I’m extremely picky when it comes to my watercolor paints. I don’t really care about the brand – but rather the overall feel and look of the paint on the page. I love colors that a bright and smooth in appearance (meaning very little to no granulation). I also love colors that mingle or merge easily with one another especially in wet on wet situations.

So below is a list of my favorite paints as well as the brands that I use on a daily basis. Since I’m a nerd when it comes to my paints – I’ve also included my paint resource chart – laying out the make-up of each of my paints below.

SO HERE ARE MY FAVORITE WATERCOLORS

1. BRILLIANT OPERA ROSE  – SCHMINCKE

2. SHELL PINK – HOLBEIN

3. SCARLET LAKE – WINSOR

4. CADMIUM ORANGE – WINSOR

5. INDIAN YELLOW – WINSOR

6. JUANE BRILLIANT NO.2 – HOLBEIN

7. CADMIUM YELLOW – WINSOR

8. CADMIUM YELLOW LEMON – SCHMINCKE

9. GREEN GOLD – WINSOR

10. MAY GREEN – SCHMINCKE

11. WINSOR GREEN (BLUE SHADE) – WINSOR

12. COBALT TURQUOISE – SCHMINCKE

13. HORIZON BLUE – HOLBEIN

14. WINSOR BLUE (GREEN SHADE) – WINSOR

15. QUINACRIDONE MAGENTA – WINSOR

16. MAUVE – WINSOR COTMAN SERIES

17. YELLOW OCHRE – WINSOR

18. GOLD BROWN – SCHMINCKE

19. BURNT UMBER – WINSOR

20. PAYNE’S GRAY – WINSOR

21. NEUTRAL TINT – WINSOR

OTHER PAINTS I’M TESTING

So those are the MAIN colors but I’m also testing a couple of new watercolor paints.  personally, I’m not a huge fan of pan paints when it comes to watercolor – but these paints caught my eye. They aren’t considered traditional watercolors – but their color pay off is really good for an inexpensive pan paint. But I will say – some of their blues and greens aren’t that great. So you may want to substitute some tube paints for the colors that don’t have as great of a color pay off. ?

Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolors, 48 Colors

OTHER INFO ABOUT MY MAIN PALETTE

 If you are nerd like me – you like to know everything about your paints. So here’s a little list that I put together on some basic info on my paint colors and their make-up. 🙂