different pigments I had, how they actually looked on paper, how they reacted and granulated with different amounts of water, and how they reacted and mixed differently with other pigments in my palette.
This was a great learning exercise for me and I’m now able to select the pigments I use in my watercolour paintings with more confidence and I also have more predictable results in my finished paintings.
Feedback is essential
If you have any suggestions to improve on this, or want to let me know what would you like to see in my next video, or even share you experience with us – then please use the comments below.
Happy painting!
Here’s the video, I hope it helps you on your journey!
You can get the Windsor & Newton Artists’ Watercolour Field Box Here>
About Ian McKendrick
Ian is an aspiring watercolour artist, passionate about painting the world around him in watercolour and sharing his experience with others. Connect with Ian on Google+
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I'm an aspiring watercolour artist, passionate about painting the world around me in watercolour and sharing my experience with others through social media. For my day job I'm a Social Media Strategist, Public Speaker and Broadcaster.
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Hi Ian
I came across your blog while looking for anything about watercolor color substitutions. I’m just starting Color by Betty Edwards and have most of the colors used in the book, but still haven’t found substitutes for the ones I don’t have. I have a Winsor & Newton Cotman set and that particular line doesn’t have all the colors as specified by Betty Edwards. I’m thinking of just switching to the Winsor & Newton Galeria acrylics which do have all but one color. I imagine once I’ve finished the book, I will be able figure this out myself.
At any rate, I think your colour chart work is just great. As soon as I get the paper, I will be doing something like it so I’m sure your ideas will be very useful to me.
Dennis