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Of all the types of watercolour that are available portable watercolour sheets are the most compact and easy to carry. If you haven’t come across portable watercolour sheets before and love the idea of taking a set of juicy paints everywhere you go, keep reading!

We are about to dive into what portable watercolour sheets are and figure out how best to use them. I’ll even take you inside my sketchbook and show you one of my projects using my set of Peerless Watercolour Sheets.

(Psst... if you are getting tired of reading scroll right down to the bottom of the post to find the video version  - its a sketchbook show and tell all about these portable watercolour sheets - including my trials and tribulations with them )

What are Portable Watercolour Sheets?

Watercolour sheets have been around for over a hundred years. They are sheets of card which are coated with intense and vibrant watercolour pigment. The colour of the dry pigment is not usually an accurate reflection of the paint colour but the reverse of the card is stained with a closer approximation of the colour of the pigment. These dry cards come in handy little booklets or sets of flat cards that are easy to slip into a sketchbook and take on the go.

Portable watercolour sheets were first used in the photographic industry. In the days of monochrome photographs, if you wanted a colour photo, an artist would have to sit and tint the image with these transparent watercolours. The colours blend beautifully like all watercolour tends to.

I have a set of Nicholson Peerless Watercolour Sheets that I enjoy using very much, so let me tell you a little bit more about the available colour range how I like to use them.

Peerless Watercolour Sheets Colour Range

The colour range of Peerless watercolour sheets is extensive, and all of those colours are juicy and vibrant.

There is a set called the Complete Edition which comprises 15 colours - more than enough to get you started. The colours in this set include warm and cool versions of all the primaries as well as some convenience colours like a violet, a couple of greens and even a flesh tint.

Rather charmingly, the booklet that the Complete Edition comes in includes the original text that was in the booklets produced in the early 1900s.

So be prepared for some terribly quaint painting tips and colour descriptions.

Quite delightful.

If you want to expand your colour rainbow, there are bonus packs and various colour palette themed packs available.

If you are after the whole shebang, there is now also a Prism Pack on offer which includes all 80 of the available colours.

How to use Portable Watercolour Sheets

The dry pigment on the card is activated with water. You can turn the dry card into paint by cutting a little square off the card and dropping it into a small palette well of water. More water and a smaller piece of card will make a paler colour. Less water and a bigger piece of card will make a deeper colour.

My preference is not to do this. 

I prefer to simply take a wet brush and lift colour directly off the card. I have used a waterbrush to do this (great when you are out and about) and have also used my regular brushes with a jar of clean water handy (when I am in my studio).

It is worth remembering that you don’t want to close your book of portable watercolour sheets when they are still wet. That will make all the paint transfer off the card onto the facing page. But don’t worry - they dry really fast, so that doesn’t pose too much of a problem.

I tend to create little home made palettes that fit into my sketchbook using these watercolour sheets. I cut a sheet of strong watercolour paper into a size that fits neatly into the sketchbook when folded in half. 

I also like to put an acetate sheet in the middle of the folded palette. This protects the two sides of the palette from each other when folded shut. It is also pretty handy as a mixing palette which gives me a chance to vary the ratio of colour to water and mix up slightly different colour variations. 

Admittedly my preference, as with all types of watercolour, is to mix colour on the page, rather than on a palette. Watercolour does this so beautifully it seems a shame not to give it a chance to do so, in my opinion. 

Best uses for Portable Watercolour Sheets

Clearly, portable watercolour sheets come into their own for travel sketching of any kind. Now I tend to have a lot of good intentions about sketching out of doors and when I’m on vacation but I can’t say I often follow through on those intentions.

For me, travel sketching often entails my journey to the couch for a bit of sketching in front of the tv.

I find these watercolour sheets perfect for that since I can just use a water brush and don’t need a jar of water. This minimises the risk of making a right old mess on the furniture. 

Yes, that might have happened before….

These watercolour sheets are ideal for adding a spot of colour to a line drawing, or for painting directly into a sketchbook. 

For a more serious painting I find it easier to control the ratio of paint to water using a more traditional form of watercolour than watercolour sheets.

You can do all the usual watercolour techniques like softening off, lifting out, blotting, layering etc. with watercolour sheets. However, for a full scale painting I think all those things are easier with watercolour tubes and pans. Want to know how to use watercolour tubes and pans? Here’s the Ultimate Guide for Beginners.

But for a bit of urban sketching, travel sketching or just playing in your sketchbook these portable watercolour sheets are my idea of juicy, fuss free watercolour joy.

Portable Watercolour Sheets - Sketchbook Show and Tell

Want to see the portable watercolour sheet palettes I have created? (and a tale of woe regarding one such palette… 😢)

As you can see.. I do love a craft project, so I tend to go to town making these palettes for each sketchbook. 

My next challenge is to fill those sketchbooks up! 

Want to monitor my progress on that challenge? …  click here to subscribe to my youtube channel

Are you on your own painting journey?

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Keep on reading…