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This page provides information to assist the beginner
in selecting basic equipment and materials for Watercolour painting, It has a glossary of
common watercolour terms and a selection of Quick tips.
Choose from the subjects, click on an item on the photo below or scroll and read:
General |
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To take up watercolour painting you will need Paints, Brushes, a water container, Mixing palette, a board, a pencil, watercolour paper and a putty eraser. The general rule is to buy the best you can afford as you will get better results with higher quality equipment and materials. Back to contents
Watercolour paints are manufactured in Student Quality and Artists Quality. They are available in either pans (cakes of colour) or in tubes, both in various sizes. They are manufactured specifically for 'watercolour' painting and are fundamentally transparent. There are other water based paints which are designed to be opaque i.e. Gouache (sometimes called Designers' colours) and Chinese watercolours which are generally unsuitable for traditional English watercolours.
Tubes are more convenient when painting large areas, they cause less wear on brushes and save time. They allow fresh, uncontaminated colour to be used at the start of each painting.
Pans are more compact and easily transportable.
My preference: TUBES
Student quality paints are OK for beginners and improvers (some professional artists use them). They are relatively inexpensive and can produce good glowing watercolour paintings. The cost is standard throughout the range. Student quality paints usually use substitute pigments for the more expensive pigments used in Artist Quality paints (The description 'Hue' after the colour normally indicates this). Student quality paints may not be as transparent and/or light fast as artist quality. Winsor and Newton call their student quality ' Cotman', and Daler Rowney's are called 'Georgian'
Artist quality paints are normally grouped into categories which designates a cost band as the pigments used to produce different colours vary considerably in price. e.g. Series 1 to series 5 for Winsor and Newton. There are many other brands available such as St. Petersburg, Michael Wilcox, etc.
Paints are packaged in boxed sets of pans or tubes or sold as separate colours.
Start with at least Student Quality - don't use lower quality than this i.e. watercolour boxes intended for children' as it will be difficult, if not impossible, to produce glowing pictures.
It's better to start with a few colours and mix others rather than have a large number of ready made colours.
Buy separate colours, this way you will be able to select the colours that you want. (Colour is part of an artists style)
A good starting palette of student quality paints is:
Essentials: Ultramarine, Cerulean Blue Hue, Cadmium Red Hue, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, Lemon yellow.
These six colours, Warm Blue / Cold Blue, Warm Red / Cold Red & Warm Yellow / Cold Yellow, enable the mixing of a wide range of colours.
Useful additional colours are:
Light Red, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Payne's Gray,
Cobalt blue, Winsor blue, New Gamboge Hue.
Ready made greens are not essential for landscape and flower paintings as a wide range of
greens can be mixed from the colours above Back to
contents
There are a wide variety of brushes on the market. The best for
watercolour are Kolinsky Sable, next best is Sable, then Sable synthetic mix the cheapest
being all synthetic. The difference between the brushes is the cost, the amount of water
they hold, the ability to maintain a sharp point and the effects that can be created with
them. There are round brushes, flat brushes, riggers (for producing long fine lines) fan
brushes (for special effects) and wash brushes (for applying large amounts of colour). Be
sure to get brushes made specifically for watercolour. The size of the paintings you
intend to do will have an influence on the sizes of brushes used.
Buy the best you can afford.
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Synthetic Brushes Top to bottom: 1 Inch Flat, No.4 Fan, No.s 12, 6 & 2 Round & No. 0 Rigger |
For a reasonable cost, Sable synthetic mix No. 3, 6 & 12 round brushes and a synthetic rigger will cover most situations for landscape, flower and portrait work. - Pro Arte, ABS, Raphael and Winsor and Newton are good makes but there are many more. When buying, make sure that round brushes have a fine point.
Useful additional brushes are a wash brush and a 1" synthetic Flat. Back to contents
There are many different types and shapes of palette available made from metal, plastic and porcelain. The only essentials are that it should be white, so that the colours can be seen clearly and it should have a number of mixing wells with sufficient depth to allow mixing of a number of separate washes. The palette should preferably have flat rather than slanted wells. Palettes with slanted wells make it difficult to gauge the intensity of colour in a wash and also prevent the formation of variegated mixes (mixtures which allow the constituent colours to form a marbled appearance by not completely mixing them together). Many people use ordinary white dinner plates.
