You hear a lot about favorite watercolor brands, but what about favorite watercolor colors? Over the years, I’ve painted with a variety of sets. One of my palettes even has 40 colors! And as fun as it is to see the array of colors, it’s actually paralyzing for me to have too many choices. If you were to look at my older palettes, you’ll see that I only use a handful of colors over and over again.

In this post, I want to share why I have particular favorite watercolor colors, and my top 10! That’s not to say that I won’t have other favorites in the future, but for now, here they are.

If you have a favorite color, I’d love to hear from you! What do you find yourself buying over and over again?

Why have particular favorite watercolor colors?

When you start to focus on a particular subject or style of painting, you realize that there are certain colors that go well with it. For florals, I love being able to have a variety of greens, vibrant pinks/reds, and versatile yellows. For others, it might be a particular blue that captivates you.

Others have favorite colors because of its properties such as transparency, lightfastness, tone, or the ability to be washed out easily.

Whatever your reasons, artists will eventually gravitate towards certain colors. And that’s actually a good thing! The more you know your paint (and its properties), the easier it will be to mix with other colors, and focus on the actual act of painting rather than stressing about getting the color right.

Want to learn more about how to mix paints? I have a class on how to mix greys and paint with them! Try Skillshare FREE for 30 days!

My 10 Favorite Watercolor Colors (in no particular order)

All of my paints are from the LUKAS brand. You can find it in my supply list at Jerry’s Artarama. If you’re curious about how they swatch, check out this video. In general, I like paints that are transparent or semi-transparent (because watercolors is supposed to be transparent..). In terms of how easy/difficult it is to wash out – I’m not as particular. I probably err on the side of being okay if it’s difficult to wash out simply because I use lots of layers. And I don’t want to accidentally disturb the underpainting if it’s really easy to wash out. However, the downside is that if I ever make a mistake, it’ll be very difficult to reverse it. Pros and cons to everything 🙂

If you’re more of a video person, check out my YouTube video on my favorite colors. And if you’d rather read, then by all means 🙂

1. Alizarin Crimson (PR176)

Each primary color has a warm and cool tone to it. The Alizarin Crimson is on the cool side and I find myself using it more often than a warmer red, so that’s why it’s on this list. I also like to use warmer greens in my paintings, so a cooler red provides a nice balance. This particular alizarin crimson is semi transparent, but difficult to wash out.

2. Genuine Rose (PV19)

I know having a pink color in my top 10 doesn’t make a lot of sense since I can just water down my red. But it’s the slightly less transparency that I like when I use this color. The PV19 pigment has different names across various brands like “Quinacridone Rose” and or “Red Violet”. In other brands it shows up as slightly more red or more purple. But I like the reddish pink nature of this color. You can mix it with the Payne’s Gray for a deep purple or Ultramarine Blue for a lavender color.

3. Permanent Orange (PO71)

As much as I preach about “less is more” and that you don’t need all the colors of the rainbow… orange is one that I’ll make an exception for. I love this orange because it’s a warm orange which I wouldn’t get if I use my go-to red and yellow which are both cool tones. This orange is a great transparent paint, easy to wash out.

4. Lemon Yellow (PY3)

If you want a bright yellow, this lemon yellow is it! The only downside is that it’s very difficult to wash out. But I usually use this as a top layer for filler elements. I also love mixing this with other colors to make vibrant colors. Lemon yellow is a cool tone yellow, so if you’re looking for something warmer, look at #5.

5. Yellow Ochre (PY42)

Yellow ochre was one of the colors in my first ever watercolor paint set. I used it out of necessity back then, but even when I acquired new, similar colors, I found myself coming back to yellow ochre. Especially for details like the flower stamen and branches.

6. Sap Green (PY153, PG7)

Sap green was another color that was in my first set and it was so easy to paint with this color. It was the perfect warm green color for painting leaves and nature. I would also mix this color with Payne’s Gray to create a beautiful olive green color. That was until I discovered the next color.

7. Chromium Oxide Green (PG17)

I fell in love the first time I ever tried the chromium oxide in my LUKAS watercolor set. I loved the opacity, the creamy texture of the paint, and that it was a single pigment! Finally, I didn’t have to mix sap green and payne’s gray anymore. This is my favorite go-to green color. And when watered down, it makes a beautiful sage color that was the inspiration for my wedding! For variety, mix in a touch of ultramarine blue to get that silvery blue eucalyptus color. Ah! I love this color, can you tell?

8. Ultramarine Blue (PB29)

By far the most versatile blue and an absolute must have in anyone’s palette. I don’t use a lot of blue in my paintings. More often than not, I find myself mixing ultramarine blue with other colors. Nevertheless, the ultramarine blue is a standard and is included in most beginner watercolor sets.

9. Payne’s Gray (PR176, PB15:1, PBk7)

I fell in love with payne’s gray early on in my watercolor journey. It was as close to black without being black. I loved the slightly cool tone of the gray and it was great to use as shadows.

10. Burnt Umber (PY155, PR176, PBk7)

My go-to brown for all of my paintings. Branches, feathers, whatever it is, burnt umber is a great neutral brown. I also start with this color and if I want a cooler tone, I add a touch of payne’s gray. And for slightly warmer, I add the yellow ochre. Great way to use all of the other colors in my top 10 favorite.

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Well, those are my 10 favorite watercolor colors! Did any of them make your favorites list? What are your must-have colors? I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment letting me know.

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Until next time!