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Watercolor Materials List

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Below is a list of materials and brands I recommend for my watercolor class. Quality matters a lot when painting with watercolor. Do your best to look for deals on better quality supplies, and try to resist inexpensive but cheap quality materials.

A few guidelines regarding paper as of 10/30/20:

  • Paper matters more than any other material when painting in watercolor.

Loose paper costs the least, pads and journals are more expensive, and blocks (stacks of paper that are glued flat on the sides so they won’t buckle) are the most expensive. If a block is cheaper per square inch than another option, the block is probably poor quality. Avoid Canson XL and Strathmore unless it’s 500 series. 

Here are some shopping options

Jerry’s Artarama has 10″ x 14″ Arches 140# cold press pads for $15. I cannot make promises regarding their shipping time, but their prices are always very good.

 If you don’t want to shop online, you can purchase materials on the Flax Oakland website and place a request to pick up product at the door, no need to go inside. I have gone inside this business by appointment during Covid and it is a large, open store with few customers. I felt much safer than at the average grocery store. Blick on 10th St. near Gilman in Berkeley is also open to customers. 

The best deal for the best paper $7 for a full sheet of Natural White Arches 140# cold press paper. These sheets are huge, 22″ x 30″, and you will need to cut them down to your preferred size.  

If you really want a spiral bound notebook, I suggest the Field Watercolor Journal although the paper is not as good quality as Arches.

If you want to try a Block, I suggest the Fluid Watercolor Paper Block, which has the same paper at the journal above.

  • Size #10 round watercolor brush ($5-$15) If #10 is not available, you can go up or down a size. Princeton is a good, reasonably priced brand. Watercolor brushes have short handles and soft bristles that come to a point when wet. Synthetic brushes are springy, and animal hair brushes (real or imitation) are softer, more expensive and hold a ton of paint. Both are fine to paint with. Really cheap brushes shed hairs and don’t come to a fine point. I will demonstrate other brushes in class and you can decide if you they are worth purchasing.

 

  • Winsor & Newton Cotman Water Colour Paint Sketchers’ Pocket Box- 12 colors ($17-30) This set is a quick way to get a range of colors at an affordable price. Van Gogh is also pretty good and inexpensive, as well as White Knights. Do NOT buy Pentel, Angora, Arteza, Koi, Sargent brand paints or any set labeled for kids or hobbists. There are a ton of  very poor quality paint brands and they don’t perform well. 

Additional tools you should have are:

Paper towels, a 1-qt sized clean plastic container to hold water, number 2 pencil, a pencil sharpener and an eraser. Optional items include salt, Pigma Micron .5 mm felt tip pens, and removable art masking fluid and permanent white gouache.

Pain-Free Crafting

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Anyone who is artistic or crafty knows first hand that being creative is beneficial. The challenge of designing and creating projects builds self-esteem. Creative activity increases learning, brain development and provides healthy stimulation of feel-good dopamine receptors. Studies have shown that creative activity offers similar benefits as meditation. Crafting in particular has benefited prison inmates and has  been shown to improve performance at work.

 


But while creative activity may be good for our minds, our enthusiasm can cause us to overlook the effect the medium has on our bodies, particularly if our practice involves tight or repetitive motions. Dancers, writers, musicians and knitters alike know the pain of carpel tunnel or repetitive stress. Injury from creative work is especially frustrating since that activity also gives us so much joy.

I have struggled with repetitive stress off and on for 20+ years. At first the pain was so crippling I could hardly use my hands. Even gentle activity like watercolor painting wasn’t possible. Fortunately I received medical attention and my interest in health and nutrition helped to reduced my symptoms over time. I can now engage in intense activities such as knitting, crochet, and gardening if I respect the following guidelines:

Correct posture, stretching and exercise are critical for injury prevention and recovery. Little adjustments like proper back support and dropping your shoulders back and down as you work can prevent problems from developing in the first place. Consult a physical therapist for stretches that are the best for you.

Allow time for rest and recovery. Your body must heal from intense activity before it can handle more. This means getting at least 8 hours of sleep at night and scheduling rest days to prevent burn out. It may be frustrating to not being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want, but it sure beats not being able to do anything at all. Your body is the boss of how much you can do, not your desire to do more.

