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• Drawing pencil HB (for watercolor undersketches)
• Artist eraser, white Mars plastic (made by Staedtler)
• Arches 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper, in single sheets 22 X 30: cut to preferred size for your painting. It’s also available in blocks: 7" X 10" or 9" X 12" are good sizes. : please be sure to bring 100% rag watercolor paper. No Canson or Strathmore, please. Just Arches or Fabriano—this is really a big factor in painting loose washes, which is one of the methods I’ll be sharing with you.
• Sable or sable/synthetic blend watercolor brushes: #6, and #4 round, ¾" flat, ½" flat.
Other sizes and types are optional. Do not buy a synthetic brush for larger round sizes; they are too stiff and do not lay smooth washes. Synthetics are fine for #4 and smaller sizes. I like Da Vinci Maestro sable rounds the best, but they are expensive. A sable/synthetic blend works well and is cheaper. Other brushes I like using are smaller flat brushes with chisel edges (which are useful for softening edges, and lifting out), riggers or liners for small line work.
• Fine artist quality tube paints: Daniel Smith, Winsor and Newton (not their Cotman variety), Old Holland, Schmincke, Sennelier and M. Graham are some of the higher quality manufacturers. If you buy cheaper student-grade paints, be aware that they are not always lightfast and hues may vary considerably from artist-quality paints.
• Required colors--a warm and cool hue of each of the primary colors, plus a few neutrals: Warm means it leans towards red, cool means it leans towards blue (in the primary hue of red, warm means leaning towards orange, cool means leaning towards violet).
• Reds: Cool: permanent alizarin crimson
Warm: pyrrol scarlet
• Blues: Cool: phthalo blue (green shade)
Warm: phthalo blue (red shade) or French ultramarine blue or ultramarine blue
• Yellows: Cool: hansa yellow light
Warm: hansa yellow medium
• Violet: carbazole violet
• Browns and golds: quinacridone burnt orange, yellow ochre or raw sienna (you can substitute burnt umber or burnt sienna for the quinacridone burnt orange).
• Other colors you may want to add, in order of their usefulness: cobalt blue, hansa yellow deep or new gamboge, perylene green, perinone orange, indanthrone blue, Winsor and Newton permanent white gouache
• Paint palettes: whatever you currently have is fine, but if you are buying something new these are my recommendations:
Studio work: my favorite is the John Pike Watercolor Palette-it’s large, has a cover and multiple small wells. You may also need saucers or a palette with larger wells if you plan on mixing up larger washes. I use the San Francisco Slant Palette.
• Water containers (small yogurt containers work fine, or glass jars)
• 3M Drafting tape (will not tear most watercolor papers) or other artist tape
• Soft cotton rag, paper towels
• Masking Fluid—best brand is made by Winsor and Newton (applied with a metal nibbed pen, bamboo pen, or Incredible Nib)
Optional materials: Sea sponge, Posca white pens, permanent fine point black pens: Staedtler or Pigma Micron
• Drawing pencil HB (for watercolor undersketches)
• Artist eraser, white Mars plastic (made by Staedtler)
• Arches 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper, in single sheets 22 X 30: cut to preferred size for your painting. It’s also available in blocks: 7" X 10" or 9" X 12" are good sizes. : please be sure to bring 100% rag watercolor paper. No Canson or Strathmore, please. Just Arches or Fabriano—this is really a big factor in painting loose washes, which is one of the methods I’ll be sharing with you.
• Sable or sable/synthetic blend watercolor brushes: #6, and #4 round, ¾" flat, ½" flat.
Other sizes and types are optional. Do not buy a synthetic brush for larger round sizes; they are too stiff and do not lay smooth washes. Synthetics are fine for #4 and smaller sizes. I like Da Vinci Maestro sable rounds the best, but they are expensive. A sable/synthetic blend works well and is cheaper. Other brushes I like using are smaller flat brushes with chisel edges (which are useful for softening edges, and lifting out), riggers or liners for small line work.
• Fine artist quality tube paints: Daniel Smith, Winsor and Newton (not their Cotman variety), Old Holland, Schmincke, Sennelier and M. Graham are some of the higher quality manufacturers. If you buy cheaper student-grade paints, be aware that they are not always lightfast and hues may vary considerably from artist-quality paints.
• Required colors--a warm and cool hue of each of the primary colors, plus a few neutrals: Warm means it leans towards red, cool means it leans towards blue (in the primary hue of red, warm means leaning towards orange, cool means leaning towards violet).
• Reds: Cool: permanent alizarin crimson
Warm: pyrrol scarlet
• Blues: Cool: phthalo blue (green shade)
Warm: phthalo blue (red shade) or French ultramarine blue or ultramarine blue
• Yellows: Cool: hansa yellow light
Warm: hansa yellow medium
• Violet: carbazole violet
• Browns and golds: quinacridone burnt orange, yellow ochre or raw sienna (you can substitute burnt umber or burnt sienna for the quinacridone burnt orange).
• Other colors you may want to add, in order of their usefulness: cobalt blue, hansa yellow deep or new gamboge, perylene green, perinone orange, indanthrone blue, Winsor and Newton permanent white gouache
• Paint palettes: whatever you currently have is fine, but if you are buying something new these are my recommendations:
Studio work: my favorite is the John Pike Watercolor Palette-it’s large, has a cover and multiple small wells. You may also need saucers or a palette with larger wells if you plan on mixing up larger washes. I use the San Francisco Slant Palette.
• Water containers (small yogurt containers work fine, or glass jars)
• 3M Drafting tape (will not tear most watercolor papers) or other artist tape
• Soft cotton rag, paper towels
• Masking Fluid—best brand is made by Winsor and Newton (applied with a metal nibbed pen, bamboo pen, or Incredible Nib)
Optional materials: Sea sponge, Posca white pens, permanent fine point black pens: Staedtler or Pigma Micron