Sarah Mitchell

I picked up watercolor in 2015, working through a secondhand copy of Jean Haines’ World of Watercolourwith a Winsor & Newton Cotman set I found at a local art store. I painted every day for three months before I touched a real pigment. That gap — student grade tools while learning a professional skill — gave me a very clear sense of how much the equipment actually matters.

By 2018 I was painting plein air regularly. I spent two weeks in Provence painting with a group organized through a Portland arts center, carrying a Sakura Koi and a travel journal. I went through four palettes in three years trying to find one I actually liked — one leaked in my bag in Lyon, one lost two pans on a train in Vietnam, one turned my mixed colors grey no matter what I did. I started taking notes.

In 2022 I started doing more systematic testing — documenting what I was using, why I switched, and what specifically made each palette better or worse. By 2025 I had notes on 15+ palettes and a testing process I trusted. This site is where I publish them.

The domain is spelled “pallete” (one ‘t’, one ‘e’) — that’s a deliberate choice to capture the common search misspelling. The content always uses the correct spelling: palette.

Mostly landscapes — coastal Oregon, Pacific Northwest forests, the occasional European street scene from travel sketchbooks. I paint botanicals when I’m stuck indoors: single stems on hot-press paper, close-up petals, seed pods. I’ve been doing a series of tidal pool paintings on Fabriano Artistico hot press for the past year.

I work at a desk in my apartment and plein air about twice a month when weather allows. Plein air is where most of my equipment frustrations happen — that’s where palettes drop, lids don’t close right, and mixing areas turn useless in direct sun. Those sessions inform most of the travel palette reviews on this site.

I earn a commission when you buy through my Amazon affiliate links (tag: ecomseo02-20). Amazon sets the commission rate by category — it’s the same regardless of which product you buy. I have no financial incentive to rank one product above another.

The Ohuhu set is ranked last in my palette review because several pigments faded in 4 weeks of indirect light. That’s not a rating I wanted to give — it’s a popular product with thousands of Amazon reviews. But that’s what I found.

Read the full affiliate disclosure →

I test palettes, not every watercolor paint brand. I use a small set of reference pigments consistently so the palette — not the paint — is the variable. If I’m reviewing a pre-filled set, I test the paints as they come; but I don’t separately review individual tubes or pans.

I’m one person. I have tested 15+ palettes through the full protocol as of April 2026. Products I haven’t personally tested don’t appear in my reviews — I won’t write about something based on Amazon reviews or press materials.

I don’t test for children’s art safety compliance (AP certification, ASTM D-4236) — I note whether a product carries those certifications, but I don’t independently verify them. For kids’ palettes, I defer to the certification listed on the product.