WATERCOLOUR MATERIALS

Learning to paint with watercolours is a beautiful and exciting adventure…

Watercolour is the most beautiful and unique art medium I have ever used. The range of paint, paper and brushes available to the watercolourist today is vast. So if you’re just starting out on a watercolour journey or simply need a change, it can be difficult to know what to buy. Here are the watercolour materials I currently prefer to use.

Paints:   The watercolour paints I mostly use are from Daniel Smith (DS) and Winsor & Newton (W/N). Daniel Smith watercolours are superb professional quality paints and their range of colours is stunning! I love Winsor & Newton watercolours too and some of the colours in their range are absolute essentials in my palette – like Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Green Shade, Raw Umber and Indigo. I love colour – I always have and always will. So for me having a wide range of beautiful and vibrant colours to use is very important. Daniel Smith and Winsor & Newton watercolours generally serve me very well.

But whatever colours or brands end up in my palette I know that I need to get to know them well – their properties, how they move on the paper, how they mix and react with other colours. That’s really important.

When starting out in watercolour beginners are often advised to limit their palette to begin with ~ this is advice I’ve completely ignored from the start and never regretted it!

The range of colours available to the watercolourist today is just phenomenal. My advice is…

Step out of your colour comfort zone! Have the most fun ever experimenting with gorgeous colours and create beautiful art with the unique and stunningly beautiful medium of watercolour. 

Paper:  I prefer to paint on 100% cotton paper, usually 140 lb/300 gsm. I use Cold Pressed (NOT) and Rough paper . The watercolour papers I use most are Arches Aquarelle (including Arches Aquarelle Bright White) and Fabriano Artistico Extra White watercolour paper ~ they are both beautiful to paint on, excellent quality and they never disappoint. I love Baohong The Masters’ Choice watercolour paper, it’s 100% cotton, excellent quality and the Rough and Cold Pressed surfaces both have wonderful texture. I really like The Langton Prestige watercolour paper by Daler Rowney, also 100% cotton, excellent quality and reasonably priced.

I’ve used Saunders Waterford watercolour paper which is excellent quality and 100% cotton, but I will only buy the High White, NOT surface (just a personal preference). Also, I’ve tried Milford watercolour paper by Saunders Waterford, it’s 100% cotton, excellent quality and whiter than many watercolour papers I’ve tried. I do like to try different watercolour paper from time to time.

Buying cheap watercolour paper is false economy in my experience and my painting results have been distinctly inferior when I have used them. Watercolours don’t move and blend very easily on cheap paper and I struggle to get good results. For me, it’s just not worth the hassle. When I buy paper I love to paint on my painting experience is much more rewarding and exciting!

Something I’ve learnt is that watercolour paint will behave slightly differently on different types/brands of watercolour paper – even on excellent quality paper; so when changing to a different watercolour paper I may need to adjust my technique a little to get the best out of that particular paper.

I never stretch paper as a rule. But rules are made to be broken… and there may be occasions when I consider it prudent to do so!

Brushes:   My favourite brushes at the moment are Silver Black Velvet brushes. I use their Round Series 3000S and Script Series 3007S. The Round Series 3000S have a superb point; and the Script Series 3007S paint fine details with ease. They are a mix of squirrel hair and synthetic. They are beautiful brushes to paint with – they hold lots of pigment and water, they keep their shape and they’re very hard wearing. Look after them and they will last a long time. 

I’m now experimenting more with synthetic brushes. Synthetic brushes have improved enormously in recent years as environmental and sustainability issues (not to mention cost!) are in the forefront. There’s lots available to choose from and many of them are very affordable.

I have some Jackson’s Icon brushes – I have a 1″ Mottler (synthetic) which I love, Quills (synthetic) and Pointed Round (synthetic/sable mix) brushes; they are beautiful brushes to paint with and very affordable. I have some Princeton Aqua Elite brushes, a synthetic kolinksky sable, which are excellent – the round brushes have a very fine point and a large holding capacity for water and paint. I also have some Da Vinci Casaneo flat brushes, they’re a synthetic squirrel  and are very lovely brushes to paint with.  I have some Escoda Perla brushes which I like very much – they have a very fine point and are excellent for painting details.

I do have some Kolinsky sable brushes but rarely use them now.  They are lovely brushes to paint with but my major complaint with them is that the point on the pointed round brushes wear down very quickly, they are very expensive to replace and I don’t feel I’m getting my money’s worth out of them!

Just a final note about brush care:  I periodically clean my brushes with Da Vinci Professional Brush Soap. I don’t do this after every use, maybe once a month give or take a bit. I’ve found just rinsing them with water doesn’t get them properly clean. When I first started using brush soap, I was amazed how much colour and paint came out of brushes that I thought were clean!

Also my watercolour brushes are DEDICATED WATERCOLOUR BRUSHES! They are not used for any other purpose. If I use watercolour ground, inks, acrylic paints and mediums etc., I have a separate supply of brushes I can use for these mediums.

Palettes:   At home I use a large porcelain/ceramic palette, pictured below. It measures 32 cm x 32 cm and is 3 cm deep. It has 32 large wells which hold lots of paint and a large centre for mixing colours.  I love it! It is, however, very heavy and not portable!

Below is my travel palette:

It’s an enamel tin which contains exactly the same colours (and in the same order) as in my studio palette. Each pan is filled with tube paint and are mostly full pans because it’s easier to get a large brush in a full pan when painting. Full pans also hold a very generous amount of paint.

I prefer to use porcelain/ceramic palettes in my home studio. The paint doesn’t “bead” when mixing colour, they are super easy to clean (just wipe with damp kitchen roll) and they don’t stain! The palettes I use for watercolour are DEDICATED WATERCOLOUR PALETTES! I do not use them for any other medium whatsoever. For all other mediums I have separate palettes that I can use. This prevents any possible contamination of my watercolours.

Sundry Items:   These include a spray bottle, a sea sponge, salt, kitchen roll, a putty rubber, a mechanical pencil and Scotch Magic Tape. These are my most commonly used items. But of course I may use other things occasionally like granulation medium, a palette knife, wax, masking fluid etc. 

These are  my current watercolour materials. They may well change from time to time as I learn and grow as an artist. I hope you might find this information useful, especially if you’re just starting out on a watercolour adventure.

You can learn about my unique view of colour here: 

Happy painting!

Evelyn