Your Artist Palette
Putting together an artist palette can be one of the most challenging – and most rewarding – parts of the creative process. With all the possibilities, fleeting wishes, and ever-changing artistic ideas, it’s easy to feel lost. With this guide, we hope to encourage you to take this journey with joy and start creating already at the palette selection stage.
Why Colors Matter
We are often drawn to an artwork because of its theme, linework, or expression. But more than often, it’s the colors that speak to us. How they interact, how light plays with shadow, how soft, vibrant, or muted they are.
An artist’s palette is a powerful element of creative expression. Finding the right colors – and how they dance together – is deeply personal, even intimate.
There are many opinions in the art world about what a “correct” palette should look like. But DeepDeepLight watercolors are made for wild and free people. While we honor color theory and the wisdom of masters, we encourage you to look deeper – into your heart and soul.
A palette that truly appeals to your creative spirit will make you paint more – passionately, and from the heart.
Start With a Moodboard
A wonderful way to begin is by creating a moodboard – for your general color scheme or for a particular project. It could be inspired by a journey, a season, a series of artworks, or even your sketchbook.
Working with the same palette ties individual pieces into a collection effortlessly. Over time, people begin to recognize your palette unconsciously. Combined with your linework, contrast, play of light and shadow, and general mood, it becomes part of your unique artistic signature.
You can make your moodboard from tangible paper – cutouts from magazines, brochures, wrapping paper – or assemble it digitally. Include photos of places, artworks, or anything that sparks joy and creative energy.
Soon, you’ll notice repeating colors. Look at them separately – yellows, blues, reds/pinks, and any repeating color. These are the skeleton of your palette.
From Moodboard to Palette
Once you’ve identified your core colors, your palette begins to take shape. At this point, browse our ready-made palettes to see if any resonate with your moodboard. Many artists find their favorite moods already reflected in our collections.
Our team and ambassador artists have spent countless hours exploring color combinations – selecting those that complement each other and sing in harmonious rhythm.
You can always customize our palette to turn it into yours. Many artists begin with one of our smaller sets – like Forest, Winter Birds, Baltic Meadow, Albert’s Palette, Soul of the Oak, Nature by Nature, or the Transparent Primary Set – and gradually grow them into their perfect palette.
Building Your Own Palette
If you wish to create your palette from scratch, start by identifying your base trio – a yellow, a red/pink, and a blue. We have a gallery of different colorwheels at the end of this article. Browse there and see which one makes your heart sing. And maybe it is not in one wheel – if you identify that you like particular blue and red combination but doesn’t like yellow in our wheels, maybe you can find the same red combined with different yellow that you love in another one.
Once you have them, listen to your heart and add a few soul colors – the ones you can’t stop thinking about or that appeared in your moodboard. We’ve seen countless artists return later to pick up the shades they initially left behind.
Only after that, bring in your logical mind. Think about your subjects, what secondary colors (green, purple, orange) your base trio can create, and where you might have color gaps.
Consider your budget and goals:
-
Do you need precise, nature-matching colors?
-
Or do you want to explore your inner world through color?
- Do you feel your artistic style is more bright and bold or muted and moody?
Each goal calls for a different approach.
Aligning Mood and Color
You can also define the mood or emotion you wish to express and “try on” your colors against those words.
If your moodboard whispers light, soft, gentle but your palette is bold and saturated, there might be a dissonance that blocks creative flow.
In fact, we’ve seen many creative blocks arise from mismatched palettes. It’s like trying to bake a cake with only garlic, rice, and bell peppers – possible, but not what your soul craves.
And oh, the joy when artists finally find their perfect palette – the one that invites them to paint, explore, and breathe life into watercolor!
There Is No Universal Palette
We believe there’s no single “right” palette. Each artist is unique, each project different, and the world around us constantly shifts.
Our palettes often mirror our inner seasons. Living in a four-season climate, we naturally change palettes as we change clothes – each reflecting a different mood and energy. Sometimes our inner seasons don’t match the one out in nature. And that is absolutely beautiful.
With over a hundred shades, we can always help you find a combination that feels truly yours.
Please don’t hesitate to write to us at watercolors@deepdeeplight.com or reach out on Instagram for friendly advice.
We are honored to be invited into this sacred space of your creative journey.
With love,
DeepDeepLight souls
