What This Tool Actually Does
Watercolor tracking is one of those things artists keep meaning to systematize and then never do because the overhead feels worse than the problem. Tracker For Watercolor Easy was built to cut that friction down to something survivable. It lets you log pigment names, track how much paint you have left per pan or tube, record dilution ratios you used for specific washes, and pull up a quick reference when you're trying to remember what dilution gave you that pale grey in a painting three weeks ago. You download it, install it, and the first thing you do is set up your palette. I know that sounds obvious, but most people skip the palette setup and jump straight to logging individual tubes, which creates a mess later. Start by defining your core brand lineup—Winsor & Newton, Schmincke, Daniel Smith, whatever you actually own. The software groups these by brand, pigment number, and lightfastness rating, which is useful when you're trying to decide whether to reorder a pan or just dilute the remaining sludge with a bit more water. From there, create projects or painting sessions. Each session gets its own log where you record which colors you mixed, how much of each you used, and any notes about the result. I typically work on a single canvas for two or three days at a time, so I find it cleaner to batch multiple small sessions into one project rather than creating a new log every time I pick up a brush.
There's a color matching feature that lets you input hex codes or name descriptions, and the software will suggest which of your physical tubes can reproduce that shade. This isn't magic, but it saves about ten minutes per session that I'd otherwise spend squinting at dried swatches on my reference card.
How It Works Under the Hood
The database stores each pigment as a structured entry with fields for manufacturer, pigment index (like PN15:1 or PY150), granulation level, staining tendency, and lightfastness. When you log a usage event, it calculates estimated remaining volume based on how much you think you used. There's no sensor technology here—this is manual entry with calculators doing the heavy lifting. The remaining volume estimate is approximate, but it's close enough that you stop buying duplicate tubes of colors you still have a quarter of. The mixing history feature is where this tool earns its name. Every time you create a mix, you can save it as a named recipe. Next time you need that specific cerulean-blue-with-a-touch-of-yellow-green, you pull it up and the software shows you the exact proportions again. I've saved roughly forty recipes across my active projects, and I reference them at least once a week.
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One Edge Case That Took Me an Afternoon to Solve
I ran into a problem with granulating pigments like Cerulean Blue and Ultramarine. The volume estimation assumes a uniform surface, but after a few uses, granulating paints leave behind a cratered surface with gaps between pigment clusters. The tracker would read the pan as half full when it was really closer to a third, and I ended up with a mid-painting panic when the color ran out faster than expected. The workaround was to manually adjust the estimated volume by a fixed percentage after the first two or three uses. I entered a flag in the notes field for granulating colors, and I calibrate the remaining amount visually rather than relying on the software's default calculation. You can set a custom decay rate per pigment type if you go into the advanced settings, but it's buried pretty deep in the preferences menu. Once I found it, I set granulating colors to estimate at 75 percent of what the software calculated, and that's been accurate enough for my needs.
Things Beginners Miss
Most people treat the lightfastness data as reference-only. It's not. If you're working on commissions or pieces that need to last beyond a casual lifetime, you should be cross-referencing your mixing recipes against the lightfastness ratings of every component. A mix that looks fine today might shift noticeably within a year if one of the pigments is fugitive. Tracker For Watercolor Easy flags fugitive pigments automatically, but the flag is easy to overlook if you're not actively looking at the warnings column. Another thing nobody mentions: the export function. You can export your entire database as CSV, which means you're not locked into the software. If the developer drops support or the app stops working on newer systems, you still have your data. I recommend exporting once a month. Takes thirty seconds.
The Downsides
The search function is slow. Not broken, just sluggish. If you have more than two hundred pigment entries—which is easy to hit if you collect from multiple brands—the search takes several seconds to return results. It's not a dealbreaker, but it interrupts workflow if you're in the middle of mixing and need to look something up quickly. The mobile app is bare-bones compared to the desktop version. You can log usage and check recipes on phone, but setting up new pigments or managing palettes requires the desktop. I wish the sync was more reliable too. Sometimes changes made on mobile don't propagate to the desktop for a few hours, which is annoying when you're trying to reference a recipe you just logged on the couch. And the initial setup is time-consuming if you have a large collection. I spent about four hours entering my 180 tubes and pans because I wanted accurate records from the start. If you're going to do this, commit to an afternoon. Don't try to phase it in gradually because you'll end up with a messy hybrid of logged and unlogged colors that defeats the purpose.
Who Should Use This
If you're a hobbyist who paints once a month and your biggest concern is "did I use the red from last time or the pink?", this tool is overkill. Get a notebook. If you're working commercially, teaching workshops, or maintaining a studio practice where paint inventory matters for budgeting and planning, Tracker For Watercolor Easy pays for itself in the first month by preventing duplicate purchases and reducing the time spent reconstructing old mixes. The download is available directly from the developer's site at trackerforwatercoloreasy.com. There's a free tier that supports up to fifty pigment entries and three active projects, which is enough for most beginners. The paid tier unlocks unlimited entries and project history, and it's a one-time purchase rather than a subscription, which is unusual for this kind of software and worth noting. I've been using it for about eight months now. It hasn't replaced my physical swatch cards—I still keep those for quick color comparison—but it's become the backbone of my material management. That's a realistic assessment, not a recommendation.
