Painting in Watercolors

First and foremost, you must have good brushes. Some artists may want use sable brushes which can be quite expensive. They can hold a lot of water and paint which amounts to more mixed paint on the paper without having to dip your brush into the water so many times, whereas a synthetic brush will hold less water. Synthetic brushes are good for sucking out paint for skies to make cloud affects. Brushes come in all shapes and sizes, for different aspects of painting .

Pencils - for drawing come in different grades, 2B-9B, B, HB and F. 2B pencils or HB are suitable for outlining and drawing before you paint.


Watercolor Pencils can be used with or without water. Great for sketching outdoors, using only one brush with a bottle of water.

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Papers- There are many ranges of paper available to you. There is smooth paper for fine and detailed drawings. The next grade available is ‘Not’ paper, that has a fine texture and is a good all-rounder. ‘Not’ papers come in ‘rough’, 140lb, and 300lb and come pre-stretched. Rough paper is preferred for watercolour painting. Loose leaf papers are best taped onto a 30” board with masking tape, but you can use watercolour blocks of paper without the use of a board.
Easels - can be metal or wooden framed, are used to support your board in an upright position which is preferable for watercolour painting, and when the masking tape is removed after painting, you will have a clean line surrounding your masterpiece.

Brushes- You can have different types of hairs on your watercolor brushes, sable are the best as they hold a lot of water, so you can keep your brush on the paper for longer without dipping into the paint, but there are synthetic varieties which are just as good.


Palettes Your palette can be in many various shapes and sizes. There are metal palettes, china or ceramic and plastic ones. It’s worth buying a metal palette which can be used indoors and on the move outdoors              
                                                                     Blick Artists Watercolor English Red 14ml
Paints– There are pans and tubed paints. There are student grade paints which will have a ‘hue’ of the color, but can fade over a short time, whereas artist’s quality paints have more pigment in them which will still keep their color on paper for 20 years or more. When buying paints, don’t go crazy buying every color out there, keep to a limited palette, never use black in watercolour painting, light will be lost in the painting. White is not need as you can leave out areas of white on your paper to show as white or use masking fluid.

Set20 10Ml

Set20 10Ml

Vibrant and brightly-colored these water-based gouache paints are ideal for students and artists of all ages. Versatile easy-to-use in cakes or in tubes. Good choice for color theory instruction. $34.95



Antiq Set/24 Clrs

Antiq Set/24 Clrs

Now today's artist can journey back into time to create with the same timeless palette used by Japanese and Chinese artists 15 centuries ago.


Set 12 Tubes 7.5Ml

Set 12 Tubes 7.5Ml  Russian-made Yarka product gives bright lighfast and transparent qualities suitable for amateur or scholastic use. Set includes 12 watercolors of collegiate quality 7.5 ml tubes. Was $23.95 - Now $13.89

                                                                            
Painting can really be a pleasure!

Painting Watercolors With Only 3 Colors

When watercolor painting beginners think about getting started little thought is given to color mixing.

  1. Why is this so?
  2. Is it because watercolor paint manufacturers can supply almost any color imaginable?
  3. Does this mean that you need to buy all the colors that are available?

Question 1 is easy to answer... People are used to living with color. Your home, your car and your clothing can be chosen in almost any color you want. Even your food contains extra coloring to make it more attractive.

Color is all around you... so much so that you don't give it a second thought...

A watercolor painting beginner doesn't realize that mixing is fine art in itself.

Question 2. Modern technology allows an incredible range of every strength and quality. This wasn't always so... at one time colors like Ultramarine Blue were rare and expensive, being made from ground Lapis Lazuli, a rare and precious stone. There is a reason that Purple has been associated with Royalty... it used to cost a King's ransom.

Question 3. Just because you have the world of color at your fingertips does not mean that you must use every different color there is to buy. If you use basic theory the only colors you need to mix any that exists are...

  • Red
  • Blue
  • Yellow

It cannot be simpler.. We learn this at school.

The difficulty is that basic color theory is just what it states... it is theory. It relies upon true perfection... A True Mid Blue, A True Mid Red and a True Yellow.

Unfortunately there is nothing that is perfect. When a professional artist uses a selection of colors to create a version of reality... it is personal choice and experience that determines what colors to use.

Expert mixing is a luxury that a watercolor beginner doesn't have. This is why you rely upon guidance from experts. The problem is that many experts can only tell you what they use in general terms... They overcomplicated mixing...

  • They will give you a range of colors that they have used during their art career
  • They tell you what colors they like to have available to use.
  • They show you what is possible if you were to use the colors suggested

It doesn't mean that a professional artist uses all of the colors at the same time. The best paintings are often the ones using the fewest colors... they work because they emphasize subtle mood and tone.

Watercolor painting allows you to use the least number of colors to achieve the widest range of mixes.

Because the watercolor paper provides White you only need 3 colors... a red, a blue and a yellow to mix almost any color you like.

And this leads to the next question... "Which Red, Blue and Yellow?"

Essentially, try to experiment with any red, blue and yellow and try to get the best results you can. Only change one color at a time if you find that you don't get the secondary colors you want.

Watercolors honey in godet - box with 48 assorted

Watercolors honey in godet - box with 48 assorted

Classic metallic box with 48 assorted half godet. Formulated in Florence, following an old recipe, components are pure pigments , honey and gum arabic. To avoid high costs, they are handmade in Poland.