Hazel Harrison is the author of Watercolor School (1993), a watercolor primer recommended by Bruce MacEvoy. This book is set up in an easy-to-peruse format with a two-page spread on various concepts, including techniques (e.g. flat wash, sponge painting) and subjects (e.g. cityscapes, still lifes).
I’m not sure if Harrison’s suggested palette for beginners is the one she actually prefers to use, but regardless it’s the one I have to look at.
Watercolor School Suggested Palette
I didn’t have a lot of these, so I had to substitute or mix. Harrison only gives color names, so I estimated the pigment code.
| Color Slot | HH Rec |
|---|---|
| Lemon Yellow | Lemon Yellow (PY175) |
| Orange-Yellow | Cadmium Yellow (PY35) |
| Middle Red or Scarlet | Cadmium Red (PR108) |
| Crimson or Rose | Alizarin Crimson (PR83) |
| Violet-Blue or Dark Blue | French Ultramarine (PB29) |
| Cyan | Cerulean Blue (PB35 or PB36) |
| Green | Viridian (PG18) |
| Earth Yellow | Yellow Ochre (PY43 or PY42) |
| Brown | Raw Umber (PBr7) |
| Black or Gray | Payne’s Gray |
This strikes me as being a fairly typical “old-school” palette, with heavy use of toxic Cadmiums and fugitive Alizarin Crimson. It is explicitly split primary, with green, gray, and earth colors added for landscape purposes. Let’s grant that this book is over 30 years old, and it seems pretty standard for art books of the time to avoid these colors. That said, I’m not sure what the holdup was since quinacridone and phthalo colors were rolled out in the 1950s and 60s. Harrison includes Phthalo Blue in an extended landscape version of her palette, along with Cobalt Blue, Indigo, and a variety of additional earth colors and premixed greens.
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One response to “Arist Palette Profiles: Hazel Harrison”
Angela Gair’s 1996 “Artist’s Manual” recommended titanium white, Ultramarine Blue, yellow ochre, raw and burnt siennas, permanent rose, viridian, lemon yellow, dioxazine violet, and the toxic cobalt blue, cadmium red and yellow. She said they “form the ‘backbone” of most professional painters’ palettes.” (72) So glad many painters are moving away from toxic pigments.