Materials
The use of high-quality materials makes watercolor painting easier and more enjoyable. I therefore recommend artist-grade materials even for absolute beginners. I purchase my supplies from the local art store (Lenz Arts in Santa Cruz, CA), and supplement if needed from online sources such Blick or Cheap Joe's.
PAPER
- I like 22x30" full sheets of Arches 140-pound cold press bright white 100% cotton watercolor paper. Arches also offers blocks and pads of their paper in many convenient sizes.
WATER CONTAINERS
- 2 quart-size canning jars, one for clean water and the other for rinsing paint out of my brush. They take up little space, hold a lot of water, are difficult to accidentally tip over, and can be covered with the lids when not in use. TIP: The amount of water in the brush can be controlled by wiping the brush on the inner lip of the jar.
PALETTE
- I use a porcelain Quiller palette, and the circular layout of pigments helped me to learn color theory. There are a lot of other options, and no right or wrong one. Plastic and enamel ones are lightweight but stain. Porcelain does not stain, but is heavy. A good folding palette is the 18-well Mijello plastic palette. The plastic will stain, but each mixing area can be designated for a different color family (ex. yellows, reds, blues, greens).
PAINT
- You will quickly learn that no two artists use the exact same set of paints. Some use 20 or even 40 colors, while others use far fewer. Some extensively use black pigments while others adamantly avoid them. Some use an array of pre-mixed greens, while others mix their own. It goes on and on. Over time you will discover your preferences.
- PURCHASING NOTES: Buy artist-grade paint. This is more important than the brand. It has better lightfastness and higher pigment loads than student-grade paint. Look for paints with high lightfastness ratings (I or II). I also strongly recommend using pigment codes to identify colors rather than their names since the same name might be used by different manufacturers, but for different colors. For example, Winsor & Newton's "quinacridone magenta" is pigment code PR122, whereas Daniel Smith's "quinacridone magenta" is the much darker PR202. A relatively inexpensive way to test out colors from many brands is to order their sample dot cards.
- BEGINNERS: I recommend DaVinci brand because they are beautiful, professional-grade paints at a reasonable cost. Plus, they are made here in CA! To start with, only one tube of a type of black (such as Neutral Tint, Payne's Grey, Indigo, or Perylene Green) is needed. Not only does this save on expenses, but you can learn watercolor techniques and how to paint a full range of values without the complication of multiple colors. Try mixing the paint with different amounts of water to obtain light, medium, dark, and darkest dark values. Try putting a reference photo in black & white so you can focus on values (how light or dark an area is), and do several simple paintings with just that one color. Once you are comfortable, replace the black with just 3 colors: 1 each of a yellow, red, and blue (ex. Hansa Yellow Medium PY97, Permanent Rose PV19, and French Ultramarine PB29), and do simple paintings with just those 3 to begin to learn color mixing. Master artist Stan Miller has excellent lessons on his YouTube channel. Another useful challenge is to work with only 1 cool and 1 warm color, such as French Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna.
- CLASS PALETTES have the following DaVinci colors: Perylene Maroon PR179 (earth red), Burnt Sienna Deep PR101 (earth orange), Raw Sienna Deep PY42 (earth yellow), Arylide Yellow FGL PY97 (cool yellow), Arylide Yellow Deep PY65 (warm yellow), Benzimida Orange PO62 (orange), Rose More PV19/PR188 (warm red), Permanent Rose Quinacridone PV19 (cool red), Alizarin Crimson Quinacridone PV19 (crimson), Quinacridone Violet PV19 (magenta), Ultramarine Violet PV15 (violet), Ultramarine Blue PB29 (warm blue), Cobalt Blue PB28 (middle blue), Cerulean Blue Hue PB15/PW6 (cool blue), Cobalt Turquoise PB36 (turquoise), Phthalo Green PG7 (cool green), Sap Green PG7/PY42 (warm green), and Indigo PB27/PV19 (dark blue).
- MY STUDIO PALETTE: I view my palette as a color library that I can pick and choose from depending on what I am creating. Some hues are very similar, but they possess different characteristics. I typically select 3-8 of the below colors for a painting. They are mostly transparent, and they allow me to mix almost any color. The brand is Winsor & Newton unless otherwise stated. I use all of them, but the ones in bold are the ones I use most often.
