Watercolor Supplies: Which Winsor & Newton Colors Should You Buy?

I’ve written a couple blogs about my watercolor experience: watercolor basics & recent watercolor paintings & my favorite youtube channels but wanted to do an updated post on my favorite winsor & newton colors now that I’ve tried more and figured out what I gravitate toward.

The basics I shared in the first post are still relevant:

• Watercolor paper (I use Canson right now because it’s cheap but would eventually like to use Arches or something higher quality)
• Princeton brushes (I have a 2, 4, 6 and 14)
• 2 jars (one for rinsing warm colors + one for cool)
• Paints (palette or tubes — I use tubes but there are truly so many options!)
• Palette for mixing

I decided to buy tubes mainly because I think the colors are really vibrant and it allows me to pick and choose which colors I like most. Also, when using paint tubes, I find the paint works best when you let it dry over night. In the photo above, that palette was totally empty when I bought it and I added paints from the tube. The extra wells are good if you want to combine a few tubes and the bigger space is where I do my mixing when I’m painting a particular piece.

So how do you decide what types of paints or paint palette to use? Honestly, it’s a lot of preference but a few solid basics go a long way. For example, you’ll definitely want a mix of cool and warm colors — so some greens/blues/yellows as well as reds/orange/pinks. You’ll want a black and brown for darkening colors. Purple is optional IMO but it came in a set I was given when I first started so I use it from time to time. I probably wouldn’t buy it again if I was only going to choose a few colors.

Another note: Winsor & Newton is one of the highest quality watercolor brands out there, but there are other solid brands (I’ve been told) as well. Within Winsor & Newton, there are grades depending how high quality you want the paints. I have a mix of student and professional grade colors, but it’s really up to you/how much money you want to spend. You’ll still paint beautiful pieces with a lower quality paint — the colors just might not sit as well on the paper or look as bright.

Here are the colors I own:

Current Windsor & Newton Paint Tubes:

• Opera Rose
• Scarlet Lake
• Cadmium Red Pale Hue
• Cadmium Yellow Hue
• Lemon Yellow Deep
• Permanent Sap Green
• Hooker’s Green
• Viridian Hue
• Ultramarine
• Phthalo Turquoise
• Cobalt Blue
• Winsor Violet
• Burnt Umber
• Ivory Black

Wish List:

• Prussian Blue
• Davy’s Grey

If I could only choose 9 colors (aka the ones I use most), I would say: Opera Rose, Scarlet Lake, Lemon Yellow Deep, Sap Green, Phthalo Turquoise, Prussian Blue (I’d buy this!), Cobalt Blue, Burnt Umber and Ivory Black. These colors alone can be mixed and have water added to create SO MANY awesome colors. That’s probably what I love about watercolor the most — you can create so many hues and variations of colors with just a handful or two of paint tubes. But, I digress.

I think in my next post about watercolors I’ll do some of my favorite color combos so you can see all the possibilities. Do you have a favorite watercolor paint? Any I need to add?