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Setting up a limited watercolor palette and putting it to the barn test! (Patreon)

Published:
2025-03-19 16:19:50
Edited:
2025-03-19 16:20:45
Imported:
2026-10

Videos

  • 438668503.mp4

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Content

Today's You Tube video is about setting up a limited palette and using the barn test! Enjoy today's video here on patreon to watch ad free :)

In THIS video:

Winsor and newton palette: https://amzn.to/3RihWG9

Etsy shop palette: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FloandForj?ref=reviews_header_shopname&listing_id=1567170469#items

Letter Sparrow palette: https://www.lettersparrow.com/ 

Ceramic palette: https://potterybyeleni.com/

Files

Comments

marielle

That set was my intro to Winsor and Newton tubes a few years ago (haven't looked back since). I was also baffled by the design of the palette! Never could figure out how we're expected to use it.

Emma

You’ve really inspired me to work with a limited palette since I’ve found you, I thought I needed all the colours! But I don’t! Thank you for your amazing videos ❤️

Chris

I wish I knew this before I filled all of mine. I took it out today and immediately saw that I have no place to mix 🫤 What size are the larger pans. I can certainly replace the sap green and payne’s gray with one of the longer pans and use it for mixing - right?

Kristin Van Leuven

Are you referring to the Etsy shop one? I would just mix on the lid! That’s what I do with my letter sparrow one too

Kristin Van Leuven

This is baohong artists paper. 140lb coldpress. Its my favorite other than arches

Kristin Van Leuven

You’re welcome! It can be quite intimidating at first but I find it so freeing when I’m painting with only a few

Kristin Van Leuven

It looks so exciting and then when I opened it I was like…what is happening 😂

Chris

Yes. Well, that makes too much sense…😂

Debi

I purchased the same silver palette too! It is really nice and very affordable. I will fill it with the primaries, like you did, but I will use Daniel smith colors. Thanks for the video, it’s quite helpful!

Josie Shigeno

Can half pans fit in the metal middle section?

Leah

What a great set! I've been using the cad free yellow for a few years and am a big fan. The cad free red tube was always goopy and streaky, so I recently swapped it out for a different paint. Also have no clue what you would do with the tube area of the palette! The "flap" and lid look just like my first metal watercolor palette and I always just used those sides for mixing! I suppose it's a better value because you're getting more paint in the tubes than if you got pans? Hmmm 🤔

Melinda

this was wonderful! thank you! LOVED the barn test and i'm actually pretty happy w/my little scene that i painted so fast....sometimes i feel like fast is best...not overthinking it.! thanks!

Erin Berlin

I love it! Since seeing your split primary I'm now using fewer colors. I have GOBS ofbdifferent pallets but keep simplifying what I am using.

Bear Raeb Barrett

Ooooo…. The description specifically says that it is a ‘tube’ travel tin

Kristin C.

Thanks for doing a video with the palate you linked. I bought it on your suggestion and was hoping you’d use them in some videos. I agree the palate is crap, hehe. I have NO idea why it was designed that way. You can’t even put any pans in it! I’m using some empty full pans and another tin instead.

Bear Raeb Barrett

Are there any pans that will fit in with magnets on the bottom

Patti

The bottom is magnetic

Shirley

HI Kristen following you I started out using my 24 Winsor Newton Cotman + some Pro, upgrading as I get low. I recently decided to cut that in half for a little travel pocket set. My problem is with the red. I have winsor red, Cad red, Alizerin Crimson, Perm Rose and Perm Magenta. I have currently put Cad Red and Perm Magenta in my little 12 pack. Not sure if those are the best mixing colours. I had perm Rose but that didn’t seem to work as well. Others colours: Cad Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Ultra Marine, Cerulean, Prussian Blue, Sap Green, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Siena, Burnt Umber and Paynes Gray. Any help/direction would much appreciated.

