Art Materials

The art materials for Watercolour need to be of a good quality to ensure that you have the best chance of great results. Here are the art materials I recommend.

Paper

Hot pressed paper that is 100% cotton is the best to work on. I use Arches 300gsm paper and it has never let me down. It is robust and supports watercolour beautifully. This paper comes in sheets and in blocks. If you buy a block it is worth it to get one that is about A3 in size. This paper does have two different textures on each side, and it is possible to paint on both, but if you are starting out, pick the side which has the grid like grain. This is the side on which the form was placed when the paper is made.

I have recently started using Fabriano Artistico Extra White – also in 300gsm. It is quite different to Arches, but it was a requirement for an artwork commission where work will be scanned and published so I had to make friends with it. I would not recommend this paper for beginners. It is tricky to get the level of detail that I am able to get on other papers and it doesn’t like too much water (ie wet washes). The colour spreads a lot and makes fuzzy edges. There is a way to work with this paper to overcome the pitfalls, if you need advice on a specific issue, please email me.

Brushes

Watercolourists all over the world have a lot to say about their brushes. And the most popular is kolinsky sable. It is made from the tail hairs of a rodent. I use the Winsor and Newton Series 7 brushes in a size 2 and 4, they are well worth the investment and will last you for years if you look after them properly. Synthetic brushes can do a good job but behave very differently. They do not hold as much water, hence pigment, as the sables do.

I use the sable brushes (round #4 and #2) for wet washes on larger areas and then I use the spotter sables (Winsor and Newton Series 7 miniature #2 and #1) for dry brush work. Recently I’ve found a wonderful German made brush, the KUM memory point (round 1 and 2) for dry brush work and occasionally a flat number 4 for removing bits of paint here and there. I also use a flat #6 for mixing large quantities of colour to save my sable brushes.

It is possible to lift and remove bits of paint to restore a highlight or show up a vein in a leaf. For this, try the Raphael Sepia Deco 8530 in a #2. It is a reasonably priced synthetic brush that works wonders. Another more robust and abrasive option is the Winsor and Newton Artisan short flat brush, number 2. I keep both of these.

Paint

Professional watercolour paint contains binder, a whole lot of pigment and one or two other ingredients. Student grade paints have a lot of filler and truly little pigment. If you want good results you need to purchase quality paint. If you are starting out, you only need six colours to start with. For my first decade of painting, that is all I used. I use Winsor and Newton Professional Watercolour in the following colours:

• Scarlet Lake
• Permanent Rose
• Winsor Yellow Deep
• Winsor Lemon
• Cerulean Blue
• French Ultramarine

Extra colours I will sometimes use, these are optional:

• Indanthrene Blue
• Burnt Sienna
• Alizarin Crimson – permanent
• Permanent Magenta
• Transparent Yellow
• Yellow Ochre
• Winsor blue (green shade)
• Sap Green (brand: Daniel Smith)
• Quinacridone Gold (brand: Daniel Smith)

Other brands that are good quality include: Sennelier, Schminke and Daniel Smith, among others. Compare the colour charts if you would like to substitute colours from a different brand. In summary, choose six primary colours that are permanent and preferably transparent. Select a warm and cool colour in a red, blue, and yellow. From these, you will be able to mix almost any colour under the sun.

Additional Equipment

• Faber Castell Kneadable Eraser
• Pebeo Masking fluid
• Tracing paper
• HB pencil