A few instructional videos!
I'm often asked how I do my pictures. and some basic watercolour techniques, so here are a few.
Starting out
What you need to get going with watercolour painting. A list of supplies you will need is below!
Some projects
A few little ideas
Supplies
Although it is tempting to go for a pretty set of paints from Amazon with hundreds of pretty colours, DON'T! You are much better odd going for just a few colours in high quality paints. The same goes for paper and brushes.
Paper:
Good quality THICK paper such as Bockingford 425gsm. 100% cotton is best. A pad is fine, but its best to tear out the sheets. A watercolour sketchbook is great for playing about too.
Brushes:
Sable or fake sable
A mix of sizes - I use round Pro art sablene. You want to go big, so you use lots of water. Save the tiny ones for little details at the end.
A palette:
The flower shaped ceramic ones are nice to use, but plastic is fine too. They get nicer to use the more you use them!
Paint:
Artists or professional quality watercolour. Half pans are good to start with. I use Winsor and Newton. Sometimes it’s better value to buy a set.
Pencil, pens and rubber
Faber castell B work well for me. Any art rubber. and some ink pens. Rotring Tikky 0.3mm are my favourites.
A little spray bottle
I pinched an old cheap empty perfume bottle from my daughter. You also need tissue/loo roll to dab excess water off and scraps of paper to test colours.
These are the colours I use! Other's may prefer different ones!
A pinky red-Alizarin crimson - most flowers have this colour in. Mix with yellow ochre for flesh colour.
A bright red- Cadmium red - I only use a tiny bit of this. It’s useful at Christmas !
A bright yellow- a cadmium yellow - daisies and blue tits bellies. Plus mix with sap green for leaf colours
Sap green - the start for all the greens
Blue - French ultramarine - summer sky colour plus mix with others for blues shades
A dark shade - Paynes grey (not black) - to darken colours and great for clouds
Brown - burnt umber- a start for all the browns and to dull the greens
Yellow Ochre- mix with green or brown for loads of shades
Pthallo turquoise- useful for sea!
Purple-Windsor Violet - useful for some flowers but not essential!
Suggestions of what to buy:
Paper - https://www.jacksonsart.com/bockingford-watercolour-papers-white-blocks-not
Brushes - https://www.jacksonsart.com/pro-arte-sablene-brush-wallet-set-of-6-0-2-4-6-8-10-round
Paint - a cheaper range https://www.artsupplies.co.uk/p/winsor-newton-cotman-half-pan-tube-painting-plus-set
Paint - a better range https://www.jacksonsart.com/winsor-newton-professional-watercolour-field-box-set-of-12-half-pans
Pens - https://cultpens.com/products/rotring-tikky-graphic-drawing-pen
Pencils -