1. Paints: I use primarily Winsor and Newton paints professional grade, but you can choose any paint you wish. But, be aware that color brilliancy, permanence, and quality will vary vastly between a child’s paint set, student grade paints, or professional grade paints. For the class, you should have:

Ultramarine Blue or French Ultramarine Blue

Cobalt Blue

Aureolin

New Gamboge

Permanent Rose

Winsor Red

Burnt Sienna

Indigo

If you buy Winsor and Newton professional grade paints, you just need the small tubes of this paint

2. Brushes: you need two round brushes (size 8 and 12), a ½” inch flat brush, and a rigger. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARE BUYING WATERCOLOR BRUSHES AND NOT ACRYLIC BRUSHES!

One number 6 round brush

One number 12 round brush

One ½” flat brush

One rigger (or liner) brush

I like the Silver Black Velvet Brush for the rounds, but there are many watercolor brushes available at Cheap Joe’s, Dick Blick, or Jerry’s Artarama. You do not need the very expensive (all natural brushes), but a good brush is helpful when painting.

3. Paper: I will be using Arches 140 pound cold pressed paper for all demonstrations. You can buy this in 30 x 22 sheets. Our paintings will be smaller than this, but the class will demonstrate how to tear the paper and this larger size will give us greatest flexibility with our class projects. We will need at least three large sheets for the class. The art suppliers on line will offer you a discount if you buy a package of this paper.

3 sheets 22 by 30 inch wide of watercolor paper, preferably Arches 140 pound cold pressed

Although you are welcome to use other papers in the class you may find that some of the techniques we will be using will not work on all papers. The Arches 140 pound cold pressed paper is the WORKHORSE paper for a great many watercolor artists because it is durable, of high quality, and can handle a lot of water and scrubbing.

4. Palette for your colors: this can be a white plate or it can be a plastic palette. I currently am using a very portable smaller palette (like the smaller “Cheap Joe’s Folding Palette”). I also use a larger palette (like “Cheap Joe’s Original Palette).

One watercolor palette

5. Board to support your watercolor paper: This board should be approximately 15 by 20 inches. Smooth Masonite, gatorboard, plexiglass, or a plastic corrugated smooth surface will all work.

One support board for painting

6. Other items:

Paper towels

Masking tape: 1 inch wide and a fresh roll

Number 2 pencil

Kneaded eraser

Old Towel

Snap blade knife (this is a very inexpensive cutter that you can find at your local hardware store)

Sprayer bottle

Painting References (bring at least five choices)

Pliers

Tracing paper

Color Wheel (this is a VERY handy reference to have)