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ABOUT SUPPLIES

I am all about sticking to a budget and finding a great deal, and I buy generic store brands all the time.  However, in watercolor, it is generally true that you get what you pay for.  Artist grade paint, brushes, and paper will far outperform student grade materials.  Your paint will flow better, pigmentation will be more saturated, your paper will stay wet longer, and your brushes will retain their shape better and hold more water.  In short, your experience will be a lot easier and more pleasurable, and your results will be better when you are working with high quality supplies.  For this reason, I firmly believe that students need good quality materials almost more than experienced artists do.  The following is a list of some of my favorite supplies, along with links to purchase them if you are interested.  I am not affiliated with any of the online stores or art companies, and I do not receive any compensation for sharing this information.  These are simply my personal recommendations based on my experience.  Enjoy!



PAPER

There are generally two kinds of watercolor paper on the market – paper made from 100% cotton, and paper made from wood pulp.  100% cotton paper is the one to look for.  It stays wet longer, allowing you the time to work in a more relaxed way without rushing against time.  Wood pulp paper will dry too quickly, and it will dry unevenly in patches, creating unwanted dry spots as you are working.  If the packaging does not say 100% cotton, I would avoid it; it will just be frustrating to work with. 


Also, watercolor paper can be found in three different finishes; hot press, cold press, and rough.  This refers to the finished texture of the paper.  Hot press paper is very smooth to the touch.  It is good for finely detailed paintings, or for those who want to add handwritten lettering over their painting once it is dry.  It is also good for those who want to scan their paintings later and not have any rough texture showing up in the scan.  Cold press is my favorite, and is the most commonly used by watercolor artists.  It has a pleasing, moderate texture and is good for all types of paintings.  Rough paper has a more pronounced texture and is great for looser paintings.  The surface can be used to create beautiful textural effects in the painting.  It’s a little harder to achieve a smooth fine line on a rough piece of paper, so this is usually not recommended for precise detailed work.


Watercolor paper also comes in several thicknesses.  The heavier it is, the more expensive it is – but also the more durable.  300lb paper is very stiff, almost like light chipboard.  It will stand up to lots of water without buckling and warping.  140lb is the most commonly used thickness.  It feels like heavy cardstock and is a great multipurpose weight for all kinds of painting.  90lb is much thinner, and has a greater tendency to warp and buckle when using lots of water.  It’s best for wet-on-dry techniques, or I use it to create swatch charts and practice work.


Finally, there are several ways to purchase your paper.  It can come as a regular pad of paper, a watercolor block, large loose sheets, or on a giant roll.  Watercolor blocks tend to be the most expensive.  A “block” is basically a pad of paper that has been glued together on all four sides rather than just at the top.  There is a small gap in the glue on one side so that you can slide a palette knife under your finished painting and remove it from the block when it’s done.  This eliminates the need to tape your paper to a board, and it’s a convenient way to paint on the go.  A watercolor pad is usually 12 sheets of paper, glued together along the top edge like any pad of paper.  You just tear off a sheet, tape it to a board, and away you go.  Buying paper in large sheets or on a roll is the least expensive way to buy paper in bulk.  You will have to cut the sheets yourself down to the size you want, but you can save money this way.  This is how I purchase my paper now.


My favorite paper to work with is the Arches brand, and it is generally considered the best on the market.  I usually buy the bright white paper rather than the natural white, because bright white tends to show the paint colors a little more vividly.  However, the difference is really not that significant and either color will work beautifully.  Another good brand is Fabriano Artistico.  Some people have had good results with Bee paper or Fluid paper, but I have not enjoyed either one personally.  Once you try Arches, it’s hard to go back!


Browse artist grade watercolor papers from Blick Art Materials



BRUSHES:

Make sure you purchase brushes that are designed for watercolor.  Acrylic or oil brushes will be stiffer and will not hold as much water as you need them to. What you want is a brush that holds a good amount of water and paint so that you don’t have to keep reloading too often, and a brush that will come to a good fine point at the end so that you can create everything from the finest line to a thicker stroke.


