Watercolor Artist Materials

People often ask me about the materials I use to make my art. It’s a great question, especially for those just getting started. There are some wonderful starter sets out there. I prefer watercolor paints that come in tubes rather than in pots. Tubes make it easier to control how much paint you’re using, and if the paint dries out, no worries—you can revive it with just a bit of water. It’s flexible, efficient, and perfect for the way I like to work.

Ceramic Watercolor Palette

Medeen Palette- I use this for blending and mixing paint

18 Well Palette- I like this one for laying out the color palette for a piece and then blending elsewhere.

Both are easy to wash up with soap and water.

Watercolor Paint Palette

I work exclusively with Daniel Smith Watercolor Paint; I find is has a beautiful pigmented quality it is a Seattle company and I deeply miss the store they used to have downtown.

Colors found most often in my palette:

I use Payne's Grey and Indigo as my dark color values

and Buff Titanium and Chinese White as my light values.

My favorite color tones are:

Watercolor Paper:

Fluid Cold Press Watercolor Blocks

Brushes:

Princeton Select Series -round I've linked a nice set of starter brushes that are round shape in a variety of useful sizes. I used these to blend color, and for a variety of general painting methods. Princeton makes a nice brush and they last well when cared for.

Liner Brush Great for detail and fine lines in painting

Spotting Brush for tiny details

Drawing Supplies for Watercolor Sketching

4H Pencil for sketching. I use these to map out my paintings with a light sketch. I like this pencil because it is very light and easy to remove or lighten before you start to apply paint to your paper. I've linked the eraser I like also as it gently removes the graphite and leaves the paper intact to accept paint.

Faber-Castell Kneadable Eraser