JL

Hi Kristen, I believe you add the pans (full or half bought separately) to the slot below the tubes.

joanne t

learning so much from you about mixing colors- I have gotten lazy and gone for "convenience" colors as I rarely do en plain air or travel painting...I LOVE opera rose- I have it in my gouache palette to serve as a pop of color- so many artists shy away from it because it's fugitive, but as a hobby artist, I could care less!!! loving the barn painting BTW 😊

JD

I am trying a smaller palette today :) I'm so used to convenience colors, but--I love to watch you mix ANY COLOR! :)

Kristin Van Leuven

It's tricky to get used to, but now it's hard for me to go back! Have fun!

Kristin Van Leuven

Thank you! I do love convenience colors too so whatever works for you is great. I agree, I love Opera rose and stand by it lol

Kristin Van Leuven

Hi! I have found that i really love cad red, but it just depends on what I mix it with. I can really only mix it with yellow to get a bright color, everything else becomes really dark. That being said, I have learned to embrace the dark mixes for browns or shadows and I mix it with ultramarine blue a lot. I love magenta if I had to choose between the two pinks. I also think your other colors listed sound perfect. If I expanded my palette I would include those as well. Let me know if that answered your question

Kristin Van Leuven

haha I should have waited until I saw the palette in person before recommending it, but I think the colors offered are absolutely perfect so at least that's a win!

Kristin Van Leuven

I love pulling out really random convenience colors to paint something fun but I am addicted to the limited palettes haha

Kristin Van Leuven

I loved your barn so much! I think painting quick sketches is more helpful than we realize until we do it often and we break through the over thinking. Happened to me too!

Kristin Van Leuven

Yes maybe I can pull the metal part out and get pans to fill instead. Then use both sides for color mixing like you said. I'm hoping it comes out easily lol

Kristin Van Leuven

It looks like they can, but just in one small section at the base. I'm going to try to pull the metal thing out

Kristin Van Leuven

haha when I saw yours in the chat I thought "I should have got more spots for paint and just used the lid for mixing" so I was already thinking about it

Chris

Road trip!! I’m in New Hampshire - this looks fun!

Bear Raeb Barrett

I wouldn’t of thought that either; but, legalize

Bear Raeb Barrett

If you get to do this I’d love to see a picture

Shirley

Kristen thanks so much I really appreciate the help!!

debbie

Kristin, you are inspiring me to mix colors, something I have avoided like the plague until recently. I’m curious, my three go-to greens have been Schminke Olive Green Yellowish (light value), Windsor Newton Deep Sap Green (med value) and WN Perelyne ( dark value). I love all three but now I’m wondering if my trees would look more cohesive if all three values came from the same cohesive blend like your limited palette mixing.

debbie

Same, though I haven’t done it yet!

Alana

I wonder if some people like to paint fresh out of the tube, I.e., not letting it dry first. Then it might make sense to carry the tubes around?? Not too sure as I have only been using watercolour a few months….

debbie

I wonder what you think of the Winsor Newton professiona

debbie

Trying again: I wonder what you think of the WN Professional Field set. I couldn’t seem to attach the link but you could easily find it by googling. Blick has it on sale right now.

Kristin C.

Okay, I’m back after doing the barn test. I found the hardest color to get was dark brown! It kept turning either blue or yellow vs a brown. Gotta practice more!

marielle

I just read through the comments on YouTube and my head nearly exploded - all the comments about W&N tube paint being designed to use straight out of the tube and not recommended to let it cure or dry before using! Sounds like a marketing ploy to me :) I've used it dried for years with zero issues, as do most of the painters I know. I have used their half pans as well and frankly, I can't see any difference in the paint quality or usability. The half pans are fine, I'm just not a fan of the palettes that half pans fit into - I far prefer a ceramic palette or a metal one with slanted wells, so tubes are my preference.

Kristin Van Leuven

Marielle, you are making me feel sane again haha. I had a full on rant to my husband after reading those comments. I'm convinced this is some kind of gaslighting conspiracy. How have I never heard this?! I have also been using winsor and newton since the beginning and no one has said anything and I see everyone do it! SO wild. I contacted W&N directly to ask about this so we'll see what they say!

