2026 Watercolor Palette

“Color! What a deep and mysterious language, the language of dreams.” - Paul Gauguin

2025 was a huge year of growth for my art endeavors. I’m a bit late on my start for a 2026 blog, but growing the blog is one my art goals for the rest of this year. To that end, I am sharing a look at my color palette. My my basic watercolor palette has remained relatively stable for the past 30 years. However, there there have been recent changes to the number of colors, types of paint and brands. For years I have used a basic twelve color selection of paints. In the past year that has expanded to the twenty color palette you see below. This gives me more mixing options and access to occasional colors. The Veridian and Sage Green alternate depending on the goal of the painting. I have also started to incorporate a secondary palette using granulating pigments (as of this writing, I have not experimented with paint additives). The granulating colors add texture, depth and desirable unpredictability to my paintings. The Cass Art London paints come in a pack of four different granulated colours. It was a gift from a friend who visited London. Their website does not show that they are sold as individual tubes of paint and do not ship to the US. That’s a problem. Hence, the Daniel Smith and Case For Making. Daniel Smith Lunar and PrimaTek designations provide a wide selection of granulating pigments that are made in Seattle. Case For Making paints are handmade in San Francisico. I try to support and respect local makers. However, they only come in dry half pans (not tubes) and have a bit of an opaque quality that I find difficult to use. That being said, some of thier colors, like Cypress Green and Riverbed, are amazing and have varigated color when used in a wash. I have gravitated toward Daniel Smith paints and away from other fine brands in recent years. They are made in the USA, have consistent quality and push the limit with an extensive inovative color range. That’s it for this month. Maybe I will circle back in a year and let you know of anything changes. Make art!

Mark Zall Basic Watercolor Palette:

Opera Pink (Daniel Smith)

Alizarin Crimson (Daniel Smith)

Cadmium Red Medium Hue (Daniel Smith)

Chinese Orange (Senelier)

Brunt Sienna (Daniel Smith)

Burnt Umber (Daniel Smith)

Juane Brillant No. 1 (Holbien)

Yellow Ochre (Daniel Smith)

New Gamboge (Daniel Smith)

Lemon Yellow (Daniel Smith)

Viridian (Daniel Smith) or Sage Green (Cass Art)

Sap Green (Daniel Smith)

Perylene Green (Daniel Smith) or Shadow Green (Holbein)

Cerulean Blue (Daniel Smith)

Cobalt Blue (Daniel Smith)

French Ultramarine Blue (Daniel Smith)

Prussian Blue (Daniel Smith)

Indigo (Daniel Smith)

Imperial Purple (Daniel Smith)

Payne's Gray (Daniel Smith)

Mark Zall Granulating Watercolor Palette

Lunar Red Rock (Daniel Smith)

English Red Earth (Daniel Smith)

Lunar Earth (Daniel Smith)

Burgundy Yellow Ochre (Daniel Smith)

Green Apatite Genuine (Daniel Smith)

Sage Green (Cass Art)

Cypress Green (Case For Making, half pan only)

Deep Sea Green (Cass Art)

Lunar Blue (Cass Art)

Lunar Blue (Daniel Smith)

French Ultramarine (Daniel Smith)

Nebula (Cass Art)

Lunar Violet (Daniel Smith)

Bloodstone Genuine (Daniel Smith)

Lunar Black (Daniel Smith)