Sap Green: PO48/PG7/PY150 (Transparent – multiple pigments). Ok I admit it. I include this one because I’m lazy! It gives me a consistent sap green appearance when I want a fast color for vegetation. It provides a natural looking green that can be used straight from the palette. Earth Colors:

Warm Yellow – Hansa Yellow Deep: PY65 (Semi-transparent / single pigment). This pigment gives a beautifully warm, vibrant, and pure yellow appearance. It only undergoes a very slight color shift as it dries, keeping most of its color saturation. Makes fantastic oranges when mixed with warm reds.

Why I Use M. Graham Watercolors By Mike Bailey AWS and NWS member Mike Bailey @me_bailey_art shares why M. Graham paints permanently reside in his palette in the latest M. Graham blog. Quinacridone Burnt Orange: PO48 (Transparent & single pigment). This is a beautiful orange earth color. It has a similar color appearance to burnt sienna, and makes some wonderful colors when mixed with blue.

Warm Red – Pyrrol Scarlet: PR255 (Semi-transparent & single pigment). This is a very intense warm red color with excellent lightfast qualities. It has consistent handling properties across different brands. The problem is that I have a very strong bias towards portability in watercolours - it's one of the strengths of the medium - so paints that are difficult to travel with are less interesting to me. MG and Sennelier both make gorgeous watercolours - highly pigmented and lovely and rich - but I wouldn't choose to use them myself simply because they don't 'set' in a palette. Maybe if they were heated a little...? One artist who uses them very happily for plein air just puts a tiny dot of paint in each pigment well and keeps his palette flat so it can't make a mess. Larger quantities of paint staying moist in a palette in humid Sydney are a recipe for mould. Much of what brand you prefer depends upon how you paint, so favorite brands vary widely from person to person.Many artists (like me) use a mix of brands. When it comes to watercolor brands, the only “rule” is this: Use the color that you love regardless of brand.Many artists love WN’s light value because the paints work so well in glazes, yet this characteristic can cause them to go washy in mixes, and their transparency often doesn't play well when mixed with highly granulating pigments.

See Charlie’s My Little Palette post for his travel palette set-up and the list of M. Graham paints that he uses. Raw Sienna: PBr7 (Semi-transparent & single pigment). This color has a similar appearance to Yellow Ochre. One of its distinctive qualities is that you can paint superb glowing skies without giving a green tint to you blue sky wash! Ask five watercolor artists which brand they recommend and you’ll probably get five different answers!But if you are looking for granulation you'd see it most in the cobalt colours. And of course in Daniel Smith.