This is my recommended watercolor painting starting kit for my students. It may not suit everyone so please check with your teacher for his or her requirements.
Paper
Arches Rough, 300gsm, one full sheet 56cm x 76cm, cut into quarters. Do not skimp on paper, poor quality paper will make it impossible to do good work.
Brushes
They must come to a nice point when wet.
Round brushes sizes 10,16 and 24. I use NEEF 4750-LP squirrel mix brushes as they have a great point and are not too expensive.
Palette
White plastic one with large mixing areas and large paint wells to hold plenty of paint. A pallet which has narrow small wells for paint will make it difficult for you to get the paint out. It will also cause more wear and tear on your brushes and will make it harder to keep paint clean.
Paints
I use Winsor & Newton Artists quality paint. It is better to buy a few tubes of artists’ quality paint than lots of student grade (cheaper) ones. There are many reasons for this. One of the main ones is because your tutor/teacher will not be able to help much with colour mixes because pigments used in artist’s quality paints are almost always different than those in student grade paints. So if you ask your tutor which colours he used in a particular mix it won’t do you any good as you will be using different paints. Other reasons for going with artist’s quality paints include purer and more transparent colours, better archival qualities and better handling.
Ideal starting colours for beginners would be
French Ultramarine
Cobalt Blue
Alizarin Crimson
Cadmium Red
Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Yellow Pale
Aureolin
Yellow Ochre
Raw Umber
Burnt Sienna
Cobalt Turquoise
Initially you could make do with
French Ultramarine
Alizarin Crimson
Aureolin
Yellow Ochre
Raw Umber
Burnt Sienna
Miscellaneous Items
Piece of plywood about 5 cm all around wider than a quarter sheet of watercolour paper
Box of cheap plain white tissues
An old hand towel
Spray bottle with a fine mist
Roll of 2.5cm masking tape
Kneadable eraser
Water containers and watercolor desktop easels provided in class.
Happy painting,
Joe Cartwright