YELLOWS & ORANGES
- Green Gold, PY129 - mix with blues for natural greens & mix with reds for golds
- Bismuth Yellow, PY184 - a strong, semi-opaque, & lightfast lemon yellow
- Winsor Lemon, PY175 - a strong lemon
- Arylide Yellow FGL, PY97 by Da Vinci or Daniel Smith- a primary yellow
- New Gamboge by Daniel Smith, PY97/PY110- a transparent warm yellow
- Naples Yellow, PBr24/PW6 an opaque warm yellow
- Raw Sienna, PY42/PR101 transparent earth yellow
- Quinacridone Gold, PO48/PY150 by Daniel Smith
- Winsor Orange, PO62 more saturated (vibrant) than mixed oranges
- Transparent Orange, DPP - mixes gorgeous browns and is stunning on its own.
- Winsor Orange (red shade), PO73 - mix with a cool red for a primary red
- Burnt Sienna, PR101 - mix with French Ultramarine for beautiful browns, greys, and muted blues.
RED & VIOLETS
- Vermillion Hue by Holbein, PO73/PR254/PY110 - my go-to warm red; neutralizes blues with a green bias; mix with permanent rose and/or permanent alizarin crimson to make a middle red.
- Brown Madder, PR206 - Lovely color that I like to combine with granulating blues and greens. Unfortunately, PR206 was discontinued in 2023, and I have not found a replacement. The Vermillion Hue can be partially neutralized with a cool blue to achieve a similar hue, but it does not have the same glow.
- Permanent Alizarin Crimson, PR206 - PR206 was discontinued in 2023. Any other permanent alizarin crimson such as DaVinci's PV19 is fine. I have not tried Winsor & Newton's new PR179. NOTE: PR83 Alizarin Crimson is fugitive (not lightfast at all).
- Permanent Rose, PV19 my go-to cool red - a great mixer
- Quinacridone Magenta, PR122 useful in florals
- Cobalt Violet, PV14 gorgeous granulation
- Winsor Violet, PV23 Tones down any other color, and makes lovely browns when mixed with yellows. Very strong and a heavy stainer.
- Ultramarine Violet, PV15 by Da Vinci for when I want a granulating violet that won't stain
BLUES & GREENS
- Indanthrene Blue, PB60 - deep blue, does not granulate
- French Ultramarine, PB29- gorgeous granulation and excellent mixer
- Cobalt Blue, PB28 - soft granulation, a primary blue, excellent mixer
- Winsor Blue (red shade) PB15 - a non-granulating warm blue
- Winsor Blue (green shade), PB15 - stainer, does not granulate
- Cerulean Blue, PB35 - beautiful granulation, can be lifted, muted sky blue
- Manganese Blue Hue, PB15 - lovely, bright sky blue color
- Cobalt Turquoise Light, PG50 - vivid with great granulation
- Winsor Green (blue shade), PG7 - vivid and staining
- Viridian, PG18 - nice granulation, can be lifted, muted
- Winsor Green (yellow shade), PG36 vivid and staining
BRUSHES
- My favorite brands are DaVinci, Escoda, and Princeton, but there are so many I haven't tried! I use round brushes most of the time, and look for ones that keep a sharp point and have an ample belly to hold plenty of paint. A few flat brushes or mottlers are great for large areas or when painting shapes with a lot of straight edges.
- Scrubber brushes: I like the Da Vinci Cosmotop Spin in size 2.
OTHER MATERIALS
- Paper towels or a cotton towel
- Small spray bottle or dropper to add clean water to paints
- Lighting Natural light if possible, otherwise a daylight LED lamp
- Pyrex custard cups for mixing up large quantities of wash
- Board to stretch paper so won't buckle. A convenient, lightweight option is a gatorboard. Lorraine Watry has a great video on how to stretch paper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCqnxjy5n-Y&pp=ygUcbG9ycmFpbmUgd2F0cnkgc3RyZXRjaCBwYXBlcg%3D%3D
- Stapler and staple remover
- Masking tape - regular, tan masking tape
- Pencils (I use a 0.5mm, 2H hardness mechanical pencil)
- Erasers: Tomboy Mono Zero, Pentel Hi-Polymer, and a kneaded eraser
- Winsor & Newton colourless art masking fluid , a ruling pen, a stylus (for applying dots) and a small, cheap brush (do NOT use your good brushes to apply frisket!)
- Brush soap for use with the drawing gum and cleaning brushes. I use B&J The Masters brand.
- Rubber cement eraser for removing the drawing gum
- Heat gun for the times you wish to speed up drying
- Grafix Dura-Lar water media acetate - You can place this clear sheet on top of your painting, and paint directly on it to test out ideas without impacting the painting.