Bear Raeb Barrett

Yeah I am pretty much as far as I can get away from Washington lol (Georgia) but it does sound fun

Kristin Van Leuven

I love it! When I have a hard time with the darker colors I focus on just 3 of the primaries. For example: I'll add cad yellow, red and ultramarine and slowly add more of one and a tiny bit of another and you should eventually get a dark color. cad red and ultramarine make a muted purple so adding the yellow will make it brown (complement) and then a tiny bit red will make it brighter and more brick colored and OR a tiny bit of ultramarine blue will make it cooler and closer to a deep brown almost black. I hope that all made sense!

Kristin Van Leuven

Debbie, I think you're right! I think choosing one of those green colors and then mixing with yellows and blues to change the tone will let you use a convenience color, but keep it looking very cohesive.

Kristin Van Leuven

Yes, I think that has to be it! I hardly see anyone do that and so I was so confused lol

Kristin Van Leuven

LOVE the colors so much. I had no problem at all re-wetting the colors and they were so vibrant and easy to mix. Definitely a great set of paint

Kristin Van Leuven

Debbie, I don't personally have this set but I've heard it's awesome! I'm tempted to try it out

debbie

Let’s stay in touch on this palette!

marielle

Oh I hope W&N responds! Please keep us posted.

Mimi-me

Hope someone can point me in the right direction. I click on the etsy link, but can't see any ornate metal palettes. Maybe it's sold out? Or maybe it's not available in the UK? Maybe I'm just being dull and missing something obvious. Hope someone can help, as I thought it was gorgeous. Thanks.

Patti

She may be out at the moment but she will restock. Try the contact seller button. I'm not sure if she ships to UK but I would ask

Joan Hayes

I used the barn test painting for one of my tiny paintings! Thanks for that :)

Marian

This was very helpful! Gives me some ideas for when someone asks "what do you want for your birthday?" Now I have some answers!!

Jane Nickerson

Remove the middle section. Add full pans with a magnetic strip.

Terri Klausner

So I looked at the palette and wanted to check which colors I have already before buying. Turns out, I have all but the Winsor Blue. On Amazon, I cannot find Winsor Blue at all, everything that comes up is Phthalo blue or Cobalt Blue. They DID show a Winsor Blue Green tube but not sure if that’s the same as in the palette??? I’m wondering what I can’t use in place of this Winsor Blue? Thanks!

Nancy Draper

Last weekend I bought a Winsor & Newton 25 colours travel set, and it took me 4 days to pop the lid on it. I even googled it and tons of people couldn't get the set open (I felt better) Now I have the dilemma of not being able to pop the squares of paint out, in order to take the wrapping off of each one. It's like getting a Christmas present, but not being able to play with it...... It was not a cheap set, and I'm so frustrated with it. I wonder if people who actually watercolour design these things? I'm thinking not.......... In the future, I'm sticking with my W&N tubes of paint, and will create a palette the way you have. Thank you, Kristin.

Laura Curley

Question, you said you put Opera Rose in your split primary palette, did you mean Permanent Rose (PV19)? Opera rose is almost neon, not lightfast, and pretty granulating. I hate it lol. But that looks like Permanent Rose that you put in there. W & N has two Winsor Blues - red shade and green shade. Is yours green shade? Thanks for making this palette!

Kristin Van Leuven

Yes great catch. I misspoke because my brain automatically goes to opera rose. This is Permanent rose and the Winsor blue is green shade

Karen

I'm pretty new to this - played around with a tube of indigo right out of the tube for a monochromatic painting, and really liked it - just more water for the light layer and less for the others, and pretty much straight from the tube for some darker parts. It's Windsor & Newton Cottman and worked really well for that.

Karen

Thanks for this, I've had trouble getting browns too.

Crystal Aberle-Crookshanks

To celebrate 1 year since I started watercolor, I splurged in this winsor professional kit. I put the warms on top, cools on bottom, amd the extras in the middle. Tank you for teaching me that this is all I need. Now I need to repaint all the minis again! 💕

Leslie Young

So my friend pried the metal pieces out for me and I'm going to use the palette with magnets and pans. I may jury-rig part to hold a brush or two?

Betsy

Great video! You may have covered this before, but I’m curious about your choice of W/N paint over other brands, such as Daniel Smith or Utrecht.

Suzanne Reichardt

A clever idea putting the paints into the wells but I always thought that this part of the palette was for mixing your paints, same as the wells in the lid.