These watercolor art supplies work for me. They will work for you, too.
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There are numerous watercolor paint companies, but I use Winsor & Newton paints almost exclusively.
Tube watercolors are semi-liquid packaged in tubes.
Use them by adding a little water for painting. Add a lot more water and you can paint washes on large areas. They are good for both small and large paintings.
Tube watercolors make it easy to get the bright juicy colors in your paintings.
Pan watercolors are dried into small cubes.
They require a lot of water to reactive the color for painting. Adding all the water dilutes the color. They are handy for travel, painting outdoors and other small paintings.
Winsor & Newton professional watercolor pan set of twenty-four beautiful colors.
Artist quality paints have more concentrated, intense color.
They contain more color pigments, so they cost more to produce.
However they will produce more paintings from one container compared to student paints.
Student watercolor paints contain less pigment. They are less expensive and they are a great way to start painting and hold down the cost.
A nice set of twelve Cotman tube watercolors, plus a brush.
Fourteen Cotman pan watercolors in a pocket size box, easy to transport.
Watercolor paintings are traditionally done on watercolor paper.
There are more choices for watercolor art supplies. We can use canvas or hard-boards made specifically for watercolors.
There are many good brands of watercolor paper. Arches paper has an excellent reputation.
Watercolor papers come in Hot Press, Cold Press and Rough Press.
Paint slides around on hot press paper. Rough press paper doesn't let the paint move very well.
Watercolor paper comes in 90, 140 or 300 pound weights. That is the weight of 500 sheets of paper. It is also sold in 22"x30" sheets, tablets or rolls.
The 140# paper is most commonly used weight. It must have its edges fastened down (stretched) to prevent warping when we paint.
Watercolor paper in blocks have the edges fastened together to keep it from warping when you paint on it.
The 'ad' 300# watercolor paper is thicker and it will stay flat when you paint on it.
Watercolor paintings on paper must be matted and framed under glass to protect the painting.
Aquabord is my favorite watercolor support. Why do I paint Aquabord?
Ampersand's Claybord and Aquabord are excellent archival supports for modern watercolor painting. These hardboards are covered with pH neutral kaolin clay.
Claybord is smooth like hot press watercolor paper. Aquabord has a texture similar to cold press paper.
The dried watercolor are sprayed with 'ad' UV resistant Krylon spray. The painting may be framed without glass.
Oh, the beauty and ease of modern watercolor art supplies!
Another surface for watercolor painting is the modern watercolor canvas made by Fredrix. Double check and make sure the canvas is labeled for watercolors.
Before painting, wet the canvas with plenty of water with a large brush to break the surface tension of the canvas.
Let the extra water evaporate before painting. Then we are able to control the paint when it's applied.
The dried canvas watercolor painting needs to be sprayed with a fixative to protect the paint. Use the same Krylon UV resistant spray used on Aquabord and Claybord watercolor paintings.
Canvas watercolor paintings are framed without glass and they are so light-weight.
Modern technology is wonderful. It has given artists such a great variety of watercolor art supplies!
Watercolor brushes are soft. They are made of natural hairs such as sable or synthetic fibers or a mixture of the two.
The watercolor brush you use for painting is largely a matter of
personal preference. The favorite brush of one artist may be considered
useless by another.
When I started painting watercolors someone gave me a couple of Loew-Cornell angular shaders.
That is all I painted with for about the first year of watercolor painting. The tip of the angle was good for fine details. And the flat side covered more area.
Painted with a Loew-Cornell shader.
Painted with 1/2" and 3/4" shaders.
After painting with angular brushes for a while, I purchased expensive sable watercolor brushes.
Quality sable brushes are an excellent investment for a serious artist. They will last for years.
Here is a less expensive set of sable brushes than what I purchased.
I have never used these brushes, but they have very good reviews.
A good quality synthetic brush will work just fine and significantly hold down the cost of watercolor art supplies.
Every artist has their own favorites. Many artists paint almost exclusively with round brushes.
We can paint almost anything from details to washes with a good round brush.
A 'ad' synthetic #10 round brush is good for all around painting.
Other watercolor artists do their watercolors with flat brushes.
Flats are good for painting buildings and other straight lines. We can also use the corner of flats for details. 'ad' A good quality synthetic 1/2" flat brush.
There is no need to spend a lot of money on watercolor art supplies to start. Get some painting experience and see what you like the best.
These are the watercolor art supplies I have used over the years.
I have always lived in small town areas where they don't have art supply stores. So for years my art materials came from catalogues.