Sonnet Studio watercolour set, 16 or 24 colours

Learn to mix colours and build transparent washes with a Sonnet Studio watercolour set. Developed for beginning artists, these paints suit studies, sketches and illustrations. Choose one set of 16 or 24 colours in 2.5 ml pans, packed in a cardboard box. A brush, mixing palette, water container and watercolour paper are needed separately.

Which set suits your work?

The 16-colour set offers yellows, reds, greens, blues, deep violet, earth colours and black. It contains no white. Use the paper’s white for light areas and practise mixing intermediate colours on a palette.

The 24-colour set contains the same 16 colours plus zinc white, yellow deep, madder lake red, English red, blue, bluish green, violet light and sap green. Choose it if you want more separate starting colours. The additional white can make lighter mixtures; you can also leave paper unpainted for bright white areas.

Start with a colour chart and a small study

1. Use watercolour paper and clean water. Dampen a brush and pick up paint from a pan. Mix it on a separate palette with more or less water to control colour strength.
2. Make a trial strip for each colour: start stronger and gradually add water. Let the strips dry and note the colour or number so that you can choose mixtures more easily for your next sketch.
3. Work from light to dark in your study. Let a layer dry before adding another transparent layer. Rinse the brush between colours and avoid repeatedly working over a wet layer when you want to preserve the colour underneath.

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