I’m super excited to announce that I’m hosting a Live Version of my Watercolour course in the New Year starting on 7 Jan 2026. Yay! I can’t wait to go through this course again!

Part of my prep this week was to get out my dedicated Watercolour palette to top it up. And in the process, I  made a few minor tweaks from the original selection used in the course.

These adjustments do not change the way I use the palette but now it more closely relates to the colours that I use in my everyday palette. The original 12-colour palette (see here) was the one that I used to film my Watercolour course and it still is perfect for doing the course.

Important Note: As with all my SketchingNow courses, it is not necessary for you to use the same materials as I do. Instead I would prefer that you use your current kit (if you have one) so that you can apply the concepts from the course to the materials that you already know. I have free intro lessons (see below) with advice on choosing watercolour palettes if you are wanting to create a new one.

DS Hansa Yellow Medium PY97 (split into two half-pans in the palette see more about why here)
DS Quinacridone Gold PO48 and PY150
DS Pyrrol Scarlet PR255
DS Quinacridone Rose PV19
SCH French Ultramarine PB29
DS Cobalt Blue PB28

Mixed Green (DS Hansa Yellow Medium PY97 and SCH French Ultramarine PB29)
WN Cobalt Turquoise Light PG50
WN Potters Pink PR233
DS Monte Amiata Natural Sienna PBr7
DS Transparent Red Oxide PR101
DS Van Dyck Brown PBr7

Note 1: DS = Daniel Smith, WN = Winsor Newton, SCH = Schmincke
Note 2: I am listing them as I think of them – right column first and then left column (as I’m a leftie) – so I apologise if this list doesn’t relate to the way you are probably reading the above image!
Note 3: Cobalt paints have toxicity issues so please make sure you are aware of this.

Changes from the original palette

Quinacridone Gold in place of New Gamboge.
I still love New Gamboge but Quin Gold is a little more useful for mixing greens. It’s also an important colour when doing the gold edging on teacups. Quin Gold might look similar to Monte Amiata Natural Sienna but is very different in mixes

Pyrrol Scarlet in place of Transparent Pyrrol Orange (TPO).
This change has been made because newer tubes of TPO are not the same dark orange as they used to be. I still adore TPO but I think that a more standard warm red would work better in this palette. I’m currently going through various warm red options inside my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon and the one that I’ve decided to explore further is Pyrrol Scarlet.

SCH French Ultramarine in place of Ultramarine Blue.
Any form of Ultramarine is good. I personally switched to the Schmincke a few years ago because of how granulating it is.

Cobalt Blue in place of Cerulean Blue Chromium
This is still a mid to cool blue (heading toward green on the colour wheel) and in recent years I’ve used Cobalt more and more. It’s great for skies and I love having a blue pigment that doesn’t granulate much.

My own Mixed Green in place of Sap Green.
This is SO much nicer than Sap Green – a gorgeous hue and creates such wonderful pigment parties! As for the ratio of yellow to blue – I put 50:50 in the half-pan, mix it with a toothpick and then adjust with a little more blue until I achieve a mid-green similar to sap green.

More about the Live Version

We’ll be working through the existing Watercolour course as a group over 7 weeks. Each week we’ll work through the scheduled section of the course together which includes high-quality on-demand video lessons, text lessons, examples from my work and specifically designed exercises that will help you apply the concepts to your own sketching. You’ll be able to share your work and interact with others in the group inside the custom-made SketchingNow classroom.

In addition each week I’ll host a bonus weekly livestream where I’ll recap concepts, do some new demos, review selected work from the community and answer all your questions in real-time.

The community that forms during a Live Version is incredible – super inspiring and encouraging sketchers from around the world who will cheer you on every step of the way.

Anyone who purchases the course in the coming weeks (or has purchased the course previously) will be able to join the Live Version without any additional cost.

Find out more about the Watercolour course

Free Watercolour Intro Lessons

I have some free Watercolour Intro Lessons to help you get your materials ready for the course. In these video lessons, you’ll learn how to set up your own palette and choose a good brush and sketchbook.

Sign up for free intro lessons

If you want to improve your watercolour sketching in 2026, this Live Version of Watercolour will be the perfect way to start the year strong! So I hope you will consider joining us – find out more here (including lesson schedule and livestream dates).