As the upcoming Live Version of Foundations (we start next week on 8 January) is such a big event, I decided to make a brand new palette for it. There is something very special about a new tin and fresh pans, isn’t there?

I’m also going to use a Fine Lamy nib (in a Strawberry Joy) rather than a 55-degree Fude and a round brush rather than my usual dagger brush.

The Foundations palette contains 6 colours (see here) and includes these colours:

DS Hansa Yellow Medium PY97
DS Quinacridone Rose PV19
DS Ultramarine Blue PB29
DS Monte Amiata Natural Sienna PBr7
DS Transparent Red Oxide PR101
DS Cerulean Blue Chromium PB36

I’ve stuck with these colours except for the DS Ultramarine Blue which I swapped for Schmincke French Ultramarine since this is the Ultramarine that I had tubes of.

A few other comments:

• I’ve split the Hansa Yellow Medium into two half pans
• When I was in the process of filling the full pan of Cerulean Blue Chromium, I made a snap decision to only fill one half of it and fill the other half with DS Cobalt Blue. I haven’t used CBC much in recent times, so I want to get back to using it, but I just didn’t want to fill a whole pan with it. The Cobalt is really ‘just in case I need it,’ and I will try not to use it.
• What about the green and the dark brown looking pans? The green is simply a pre-mix of Hansa Yellow Medium and French Ultramarine, which I use all the time in my everyday palette of 19 colours. The other one is a pre-mix of Transparent Red Oxide and French Ultramarine. I’ve never actually pre-mixed these two colours before, and in the first few days of using this palette, the mix was a little brown. I also kept thinking the pan was Van Dyck Brown, not a grey. As I want the mix to be a more neutral grey, I’ve topped up the right side of the pan with more French Ultramarine.
• It is very nice to have a spot for a water container (great for sketching standing up!).

A few years ago I did some serious 6 colour mixing (see more here).

This week, I only did a few swatches – just to see what washes my mixed grey pan produces and remind myself of some Cerulean Blue Chromium mixes.

Can you tell that I’m getting SUPER excited to go through Foundations again?

Going back to basics after all my recent crazy mixed media work feels very fresh and exciting. There is nothing quite like a sketch done with a few simple lively watercolour washes!

We are starting Foundations on Wednesday next week (8 January), so it’s not too late to join. Find out more here.

Note: If you have purchased Foundations at any time you can be part of this Live Version for free! To join  – simply go to the Foundations classroom via My Account/My Courses on the SketchingNow site and follow the instructions under the Welcome video. Or check out the email I sent to you yesterday!