Recommended shapes and sizes:  To start out with, the most commonly used watercolor brushes are flat, square wash brushes (good for straight lines and edges, horizontal or vertical strokes such as horizon lines and shimmers on the water, and for filling a large area with clear water quickly), and pointed round brushes (good for all watercolor work in general).  I recommend a 1 to 1 ½” flat wash brush, and several pointed rounds ranging from size 0 to 10.


The very best watercolor brushes are made from natural animal hair, namely Kolinsky sable.  Squirrel hair is excellent as well.  These are more expensive brushes, but they hold water amazingly well and retain their shape beautifully.  My personal favorites are the Winsor and Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable Pointed Rounds and the Silver Black Velvet (squirrel) line.  These are top of the line brushes, and if you are serious about painting, they are a great investment. 


Watercolor brushes are also available made from synthetic fibers, or a blend of natural hair and synthetic fibers.  These are also great, especially those that are made to mimic sable or squirrel.  My personal favorites are the Princeton Neptune line, which are softer (synthetic squirrel) and good for loose washy applications.  Other lines that I have enjoyed are the Princeton Heritage series and the Princeton Aqua Elite series.  Both are slightly stiffer brushes, so they are good for detail work.  I have a 2” flat wash brush by Princeton Heritage that I love for quickly covering large areas of my paper with clear water.


You may also see “water brushes” available in stores or online.  These are basically plastic brushes with nylon bristles and a barrel that you can fill with water.  The barrel releases water down through the brush itself so that you can paint on the go without having a water jar to rinse your brush in.  These are OK for travel but I don’t recommend them for serious painting.


Browse natural hair brushes from Blick Art Materials

Browse synthetic brushes from Blick Art Materials


PAINT:

I always recommend buying the best paint you can afford.  Professional grade paint will be less likely to fade over time, it will flow better on the paper, and the pigmentation will be stronger.  Student grade paints tend to be chalky, opaque, and have added fillers in them.  An exception (in my opinion) is the Winsor and Newton Cotman line of student grade paints.  These are very good for student grade paints, and would be a great place to start if you are watching your budget but want to explore a wide range of color choices – or if you aren’t sure you want to get really into watercolor and you just want a good paint to experiment with.  My favorite professional paints are by Daniel Smith, M. Graham, Holbein, and Winsor and Newton (professional series).  Mostly I use Daniel Smith, but there are occasionally colors that are only carried by other brands, or I happen to like the shade better in a certain brand.


Paint can be purchased in tubes or as dry cakes in small pans.  Either one is fine.  Pans are more convenient for traveling or painting on the go; tubes are more versatile because you can use the paint fresh out of the tube, which can make it more vibrant, or you can squeeze the paint out into an empty pan and dry it for a few days to have your own travel pans.  I tend to buy the tubes and then pan them myself because otherwise I end up squeezing out more paint than I need and it goes to waste.  Tip: if you buy tubes, save a couple of the lids when throwing away an empty tube.  That way if you happen to lose the lid of a full tube, you can replace it before your paint dries out.  My favorite palettes for paint pans are here, and I love the full sized pans rather than half pans because it’s easier to get larger brushes in there.


Each paint tube will come with information on it that will help you understand that paint’s properties.  If it’s not directly on the tube, I’ve found that Amazon’s product descriptions are usually very thorough on this subject.  Below, I will try to demystify some of these descriptors for you.


Lightfastness:  how well a paint will stand up to natural daylight without fading.  Lightfastness ratings range from I (excellent) to IV (poor).


Transparency:  literally how transparent the paint is, or how well the paint allows what’s underneath it to shine through.  Opaque and semi-opaque paints can appear duller and muddier in mixes; transparent paints mix clearly and cleanly.  Many watercolorists value transparent paints for their luminosity and easy mixing properties.  A side note: if you run across gouache, know that it is a water-based paint similar to watercolor, but it is entirely opaque and has different applications.


Staining:  staining paints will actually stain the paper and are very hard to lift or remove.  They are good for painting over with another color, because you aren’t likely to disturb the layer underneath.  Non-staining colors are much more forgiving because they can be lifted off or lightened after they are dry by applying clear water and wiping with a damp brush or paper towel.


