Shades Of Grey

Nearly all these shades of grey I have mixed from the colours in my studio palette. You can see a picture of my studio palette on my WATERCOLOUR MATERIALS page. Since I bought this palette I have reorganized the colours a several times. But I have finally settled on a range of colours that will now permanently form my basic palette. Just for your reference, those colours are:

Buff Titanium, Naples Yellow, Hansa Yellow Medium, New Gamboge, Aussie Red Gold, Pyrrol  Scarlet, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Quinacridone Coral, Quinacridone Rose, Carbazole Violet, Indigo, Ultramarine Green Shade, Prussian Blue, Cobalt Blue, Phthalo Blue GS, Manganese Blue Hue, Phthalo Blue Turquoise, Cascade Green, Olive Green, Undersea Green, Quinacridone Gold, Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (MANS), Quinacridone Burnt Orange, Raw Sienna Light, Transparent Red Oxide, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Sepia, Flint Grey, Jane’s Grey and Lunar Black. All are Daniel Smith watercolours except for the Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Indigo, Ultramarine GS and Raw Umber which are by Winsor & Newton.

Most of the grey shades mixed here are from different combinations of the above colours.  I’ve done a dark, medium and light version of each grey mix and written by each one what colours I’ve used because I have no hope of remembering what they are! This is a really useful source of reference for me. Some are cool greys, some are warm and some are completely neutral.

All 115 of these grey’s are painted over three pages in my newest custom built A4 sketchbook, an A4 ringbinder file which I have filled with Arches paper. There are about 60 pages in my sketchbook and each page is 1/8th imperial size. I have done this because I’m fed up with being disappointed with the paper in ready made sketchbooks. So I’ve built my own and it suits my needs very well.

Greys are beautiful and essential to watercolour painting. Mixing my own means I can create greys that will harmonize completely with the other colours in my painting. How many shades of grey can you mix from your palette?