Outdoor paint suggestions

[Toothpick]

Hello All, 

I’m wanting to make some garden decorations out of pallets. I’ll be painting the wood with vegetables to mark where things are planted. It won’t be just a single coat of plain paint. It will be a vegetable design with multiple colors involved. So my questions are - 

1. What paint is best for this?

2. What should I use to weather protect it. Like as a topcoat.  

Thank you! 

[Scrappile]

Exterior latex house paint.  Buy the little sample jars a Home Depot.

[Toothpick]

Yeah i’ll Need a few different colors. And not much of each color. Red, orange, green, yellow, maybe black and brown. 

Because of the volume that I need i was thinking artist paint, like canvas paints. Plus they come in countless colors. 

But unsure of how they would do outside and what to protect them with. 

[Foxfold]

In the past I've taken a white gloss and put some in an egg cup and coloured it with some artists Acrylic paint and used that. It was more economical than having to buy 5 different paints. 

[Toothpick]

Good tip! 

[spirithorse]

Good tips, Paul and Brenda!
Thanks for helping out!

Also, for the finish coat that Jason asked about, I would suggest polyurethane or spar urethane.

Articles I have read suggest that spar urethane is more pliable and weathers better as wood contracts and expands
with weather changes but, is oilier than polyurethane, (I still prefer Polyurethane)

I think either of those two choices will probably 'amber' slightly over time with out-door use but, not enough to
be undesirable and both will protect your projects for a long time.

God Bless! Spirithorse