Equipment List for Watercolor

WATERCOLOR SUPPLY LIST

If you have equipment or supplies, bring it to class the first meeting, probably what you have can be used to get you started, if not the following are suggestions:

Watercolors: One each of the following tube (preferred) paints –
Cadmium Yellow Pale (or Hue)
Cadmium Orange
Alizarin Crimson
Napthol (aka Grumbacher or Winsor) Red
Burnt Sienna
Hooker’s Green
Ultramarine Blue
Dioxazine Purple (or any dark purple)
Sap Green


Optional Colors:
Indian Yellow
Thalo Yellow Green
Cobalt Blue
Curelian Blue

Palette: You can use anything from plastic meat trays to expensive commercial palettes, the thing you need to have, besides something to hold the paint, is a good mixing area. If you go with a small welled palette, you will need something else to mix in.



Brushes: You don’t need really expensive brushes, but you do need well-constructed ones. The ferrules should be solid, the bristles should be even, and hold their shape. Use brushes designed for watercolor, they usually have shorter handles.

 2” wash brush (doesn’t need to be expensive)
1” or ¾” Flat Sable or Angled Shader
½” Flat Sable or Angled Shader
#6 Round Sable
#2 or #3 Script Liner Brush

Optional Brushes:
¼” Flat or Angled Shader
#8 or #10 Round Sable
#1 or 2 Round Sable


Paper: The most important aspect of buying watercolor paper is weight. Whether you buy a pad, a block, or individual sheets, be sure that it is 140 lbs Cold press watercolor paper. Please do not go cheap on this, it will only cause you problems.

Misc. Stuff: Water container (Large glass, coffee can, quart sized yogurt container, etc)

Acrylic Board (Can be found at most places where they sell lumber like OSH or Home Depot. It should be large enough to support your paper)Paper towels (Viva is the best for watercolor)

Spray Bottle for water (can be a clean emptied spray bottle as long as there was no oil in it)
#2 Drawing Pencil, Kneaded Eraser or White eraser, Masking Tape/Painters tape found in hardware stores, blue works best), Toothbrush (used ones are great), Regular Sponge, Pocket knife (optional), Sea Sponges of various textures (optional)