A quick note before I get into this post: I don’t just have one watercolor palette - as the title of this post may suggest. I have one 24-well palette. I also have a 12-well palette, and a small travel palette…you get the point. Ok, now we can proceed!

In today’s post, I’m sharing the 24 colors I have in my 24-well watercolor palette. As I mentioned above, I have a collection of palettes and one of them has room for 24 colors. 

I want to make this clear because you definitely do not need to have 24 colors in order to watercolor. You can paint with less, you can paint with more. It’s all about your own personal preference. In fact, you may find that you like having a larger palette you use at home and a smaller one that is used for travel. Again, it’s what works for you.

Like palette size, color selection is a personal choice. It all comes down to what colors you enjoying painting with. To be honest, I wonder if I’ll ever settle on 24 colors that I will always use. I believe as my painting experience evolves, so will the color selection in my palettes.

MY 24-COLOR PALETTE

When I first bought this large palette, I filled it with small dollops of paint because I was unsure about my color choices. I didn’t want to squeeze a bunch of paint into the wells just to find out I should have left room for a different color.

If you know me, you’ll know I’m a fan of starting with a 12-well palette. I find that selecting 12 colors encourages me to narrow down to the more “essential” base colors. With this 24-color palette, I have what I consider my “essential” set of colors, and then I add onto it with “nice-to-have” colors. And, if I’m being completely honest, many of the last few colors in this set are a bit random!

This is because at this point in my painting journey, I don’t have a huge watercolor tube paint collection. So when it came time to refill this palette, I decided to fill it by choosing from the colors I already own. I have a collection of mostly Daniel Smith with a few Winsor & Newton Professional. So from 27 tubes I just had to narrow it down to 24 - not too bad!

Yes, this means that I don’t love every single color in this palette, but I want to try and use what I have. I also think that this will help me get even more clear with exactly what colors I should buy again and which ones I won’t buy again.

LIST OF COLORS

• The 12 colors I currently consider “essentials” are marked with an asterisk (*)

• All colors are Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors unless noted otherwise

• Here is a link to my 24-color palette on Amazon
  

Yellows

• Hansa Yellow Light*

• Hansa Yellow Medium

• Quinacridone Gold*
  (Winsor & Newton)

Oranges

• Transparent Pyrrol Orange

Reds

• Pyrrol Scarlet*

• Quinacridone Rose*

• Alizarin Crimson

• Rhodonite Genuine

Blues

• French Ultramarine*

• Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)*

• Cerulean Blue Chromium

• Mayan Blue Genuine

• Prussian Blue

• Cobalt Turquoise Light*
  (Winsor & Newton)

Greens

• Phthalo Green (Blue Shade)*

• Jadeite Genuine

• Sap Green*

Greys

• Paynes Grey*

Earth Colors

• Raw Umber

• Burnt Sienna*

• Hematite Genuine

• Piemontite Genuine

Other

• Buff Titanium*

• Moonglow

I’m looking forward to painting with this newly filled palette! I’ve linked all the colors above for your convenience. 

Please note that the links above are affiliate links - if you click on them and make a purchase, I will make a small commission at no additional cost to you. I recommend these paints because I use them and love them, not because of the small commissions I make if you decide to buy something. Please don't spend your money on these paints unless you feel like you need them and will be useful for you!

As always, thank you for reading,
Susan