There are lots of benefits to using base 12 for measurements.
12 is better than 10, I'll give you that. But 100 is better than 144, and 1000 is way better than 1728.
And that doesn't even get to 0.1 versus 1/12, or 0.01 versus 1/144.
So 12 might be a better standalone number, but it's a terrible base to work in.
I would think that accurate color representation would've generally required the bright lights and broad spectrum coverage of sunlight, so I imagine people just...painted during the day, by daylight.