watercolour travel palette idea

Usually I mix my colours...

Most of the time, I mix my own colours. It’s a wonderfully meditative part of the painting process and one I genuinely enjoy. Mixing gives me control, but also a sense of spontaneity — subtle shifts in colour happen naturally, and no two mixes are ever quite the same.

For big areas of colour and for shadows especially, I like to be able to vary the mix so that I can keep these areas interesting and play with tone, reflected light and colour. Plus watercolour is all about a balance between intention and surprise - it's what makes it so much fun.

Enter Deep Deep Light watercolours

That said, I recently made an exception.

I got my hands on 45 half pans of handmade, granulating watercolours from Deep Deep Light, and I have to say — hats off to them. These paints are beautifully made, with rich pigment and some of the most satisfying granulation I’ve seen. Many of the colours are mixes, not the usual single pigments I work with, and their range of ready mixed greens alone is an eye-opener.

What an wonderful time saver when sketching outside! Ready mixed colours separate beautifully when you work very wet, and there's often granulation which is great for texture when painting greenery or stonework. Such a pleasure.

A custom palette for each journey

Rather than replacing my usual approach, they’ve opened up a new way of working for me — especially when painting on location. With 45 colours to choose from (they have about 100 I think), I came up with the idea to design a specific palette for each place I visit.

Before leaving for Tuscany, I bought a small metal watercolour palette from Meeden and filled it with 20 of the half pans.

My aim was to suit:

• Autumn light and warm shadows

• Tuscan stonework

• Cypress and olive trees

• Earthy villages and soft skies

Then straight after Tuscany, we left for Sardinia. So I could pop out some of the pans and replace the autumn tones for more blues and greens.

This process of customising a travel palette for each location has opened up so many possibilities. Each place now has its own colour story, reflected not just in the subject matter, but in the pigments themselves.

A simple but useful tip

t the end of a trip, I took a moment to look at which colours I’d used most. It’s very easy to spot — just look for the pans with the biggest brush dimples.

This gives me a perfect reference for future trips.

Why location‑specific palettes work wo well

Creating a palette for a specific place:

• Creates a visual memory of that location through colour
• Reduces overwhelm while travelling. I see so many students struggle with colour choice because they just have too many to choose from.
• Encourages cohesion across your sketches

Over time, I think these palettes will become part of the story — just as meaningful as the sketches themselves.

What's next?

I’m already wondering what I’ll pack for Morocco in March. Earthy reds? Dusty neutrals? Indigo shadows? Magenta? Turquoise?

Oh the happy decisions! — the anticipation, the preparation, and the quiet ritual of choosing colours before the journey even begins.

Would you like to try these Deep Deep Light watercolours too?

Visit Deep Deep Light and use my code RENEELIGHT for 10% off your purchase. Happy painting!