Colours for Watercolors – Watercolor Palette for flower and rose paintings

Wich Watercolor Palette is the best for Watercolor Paintings of roses and flowers?

I am often asked which colours I use for my watercolor paintings.

I will share my Watercolor Palette for my Flowers and Rose Paintings . The colours on my palette are all from Schmincke, Germany
But you don’t need the Schmincke paints for your watercolor paintings. You can buy similar colours from other suppliers, like Winsor and Newton, Daniel Smith etc.

But please have in mind that as excample Indian Yellow from Schmincke is not the same as Indian yellow from another supplier. For a similar warm yellow (as I use Indian Yellow from Schmincke) I would suggest using New Gamboge from Winsor and Newton.

Colours on my Watercolor Palette

My Watercolor palette for my flower and rose paintings contains the following colors:

  • Aureolin
  • Indian Yellow
  • Translucent Orange
  • Scarlet Red
  • Alizarin Crimson
  • Ruby Red (or Permanent Rose from W&N)
  • Purple Magenta
  • Phthalo Blue
  • Sap Green
  • Phthalo Green
  • Paynes Grey Bluish

Having these colors on your watercolor palette you can create every painting. You don’t need more colors.

But …  I also love the following colours for my leaves and backgrounds in my flower and rose paintings:

  • Olive Green (a beautiful dark rich green)
  • Heliocoelin
  • Phthalo Turquoise
  • Paynes Grey (not the bluish version) OR
  • Indigo
  • Burnt Sienna

Please note: I do not use the flower watercolor palette for my figurative paintings. For skin tones I like different colors.

Transparent Colours for Rose and Flower Paintings

I paint with transparent watercolors to make sure that I can create luminous and glowing colours. Petals of Roses and Flowers are so delicate and I love to portray them in the most beautiful way. This is only with transparent colours possible. This also means that I paint in layers to build up the richness of colours but to make also sure that the first layers shine through the next layers. Try it out, it is simply amazing.

Look at this WIP of my Rose Painting “After the Rain”.
You can view the whole painting in my gallery of Rose Paintings. Prints of this rose painting are available.

Do you see how the colours do swing and sing? The colours are glowing and the shadows are dancing.