Granulation:  watercolor pigments are sometimes synthetic, and sometimes they are made from plant material or minerals/rocks that have been finely ground.  Some of these pigments are sedimentary and will actually settle into the texture of the watercolor paper.  This creates a mottled or textured look once the paint has dried.  These paints are excellent for subjects that should have some texture to them, like rocks or wood or buildings.  Non-granulating paints are smooth and clear when dry.


Paint tubes will also have a code on them indicating the actual pigments that are inside.  Some paints are made up of several pigments mixed together.  Others are made from single pigments.  Single pigment paints are valued because they are cleaner to mix together. 


Below is an example of a swatch strip I made for Daniel Smith Cascade Green.  As you can see from the paint sample, it is a granulating paint.  It is made from two pigments mixed together: PBR7 (raw sienna) and PB15 (phthalo blue).  The raw sienna has settled into the crevices of the paper because it is a granulating pigment, whereas the phthalo blue remains smooth as the paint dries.  This creates some stunning effects in underwater scenes.  Below that I have written the codes for Lightfastness (1, excellent), Staining (3, medium staining), Granulating (yes), and Transparency (semi-transparent).

If you’re interested in testing out the Daniel Smith watercolor paints before you purchase them, I recommend buying a set of sample dot cards, which gives you a little blob of each one of their paints (AMAAAZING) for around $23.  One of the best investments I’ve ever made, because it has helped me decide if I should buy a tube of paint or not.



OTHER TOOLS AND MATERIALS:

If you aren’t using a watercolor block, you will need to tape your paper to something to keep it from curling when it gets wet.  You can use thick, rigid cardboard, a clipboard, plywood, foam core, gator board, hardboard, or something similar.  I buy the hardboard panels at Blick online, but I have heard that you can also go to a hardware big box store and ask them to cut you some to different sizes inexpensively.  Make sure that whatever board you choose is slightly larger than your paper so you have room to tape the edges.  For tape, I recommend painter’s tape, rather than washi or regular masking tape (which can tear your paper).  Painter’s tape usually comes in blue, but I like the Duck Brand Professional Painter’s Tape from Amazon because it’s inexpensive, has moderate stickiness, and it’s a neutral off-white color.  This means it’s not visually distracting when I’m painting, and I don’t find myself accidentally judging my blues against the color of the tape.


You may need to make a sketch on your watercolor paper before painting.  A regular #2 pencil is fine, but I recommend an HB pencil (search online or at the arts/crafts stores) because the lead is hard enough not to smudge, yet soft enough to erase easily.  Always sketch lightly, and try to remove as much of the pencil marks as you can while still being able to see your faint sketch.  Most faint pencil lines will disappear under the paint.  For erasers, the white PVC erasers like this are good because they can erase cleanly without roughing up your paper too much and without leaving pink eraser smudges.  A kneaded art eraser is also wonderful for removing pencil marks without leaving “eraser fuzzies” anywhere.  Kneaded erasers can also be molded into fine points to erase tiny areas.


Water containers and rags:  It’s helpful to have two water containers while you’re painting: one for clear water and one to rinse paint off your brush.  The clear water can be used to wet areas before painting, or to lift paint off once it’s down.  For removing water from your brush, I recommend having a roll of paper towels nearby, and maybe an absorbent rag to rest and dab wet brushes on.


Palettes:  You will need some sort of mixing tray or palette to water down your paint and mix colors together.  I recommend finding something that is made of white porcelain or ceramic.  Enameled metal (like a butcher’s tray or the inside of one of the tin watercolor palettes) is fine too.  White will help you to see your paint’s true colors, so that you can judge whether a mix is the right shade for your painting.  Plastic will not only stain, but the watery paint will also bead up into droplets on the surface instead of spreading out in a nice puddle to work with.  I love the white ceramic plates from the dollar store, to be honest.  I also love these little flower-shaped palettes and I have several of them stacked up and ready to go.  I have a small work area, so a small palette works best for me.


I know this was lengthy, but I hope you have found it helpful!  Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any other questions.  I love sharing what I’ve learned and learning from others.  Happy painting!

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