I find a large a plastic palette with several mixing wells and small wells for paint best as I can prepare and keep separate several mixed washes. Back to contents
A 2B pencil is ideal for preliminary drawing on watercolour paper. Harder pencils can mark the paper, softer ones can cause smudges while working. It's generally better to perfect a drawing on Liner or Cartridge paper and then transfer it to watercolour paper by tracing. This avoids damaging the delicate surface of watercolour paper. Back to contents
The best eraser for use on watercolour paper is a putty eraser. These can be used gently on the paper without causing too much damage. Conventional erasers can damage the paper and make the further application of paint less predictable. Back to contents
Anything which will hold water will do - the bigger the better, however a clear container lets you see easily how dirty the water is getting. Many artists use two containers, one for brush washing and another for colour mixing. Back to contents
Watercolour papers are made with three different surfaces. From smoothest to roughest these are 'Hot pressed', 'Not' and 'Rough'. The choice of surface depends on the subject and the effects you want to create. The surface textures and absorbency vary considerably between manufacturers. The best papers are hand made from 100% cotton and are acid free to ensure that they do not effect the paint and do not rot.
Many of the effects unique to watercolour such as 'broken wash' and 'granulation' can only easily be achieved by using paper designed specfically for watercolour.
Papers are manufactured in various 'weights'. The heavier the weight the thicker the paper. Weights range from 90 lb. to 300 lb. (the weight in pounds of 480 sheets of Imperial size)
140 lb. paper is a reasonable weight paper which allows painting without too much cockling when wet. Lighter papers normally need 'stretching' to prevent excessive cockling and if heavy washes are to be applied this is also advisable with 140 lb. paper.
A Good paper for beginners is 140 lb. (300g/m2) Bockingford. The surface is 'Not' and because of this it is a good all round paper. It is also relatively inexpensive as it is machine made and widely available in book or sheet form (it is also made in various tints). Daler Rowney 140 lb. 'Langton' Pads (a 'Not' surface) are also good for beginners.
Buying by the sheet is cheaper than pads or books. Most good art suppliers sell whole sheets (approx.' 30" x 22" - 76cm x 56cm) and some also sell ready cut packs of loose half and quarter sheet sizes.
Try papers from different manufacturers and with different surfaces to find out those you like to work on but it's essential to get to know how a paper reacts and this takes time so don't flit from one to another before you fully understand its characteristics. Back to contents
A drawing board on which paper can be taped or stretched. The board can be laid flat or tilted using a book etc. 8 mm or thicker Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) is OK. Back to contents
Most books on watercolour painting give advice on equipment and
materials. Local Libraries usually have a good selection.
There are hundreds of books and videos on watercolour painting. My advice would be to
visit your local library and look for books and videos by artists that you like. If you
find you're going back again and again to get the same item - buy it. Back to contents
Cockling the wrinkling and bending which occurs with watercolour paper when wet
Cold Colours colours which are blue or tend towards blue
Cold pressed a semi rough paper surface texture also called NOT (from NOT hot pressed) the most popular surface
Dropping in colour the application of paint by letting it flow from the brush, usually on to wet paper, rather than painting it on
Earth colours stable colours made from earth materials, siennas, umbers and ochres
Fugitive colours colours which fade when exposed to light
Glaze a transparent colour laid over another dry colour
Graduated Wash a wash with changes in intensity of colour (also called gradated wash) Back to contents
Granulation the effect given by some pigments when granules of the pigment settle in indentations in the paper to produce a 'grainy' effect
Hot pressed a paper surface which has a smooth texture - used mainly for detailed work
Hue 1) the name of a colour - blue, red, yellow etc. 2) a term used with paints to denote that a synthetic pigment has been used in place of a natural pigment in the production of a colour e.g. Lemon Yellow Hue
Imperial The size of a normal full sheet of watercolour paper, approximately 30" X 22" (76cm x 56cm)
Opaque a non transparent or partially transparent pigment
Putty Rubber a kneadable eraser, the kindest type of eraser for watercolour paper
Rigger a brush with long hairs and a fine point used for expressive detail work such tree branches, twigs, cracks in rocks etc. (originally used to paint the rigging on ships)
Rough a paper with a rough texture, roughness and texture varies considerably between different makes. Back to contents
Stretching the process of pre-stretching watercolour paper prior to painting on it to ensure that it does not cockle when water is applied. Usually done with papers of 140lb and less.The paper is stretched by soaking in water to allow it to expand and fastening its edges to a board so that it is stretched like a drum as it dries.
Variegated wash a wash with changes in colour
Warm colours colours which are red or tend towards red
Wash a thin broadly applied layer of transparent paint
Weight a measure of the thickness of watercolour paper, traditionally the weight of 500 sheets of imperial size paper - the heavier the paper the less prone it is to cockling when wet.
Wet in Wet the application of paint usually of a different colour into wet paint
If you are too busy to paint - you're too busy!
Your best painting is still in the paint box!
Happy painting!
Peter
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© Peter Saw
Peter Saw asserts the right to be identified as the
author of this work.
Copying or reproduction of
any paintings, parts of paintings, text or graphics on this site is not
permitted unless otherwise stated.
This page updated
08 September 2010
