Basic Equipment for Watercolor Painting
The artist who is resolute to conquer the art of painting in watercolor
requires some basic tools before beginning. Supplies will vary in cost owing to
their quality. The most costly tools are certainly the greatest quality, but
you need not at all times work with the most expensive. For instance you will
require a large wash brush for those first colors and it doesn’t matter
much if it’s an inexpensive one. That will do the job just as well as its
more expensive counterpart.
Where quality begins to count is for the better-quality work. You will find
that in sablette (artificial) brushes the fine tip required for detail will not
endure as long as the more costly sable brushes. On the other hand, if you are
just starting out in your watercolor occupation, you have to choose between
very expensive natural hair brushes and the little cheaper non-natural ones. A
middle of the range price will most likely give you enough quality. In brushes
you will need the large wash brush already stated, a number of medium and small
brushes such as no. 8, 6 and 2 and another slightly stiffer, cheaper one with
which to do your erasing.
Then you will need 5 ply plate finish Bristol board on which to produce that
masterwork. Request it by name and make sure it is plate finish; or else it
will all peel off as soon as you try to erase. Other benefits are that it will
not buckle, the paint will not seep out and a good erasure is nearly assured.
While expensive, it undoubtedly merits the cost to obtain such benefits. You
could utilize paper especially made for watercolor and it might be a good plan
to try out various types just for the practice of it, but once you get serious,
stick to the Bristol board.
Next you will need paints and the option here is either cakes or tubes.
Preference differs between experts. If you want cakes, Yarka sells a good basic
set with 24 colors in it plus a mixing tray that is helpful. The paints last
for years, but when they get used up, you can replace individual cakes without
having to purchase another complete set. Assess its cost at different stores,
as the price varies considerably. Whatever you do skip over the
children’s sets, regardless how good they might seem.
The only other thing you're going to need is a mixing tray, if you don’t
buy the set with one already in it. You’ll need a palette that can
contain puddles of water. It needs to be a bright white to let you easily see
what your color mixes look like. And it needs to have some flat or shallow
dish-shaped areas for combining colors. The Skip Laurence palette sold by Cheap
Joes for around $17 is a fine basic one.
Once you have invested in these basic supplies you will be ready to start
painting the work of art you've been dreaming of.