Twelve at work; three waiting their turn

Mark’s working palette is organised around twelve colours that can carry a painting on their own. Three additional colours are available when a direct lemon, middle red or turquoise earns its place. The distinction matters: the extras are useful shortcuts, not missing parts that have to be brought in every time a wash looks uncertain.

The current core contains ten Daniel Smith paints and two ROSA Gallery paints: Azo Yellow PY151 and the PG7 green. The longer-term plan is a Daniel Smith version of the same core pigments when replacement is useful. Sound paint is being used, not discarded for the satisfaction of matching labels. The paint box is allowed to have more than one surname.

The rows describe a way of thinking

Base / Body contains Raw Sienna Light PY42, Permanent Brown PBr25, Indanthrone Blue PB60 and Perylene Green PBk31. In Mark’s arrangement these give structure, darks and a restrained starting point. The name of the row describes their role in the palette; it does not mean they all have the same opacity, sediment or covering power.

Traditional Colour holds Isoindoline Yellow PY139, Pyrrol Scarlet PR255, French Ultramarine PB29 and the ROSA PG7 green. Modern Accent holds ROSA Azo Yellow PY151, Quinacridone Rose PV19, Phthalo Blue Green Shade PB15:3 and Rich Green Gold PY129. These are working groups, not a chronology of pigment invention. They offer different routes towards everyday colour and stronger accents.

The current working twelve

A job for every well.

Read across each row: yellow, red, blue, then greenward colour. Ten Daniel Smith paints and two ROSA Gallery paints.

Base / Body

  • PY42Raw Sienna LightDaniel Smith
  • PBr25Permanent BrownDaniel Smith
  • PB60Indanthrone BlueDaniel Smith
  • PBk31Perylene GreenDaniel Smith

Traditional Colour

  • PY139Isoindoline YellowDaniel Smith
  • PR255Pyrrol ScarletDaniel Smith
  • PB29French UltramarineDaniel Smith
  • PG7PG7 green / Emerald GreenROSA Gallery

Modern Accent

  • PY151Azo YellowROSA Gallery
  • PV19Quinacridone RoseDaniel Smith
  • PB15:3Phthalo Blue · Green ShadeDaniel Smith
  • PY129Rich Green GoldDaniel Smith

Current palette recorded in Mark’s studio notes. The auxiliary lemon, red and turquoise remain separate.

Why three blues and three greenward colours?

The blues are not three versions of the same decision. Indanthrone offers a deep blue starting point; French Ultramarine brings a granulating option; Phthalo Blue Green Shade provides an intense mixing blue. Daniel Smith’s current chart lists all three as transparent, but their other characteristics differ. Test them at similar lightness as well as straight from a strong puddle.

The green column is particularly deliberate. Perylene Green gives a dark green-black, PG7 supplies a strong green mixing pole, and Rich Green Gold gives a yellow-green direction. Rich Green Gold carries the yellow pigment code PY129: it sits here because of what it does in Mark’s arrangement. The ROSA PG7 paint is described by function in his notes as Phthalo Green Blue Shade; ROSA’s current chart names its PG7 colour Emerald Green.

Why this supports the paintings Mark wants to make

Mark’s practice values transparency, gesture, colour interaction and visible decisions. A palette with both restrained structural colours and strong accents offers a useful way to separate a broad connected wash from a small interruption. The useful question is not whether twelve pigments can imitate every object. It is whether they make the relationships the picture needs.

Try building a modest colour world with Raw Sienna Light, Permanent Brown and Indanthrone Blue, then introducing one stronger accent. Or take one colour from each column and make a deliberately limited study. These are exercises drawn from the organisation of the box. They help reveal which colours you reach for repeatedly and which are merely enjoying the ride.

Know the actual paint, not just its code

Single-pigment wells make mixtures easier to account for, but they do not make all paints behave alike. ROSA lists its current Azo Yellow PY151 as semi-opaque; the planned same-pigment Daniel Smith replacement needs its own wash test. French Ultramarine is granulating, while Daniel Smith’s current chart lists Perylene Green as non-granulating. An earthy appearance is not evidence that a paint must deposit visible granules.

For Mark’s transparent passages, the amount of paint matters alongside the product rating. Make pale washes as well as strong swatches. Introduce a powerful phthalo a little at a time and keep a clean mixing area. The pigment can be perfectly useful and still take over the meeting if you give it the whole table.

The optional three—and the question still on the table

The present lemon is ROSA Cadmium Lemon PY35; the eventual choice in the notes is Daniel Smith Lemon Yellow PY175. Those are different pigments. ROSA Pyrrol Red PR254 supplies the optional middle red, with a future Daniel Smith PR254 replacement contemplated. Daniel Smith Phthalo Blue Turquoise PB16 is already owned. A ROSA Turquoise Hue is also available for experiments, but its pigment composition is not recorded here.

The later mentor conversation asks whether the lemon or middle red might deserve a place in the core. That remains a test, not a completed rearrangement. Put the current lemon and Azo Yellow beside each other with PB15:3, comparing thin and stronger mixtures. Put PR254 beside PR255 where a subject calls for a direct red. Judge what changes in a painting, then change the box only if the new behaviour earns its place.

Try it · 40 minutes · Editorial exercise

One column choice, one small painting

  1. Choose one yellow, one red, one blue and one greenward colour from the core. Write their pigment codes on your test sheet.
  2. Make a pale wash and a strong note of each; mix two small darks using combinations you want to explore.
  3. Paint an ordinary subject with those four colours. Keep the three auxiliary colours closed for this first study.
  4. Repeat only the passage that would benefit from an extra. Compare the result after drying before deciding whether the core needs changing.

Make this a study of your own subject. These are our practice prompts, not a claim to reproduce an artist’s exact method.

Take a practice sheet →

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Sources support the factual context; looking notes and exercises are Watercolourist editorial interpretation.

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