I found an article in Watercolor Artist magazine, April 2011, by Lauren McCracken about using grays. I don't find myself using many grays, but there are times when you want a lot of gray tones, and a variety of them: painting silver, large billowing storm clouds, chrome, ocean foam, glass and crystal, white flowers, ocean waves. Lauren gave some great suggestions on developing grays that you like.
So make a chart of grays you can make yourself. Divide a piece of watercolor paper into squares and separate them either with tape, miskit, or some other way. Mark the top of every other column with cool colors you want to try. I used cerulean, cobalt, veridian, and French ultramarine.
One the side mark it with reds/oranges that would be close complements of those colors. I used (from the top) Quin burnt Orange, Quin burnt scarlet, Burnt umber, Alizarin Crimson, and Burnt sienna. Use what you have! Try Prussian blue, Winsor Blue, or Indigo or indanthrone if you have them. Use coral or other reddish colors with greens. You can try purples with yellows too. Find the colors you like as grays. (Some will NOT be attractive grays).
In the left square put a dark mixture of the gray; in the one to the right put a very light,watered down version of that color. My chart is obviously not completed. It will probably extend to another piece of paper, because I have several combinations I'm eager to try.
Notice which grays are granular. You might not want that on a silky smooth flower, but you might love it on rocks or wood.
Lauren McCracken goes a step further and creates a separate palette of six favorite grays by mixing quantities of favorite combinations. (for example four parts of cerulean with one part Winsor Newton light red, with just enough water to allow it to mix thoroughly). That way she can start with the exact shade, then cool it with a blue or warm it with a red.
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