What do I paint with?

The supplies I use for watercolor painting have changed many times over the years. In most cases, changes came through trial and error or recommendations from friends. However, for some time now there has been a certain stabilization. This is how the list of supplies I paint with was created, which I recommend to people coming to my workshops. So let's get to it:

Box / Palette

As a kind of minimum (basic option) I consider the White Nights pan box (for 12 pans) - definitely PLASTIC and definitely WHITE - to serve as a palette. We can put several pans in it and squeeze out the remaining colors in the corners of the palette.

Of course, it can be larger - I use one for 36 pans - mainly because it has a larger palette - one 12-pan box is enough for colors anyway.

You can also simply choose a folding palette on which you can squeeze paints from tubes, but then we have nowhere to store them, and this may be a sensible option, because White Nights boxes are increasingly difficult to obtain.

Paints

Basic Colors

Depending on the chosen box, you can decide on tubes or pans, although I recommend buying the colors listed in the table as tubes because they get used up a lot and it's easier to work them from the palette than "dig out" with a brush from a small pan. Tubes that we will squeeze into the corners of the palette (budget-friendly e.g. van gogh / cotman or ideally QOR - more expensive but their quality and efficiency are incomparable):

Color	Cotman	QOR
Red	Cadmium Red Deep Hue	Cadmium Red Light (QOR)
Yellow	Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue	Benzimidazolone Yellow (QOR)
Opaque White	Titanium White	Titanium White (QOR)
Light Blue	Intense Blue	Phthalo Blue (QOR)
Pink	Permanent Rose	Quinacridone Magenta (QOR)
Indigo	Indigo	Indigo (QOR)

Other colors that can be purchased as tubes or pans - whichever you prefer - I have them in White Nights pans, to make it easier to understand:

• Raw Siena - color of Italian streets (NOT BURNT SIENA)
• Olive Green - olive (NOT EARTH GREEN)
• Turquoise Blue - turquoise
• Emerald Green - emerald

Supplementary Colors

optionally if we have space in the box:

• Golden - intense orange
• Green - dark green
• Lemon Yellow - not mandatory, but useful for painting a lemon ;-)
• English Red - color of roof tiles or bricks
• Ultramarine - I sometimes have it in my palette but it's used very rarely

Of course, both pans and tubes can be from a completely different brand. What's important is that we have a white palette for mixing paint and colors similar to those mentioned (lack of one of these basics in the table may mean we won't be able to achieve some color effect).

Brushes

ONE brush made of natural hair (e.g. squirrel or sable) as a "mop" for large washes - one of the following (not all! one is enough):

• Winsor&Newton PURE SQUIRREL (rozmiar np. 000 albo 00 albo 0)
• Kozłowski wiewiórka seria 9 (rozmiar np. 10)

Two with sizes e.g. 8 and 10. For example, some of these:

• Escoda Prado Sintetico ROUND (rozmiar np. 8 albo 10)
• LINEO pędzel okrągły wiewiórka seria 103 (rozmiar np. 8 albo 10)

Two synthetic brushes (2 and 2/0) e.g. Escoda but not necessarily.

• Escoda Perla White (sizes 2 and 2/0)
• or any other round thin synthetics because Escoda brushes are quite expensive (ones around 10 PLN / piece are enough, or even cheaper).

Flat brush made of natural hair e.g.:

• Kozłowski Goat Beard 25 mm - (no need for wider)

Special brushes - everyone collects such brushes with experience and often they are some Chinese splayed brushes for special tasks (some grasses or irregular strokes) or old worn bristle brushes - the cheaper the better.

Paper / Watercolor Block

As for blocks, SOME block with glued edges (all 4 edges) so we don't need an additional board with similar parameters:

• cotton (100% cotton)
• format similar to A4
• weight 300g/m2
• hot pressed (Hot Pressed)

It's important that the paper has the mentioned parameters because on others it paints worse. And among such I can recommend e.g.:

• Saunders Hot Pressed High White 300gr - this is currently the most recommended paper by me and in my opinion it's not worth saving on this because it's simply easy to get discouraged by working on bad equipment. Let's remember to choose the right parameters:
  • HP (Hot Pressed) - hot pressed - meaning with a smooth surface.
  • HW (High White) - not regular WHITE because it's quite yellow.
• In case Saunders is not available, Winsor&Newton professional also worked quite well - hot press 100% cotton, 300g/m2

You can consider buying sheets with the mentioned parameters and cutting them to size, but this is additionally time-consuming and requires gluing them later to a board.

Other Accessories

When painting, a few less obvious tools can also be useful:

• Water spray bottle for watercolors - the smaller, the better.
• Paper masking tape - for attaching the sheet to a board (if you’re not using a glued block), but also useful for less obvious purposes, so it’s worth having.
• Masking fluid - Talens works well (grey version).
• An old, thin brush for applying masking fluid - or a cheap new one (masking fluid damages brushes), as well as a dip pen nib for very fine lines.
• Pencil for the initial sketch - I recommend a mechanical pencil with 0.3 mm leads, hardness HB; I use Pentel.
• Kneaded eraser for correcting the sketch - Faber-Castell is probably the best - light grey, so it doesn’t stain the paper.
• A torn piece of sponge (synthetic, but imitating natural sponge with a porous structure) - very helpful when painting trees.
• Sometimes a small palette knife - if not for special effects, then at least for removing sheets from a paper block.
• Water container.
• Toilet paper or tissues - for blotting excess water running across the paper.

In Closing...

That's all when it comes to basic watercolor painting supplies. Topics such as easels or plein air sets I intentionally omit - that's already a separate category and usually depends on individual working style.

It's worth remembering that assembling such a set can quickly grow to a significant amount. Therefore, for people starting their adventure with watercolor - especially at workshops - I recommend first using borrowed equipment and checking what actually suits them. At my workshops such an option is available.