WATERCOLOR SUPPLIES LIST

Recommended Watercolor Supplies List

Hey all! If you’re here you’ve gone through my Watercolor Whimsy class and are interested in buying some supplies of your own! Here’s the long-winded explanation, I’ve placed links to everything I usually use. Feel free to reach out with any questions, I’m seriously so happy to help.

Watercolor Paper

There are many watercolor paper brands available, but a few stand out for their quality and reliability. My top three recommendations are Arches, Fabriano, and Strathmore, in that order. It is best to avoid watercolor paper from big box stores such as Walmart, Target, or Dollar Tree, as these are often geared toward children and lack artist-grade quality. Choosing the right paper will greatly influence the outcome of your paintings and enhance your watercolor learning experience.

While the size can be chosen based on personal preference, I typically opt for larger sheets whenever possible. By buying larger sizes and cutting them down or taping them off, I can work on multiple pieces simultaneously.

For our class at Watercolor Whimsy, we used Strathmore Watercolor paper pad in a 12x18 size. This paper is widely respected and used by both students and professionals. I taped these onto a board to keep them from warping, and chose to go this route as a more economical method to teach a class.

However, for your own personal use, I recommend investing in a block. Blocks are easier to handle, keep your painting flat, and minimize the hassle of taping down sheets. In terms of quality, Arches paper remains my favorite and is indeed the best option available. Fabriano blocks are also an excellent choice. Be sure to choose the “extra white” version, as I have had trouble matching mats with the traditional white option. Strathmore is also great, and is what I used when I was learning. I still use this in my work on occasion as well.


Consider Paper Texture
We used Cold Press paper in class. This paper has a medium-texture to it and is what most people think of when they think of watercolor paper. It works great and is perfect for beginners.

I personally prefer Hot Press paper. It is completely smooth, no texture at all. I just like the way the water moves, and I also like to draw with graphite onto my artwork, which is easier to do with Hot Press paper. It is easier to achieve a really detailed effect as well. Here are the ones I use: Arches | Fabriano.

On the other side of the spectrum is ROUGH paper. It is heavily textured and creates beautiful granulating effects. Detail is difficult to achieve with this paper and is more suited for ambiguity and bold colorscapes. I honestly haven’t worked with this much. Here’s a link to the Arches one if you’re curious and want to experiment. If you aren’t sure what to buy, I’d say go for the cold press, and you’re welcome to test out some of my hot-press or rough paper at the next class or watercolor club meetup, or you could pick up a small 5x7 sized wire bound pad to test out.

If you’re curious about the differences between hot and cold pressed paper, here is a good article that explains it in more detail.

Paint

There are numerous excellent paint brands available in the market. Based on personal experience, I can recommend several that stand out:

  1. Windsor & Newton Professional - These paints offer a superior quality and are well-suited for those committed to painting.

  2. Windsor & Newton Cotman - This is a student-grade line that I particularly utilized during classes. It's an excellent choice for beginners and provides good value.

  3. Daniel Smith - Known for a range of innovative colors and granulating paints. They have a unique palette that can add depth to your work, but there are some concerns regarding color fading over time. I purchase these individually to supplement my regular W+N set.

  4. Schminke + Grumbacher are both TOP QUALITY paint brands. I haven’t worked with the watercolors personally, but are great contenders with W+N Profressional. if you are at a shop and are unsure of what to buy, you can’t go wrong with these brands.

As additional recommendations, these are two of my favorite colors that aren’t often sold in sets:

Paint Pans — It is also worth noting you can also purchase dried paints in tins. Lots of artists prefer these. I think these are also great and have a sets of my own. They would be particularly useful for when you are traveling, on the go, painting outside, or if you like to paint in lots of layers. I generally like the tubes better because the colors are more bolder and more vibrant when wet, but that’s not always the case. It’s a personal preference. Here’s a set from Schminke, an excellent paint company, if you are thinking this might be more up your alley. And a W & N Cotman version I own. This is my personal Go-TO for painting at the beach, but it wasn’t cost effective for me to buy 8 sets of travel paints for my class, so I opted for one set of tubes for us to share :)

Paintbrushes

As for paintbrushes I don’t really have much to say other than this is a personal preference! Here is the set we used in class. It’s cheap and a great starter set, and as you learn you can pick up brushes here and there as you need them. Brushes can be expensive, so this set aside, you want to make sure you pick them out in person, try Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Blicks. Just be sure to take care of them and they’ll last you decades. It’s important to wash your brushes, reshape them and let them dry. If you leave them smushed into a jar for instance the shape with change and it will be ruined. You may want to pick up a super tiny brush for more detailed work and larger brushes if you want to make larger paintings. A good many watercolor paintings have been ruined by using brushes that are just too small.

Other Useful Tools

A great local spot for art supplies is Niceville Artful Things, they have a little art shop in the back as well and can help you with any questions you may have. Inventory is limited but the products are unique and great staples for an artist's inventory. Share is great. Definitely check out this little shop!

Masking Liquid for keeping white sections, super helpful!

Masking tape for masking out your paper blocks. This one is acid free and what I use. You can just as easily use painters tape for this (and I had done this for years), but keep in mind painters tape in not archival and can leave yellowing marks on your paper decades down the road.

Lineco Self-Adhesive Linen Hinging Tape for matting your artwork. Acid-free for archival purposes and easy to use.

My Favorite 8x8 frames - I have these all over my house and also frame my watercolors for sale in these. I like the sleek modern metal, and particularly like the brushed gold color in their line. They are well made (not always the case with Amazon frames) I have bought and been happy with the black ones as well.

Custom Cut Mattes - I buy from them almost exclusively. Hot tip, save up your paintings and buy 6 mattes at a time for a 40% discount.

Frameiteasy.com - My Favorite Custom Frame Shop, I buy from them when I can’t find what I want something super specific or for off sizes. They also offer museum and glare free glass which is great, and do a great job cutting mattes. Use that link for 10% off your first order.

Another tip: watch Michaels for their 30% off sales, you can get paints and paintbrushes and sometimes paper for great prices if you can catch the sale. Blick & Hobby Lobby are other places to pick up these art supplies in person.


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Note: most of these links are affiliate links, if you click through and buy a product I may get a 2% commission by recommending these products to you.