I love filling new palettes and I love being able to share watercolors with others, so it is a given that I have wanted to give starter watercolor palettes to friends and family who have expressed an interest in them.

Here's the dilemma- I want new watercolor painters to start out with high-quality paints with a good mixing range and some convenience colors, but I don't want to spend a lot of money giving away paints.   I also want to have a selection of paints that I can use for future teaching workshops.  Too many hues and a teaching palette can get overwhelming and over-complicated.

I still recommend the set of watercolors I started with in 2016, Daniel Smith's Essential Introductory 6-tube set.  I have used this set for teaching workshops and I still use them frequently.  However, for a gift set of watercolors there are two drawbacks that led me to look for an alternative.  First, the price has gone up almost $10 since I bought my set in 2016.  Second, one of the most fun parts of sharing a set of watercolors for me is customizing it a little bit for the recipient.  The Daniel Smith Essential Introductory set is a great split-primary set, but lacks personality.  Part of what can excite a new watercolor painter is the huge range of fun colors- even if those colors are for convenience.  Not everything must be didactic! 

That last point, customizing the gift palette for the artist receiving it, explains a few of the unusual choices in what I am boldly calling the best sharing watercolor palette (that I have made).  This selection was chosen for my nieces who are interested enough in watercolor to make good use of professional quality paints.  LB loves a periwinkle bluish color, so I chose the Lavender for her.  Opus (Vivid Pink) reminds me of the color of Homecoming dress Abbie wore and is a fun florescent color that mixes beautifully with the other colors.

Speaking of mixing, I made mixing tests with all of the colors and I'm excited to share the scans here in the weeks to come.  I'll discuss my favorite mixes and give more justifications for why I have chosen these colors.  I also have been thinking about what I would substitute for the Opus (Vivid Pink) and Lavender in a palette designed for a teaching workshop.  Maybe a darker green?  Maybe even some white gouache?  Anyone have a suggestion?  I may need to pick up another tube or two of paint- it's always fun to paint shop!

That brings me back around to the first reason I am calling this the best teaching and sharing watercolor palette- cost.  All of these paints are made by Da Vinci, an American paint company based out of California.  They make a 37ml tube that can fill an empty half pan approximately 18 times!  All the colors I used are available in the 37ml tubes except the Opus (Vivid Pink) that is available in 15ml.  I haven't broken down the cost per pan yet, but it is one of the most economical options to share artist grade watercolor paint.  I'll run the numbers and share the costs in a future post!