The Best Watercolor Travel Sets

One of the great joys of art is when you’re able to easily pack up your supplies and head outdoors to create. Having a sketchpad and pencils on standby is easy to do, but coordinating an afternoon of plein air painting can be a bit more daunting.

There are many great products designed just for this purpose and it’s fun to experiment with them! Here are a few of the travel palettes I’ve tried…

Portable Painter Watercolor Palette

This clever little travel case is one of my favorites (and ties for first place with the Winsor & Newton Brush Pen Set below for those currently available). It is the only set reviewed here that includes a water receptacle at all and actually comes with two, so your second brush rinse will stay cleaner longer. These also double as a sturdy outer storage case and when the set is collapsed, it is about the size of my hand and also very close in size to the brush pen set). It comes with 12 (empty) half pans (your standard Daniel Smith or Winsor & Newton half pans will also fit), so it is completely customizable.

Winsor & Newton Watercolor Brush Pen Set

This is one of my top two favorite travel set cases. The box is sturdy, opens smoothly, comes with a water brush pen and has six mixing wells in the lid. It came with 12 Cotman (student grade) half pans that I pulled out and saved for my niece. I already had a Winsor & Newton Professional 24 half pan Watercolor set that I wanted to make more compact, so I pulled out my favorites and put them in the smaller travel case. Winsor & Newton seems to understand the value of packaging well and they have a quality product.

Daniel Smith Half Pan Watercolor Set

I am a big fan of Daniel Smith Extra Fine Watercolors. That said, I was a bit disappointed by their first attempt at pan watercolors. I waited for my set to arrive with such anticipation. After all, I was already squirting their tube paints into half pans to create a custom travel set. The quality of the paints is excellent, but the travel case and the packaging didn’t live up to what I expect from Daniel Smith. First, the case itself is difficult to open. The lid’s fit is too tight. I’m afraid I’m going to break it every time I have to force it open. The plastic is thin and brittle and I’m not sure how long it will hold up during travel. The pans of paint were not individually wrapped (as their competitors’ pans are), so when I finally managed to pry the case open the first time, the loose paint cakes popped out of the pans and the case was a crummy mess from shipping. Sigh.

There is no room for a brush or any mixing wells. Daniel Smith seems to be very proud of the fact that the pans are hand-poured. On the packaging, they claim that this method is incredibly labor intensive (perhaps in an attempt to justify the cost of these pricey little sets), but that they believe this offers the purest form of professional watercolor pans. I have to admit, I’d be more impressed if they were individually wrapped so the crumbs that accumulate during shipping aren’t combining into a multi-colored mess. I adore the granulation and pigment quality of Daniel Smith watercolors, but they really should make an effort to improve the quality of their travel cases and packaging. Still, these are excellent paints and a compact set.

Mini Palette

I acquired the Mini Pal-ette designed by artist Stephanie Law in a Kickstarter campaign. It will soon be released in the Etchr product line. This sweet little set came with the Mini-Pal Color Wheel – a 3-inch porcelain circle palette with 37 paint wells and the 3-inch Mini-Pal porcelain mixing tray that stack into a screw-top travel tin with felt dividers and paper color charts to customize. Having 37 paint options in such a compact and light (only 6 ounces) container is amazing and carries more pigment in each well than I’ll ever use on the go. It’s such a practical and beautiful piece (there is something I love about the feel of porcelain) that it’s my go-to palette for home use as well. This set is so sturdy, I expect it to last a good long time too. I would recommend this as one of my top pick as soon as Etchr releases it.

UPDATE: As of April 27, 2019 – the Mini Palette designed by watercolor artist, Stephanie Law that I acquired through a Kickstarter Campaign has now been picked up as a product available through Etchr Labs! It still offers the 37 pigment wells, but they are now even deeper than the original design and are now available here!

Winsor & Newton Sketchers Pocket Box

This is another Winsor & Newton Cotman (student grade) set priced low enough to experiment with, but lower in quality and functionality compared to the brush pen set. In my opinion, it’s not worth it to buy for the container and upgrading the paints. It is also difficult to open (like the Daniel Smith set), however, it does come with a mixing tray in the lid and a travel brush. For a budget, student grade set it’s not bad.

My Final Assessment

After experimenting with the various options currently available, I would have to say that Stephanie Law’s Mini Palette (soon to produced by Etchr) is my favorite, although it is currently not available for purchase. The Portable Painter is another top pick, and although it takes some time to set up and break down, it is sturdy and provides so many tools in one light and tiny case. The Winsor & Newton’s Brush Pen Set (I wish they sold it empty or with professional paints) is also fun and compact and the price is right for a beginner set.

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