A palette of six to ten well-chosen single-pigment colours covers most mixing needs. The difficulty is knowing which six to ten.
Building a core watercolour palette is one of the first real decisions a painter faces, and the advice available rarely helps. Twelve colours are recommended, then twenty, then a starter set that doubles up on hues and includes at least two paints nobody actually uses. The result is a palette that costs more, mixes worse, and teaches less.
At a glance
Six colours is not limiting. It is a discipline. A palette of six well-chosen single-pigment colours can mix a wider range than twelve poorly chosen ones. The limitation is useful.
You need a warm blue and a cool blue. French Ultramarine (PB29) and Cerulean (PB35) together cover the range from warm atmospheric blue to clean sky blue and mixing blue for greens.
Burnt Sienna (PR101) is the most versatile earth. Transparent, warm, and clean-mixing. It neutralises blues cleanly, warms shadows, and produces reliable darks when combined with Ultramarine.
Avoid tube black until you understand it. A dark mixed from Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna is richer and more controllable than Ivory Black or Lamp Black for most watercolour purposes.
Add colours for specific purposes, not for variety. The case for adding a new colour is that it cannot be mixed from what you have, not that it looks interesting in the pan.
What a core palette actually needs to do
A working palette is a mixing system, not a collection. The goal is to cover the widest possible range of hues and values using the fewest possible single-pigment colours, with clean mixes and predictable behaviour on paper.
Single-pigment colours are the basis of this. A paint made from one pigment mixes clearly with another single-pigment colour. Bring two multi-pigment convenience mixes together and you may have five or six pigments in the wash, which muddies quickly. This is not theory. It is what happens on the paper.
The materials section of this site returns to single-pigment selection often because it underpins almost every other materials decision a painter makes.
The blues: why two is more useful than one
Most painters work with at least two blues, and there is a practical reason for it.
French Ultramarine, Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour (PB29). This is the blue to start with. PB29 is warm, slightly granulating, and transparent. It mixes cleanly with earth pigments, producing a range of reliable neutral darks, and it sits naturally in skies, shadows, and any subject that needs depth without hardness. Available in 5ml and 14ml tubes from Jackson’s Art Supplies and Cass Art, among other UK suppliers, at approximately £5 to £8 per tube. It is on almost every professional palette for good reason.
Cerulean Blue, Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour (PB35). Cooler than Ultramarine, less granulating, and slightly more opaque. Where PB29 leans warm and granular, PB35 is clean and precise. It is the better choice for clear skies and for mixing cool greens from yellows. The two blues together cover a range that neither can cover alone. Approximately £7 to £10 per tube.
Having both does not mean using both at once. It means having the right blue available when the subject calls for it.
The reds and earths that earn their place
Red is where palette bloat usually begins. A warm red, a cool red, a rose, a lake, a cadmium. Most of them can be mixed or substituted. A few of them cannot.
Burnt Sienna, Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour (PR101). Not a red in the conventional sense, but it functions as the most versatile warm pigment on any palette. Transparent, clean, and reliable. Mixed with PB29, it produces a range of darks, from warm brown-black to neutral grey, without reaching for a tube black. Mixed with a yellow, it warms and enriches without muddying. PR101 is pure synthetic iron oxide and behaves consistently across papers and conditions. Approximately £5 to £8 per tube.
Yellow Ochre, Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour (PY43). Natural Yellow Iron Oxide, slightly granulating. This is the warm yellow for landscapes, earth-toned work, and anywhere a stronger yellow would overpower. It handles well at low dilutions and does not bleed or bloom unexpectedly. Also around £5 to £8 per tube.
The test for any colour on the palette is simple. Can this be mixed from the colours already here? If yes, it does not need its own pan. If no, and if the result it produces matters to the work, it earns its place. Most palettes fail this test in at least three or four positions.
The yellows: warm and cool
A warm and cool yellow round out the primary triad and open up the full mixing range for greens.
Winsor Yellow, Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour (PY154). A warm, strong yellow with good transparency. It mixes well with both blues and produces a range of greens without going dull.
Winsor Lemon, Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour (PY175). Cooler and slightly greener in bias. Mixed with PB15 (Winsor Blue Green Shade) it produces clean, bright greens that a warm yellow cannot match. With PB29, the result is more muted, which is often useful in itself.
Neither yellow is essential on its own. Together, they cover the range. In the early stages of building a palette, starting with one, usually the warm yellow, and adding the second only when a specific mixing need arises, is a reasonable approach.
A reliable dark without tube black
Tube black has a place in some painters’ practice. In the early stages, it is more likely to flatten a wash than improve it.
The Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna combination, PB29 and PR101, produces a dark that reads as near-black at full saturation and breaks into rich, warm browns at mid-dilution. Adjust the ratio to warm or cool the result. It is a more responsive dark than a straight black, and it integrates naturally with the rest of the palette because the component colours are already in use elsewhere.
If a true neutral dark is needed, adding a small amount of PY43 cools and deepens the mix further. All three pigments are already on the palette; no new colour is required.
Building outward from the core
A palette of six colours, two blues, two yellows, an earth, and the Burnt Sienna, is a complete working system for most watercolour subjects. The question of what to add next depends entirely on what that palette cannot do.
Granulating blues for specific textural effects, a transparent violet that cannot be mixed cleanly from the primaries, a second earth with different particle behaviour: these are all defensible additions for specific purposes. A second warm yellow because the first ran out is not the same thing.
The practical discipline of a limited palette is that it forces the painter to understand what each colour actually does in a mix, which is more useful knowledge than having a paint for every possible hue. The single-pigment watercolours explained article covers the underlying logic of this in more detail.
Start small, use what you have properly, and add new colours when the palette genuinely cannot produce what the work needs.
What to buy
Core colours
Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour
French Ultramarine (PB29)
The most versatile blue for most watercolour work. Transparent, granulating, and clean-mixing with earths.
Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour
Cerulean Blue (PB35)
Cool, less granulating than Ultramarine. The second blue on most working palettes.
Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour
Burnt Sienna (PR101)
Transparent, warm, and the most useful mixing colour on any palette. Produces a range of reliable darks with PB29.
Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour
Yellow Ochre (PY43)
Natural Yellow Iron Oxide. Slightly granulating. The most useful yellow for landscapes and earth-toned work.
Where to buy