Diet can make a huge difference in how prone you are to inflammation. Drink plenty of water, eat your vegetables and consider introducing ginger and cold water fish (sardines, salmon, mackerel) to  your diet. In addition to avoiding obvious junk foods like soda, plants in the nightshade family such as tomatoes, eggplant and peppers are common irritants, as are mangos and cashews which are related to poison oak. If you believe you react negatively to a mystery food, you can try the Whole 30 diet which involves eliminating the most common problematic foods and slowly introducing them one by one to see how they affect you.

I hope these tips will help you experience the benefits of crafting without the strain and discomfort!

Talent vs Skill

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Some people possess natural talent. A friend of mine who runs a successful business turned his first profit when he was eight. My musician husband would make sounds with anything he could find when he was a toddler. I was obsessed with drawing as a kid. You could kept me entertained for hours with a box of crayons and a pad of paper.

However it looks to others, we didn’t come out of the womb already great at these skills; instead we were just really motivated at a very young age. I really, really wanted draw well, and so I practiced until I got good.

It is easy to feel like it isn’t worth trying something new if you don’t master it immediately, or if people  have drummed into you that it is too difficult. It’s especially discouraging if you are in a class where others pick it up quickly, or you compare yourself with an expert. We feel stupid, our inner critic is going off, and our egos are bruised.

It can be more challenging to learn as we get older because we forget what the learning process feels like: all the trials of learning how to walk, read, ride a bike or even drive a car. We are so fluent in these activities we are barely aware of the skill required to do them.

Most of us have lots of practice berating ourselves as we age as well. A toddler doesn’t hesitate to get back up when he or she falls down. There is no inner critic to slow down the child’s process. He or she just gets up and tries again.

It’s not so easy for us adults. We become embarrassed and angry at ourselves if we don’t do it perfectly the first time. The biggest challenge for many people is not learning the skill, but getting the inner critic to shut up so they can try again.

Here are some things to remember when learning a new skill.

1. Don’t give up. It’s normal to feel discouraged if it isn’t working, and the person on your left is doing it perfectly, and the mean voices in your head are yelling at you. Pause, take a breather, and don’t buy into it. Look for a different instructor or book if you really feel stumped. Get curious about the process instead of beating yourself up. Finding out more if it doesn’t work is proof you aren’t stupid.

2. Increase the fun by loosening up. Treating your project like an experiment will open you up to different possibilities. Maybe that giant hat you knitted is actually a bag that needs a strap.

3. Start with small, easy projects. I keep meeting crochet students who want to make a blanket for their first project. This makes me nervous, because blankets take forever to complete, and these students are still developing their skill and confidence. I recommend they start with something small like fingerless gloves that they can finish quickly. A more manageable project will inspire them to crochet more. That won’t happen if their first project is an uneven monster blanket that they can’t finish.

4. Skills are learnable, especially with practice. Math is not a natural skill for me, but I developed the ability to arithmetic quickly in my head when I worked in a retail store in my 20’s, and I regained this skill once I started knitting. Anything you do on a regular basis will eventually become easy.

5. Do not compare yourself with others. You don’t know what transferrable skills a classmate may have. Maybe they are a repeat student who did terrible the first time around, and now it’s finally clicking together. Ultimately it doesn’t matter. Only compare yourself with yourself.

6. Recognize your own progress. Your work is probably better than you think. I remember in a watercolor class I taught, all of my students had grasped the technique and were developing their own styles. They were painting some impressive pictures and they could admire fellow students pictures, but they had difficulty appreciating their own.

7. It does get easier. It is way harder to learn the most rudimentary steps of a new skill than to expand on a skill you already possess. Don’t switch to knitting if you don’t immediately pick up crochet. Stick it out a little longer, and it will get easier. The actual process of learning also gets easier. Mistakes will become less of a big deal, and you will bounce back more quickly. It is important to remember that every experienced practitioner went through all the same struggles that you are going through right now.

Sometimes fear is just part of the process. Henry Fonda became nauseous every time he went onstage. I have my own moment of nerves every time I do a painting demonstration for a bunch of students. The thing that keep me going is the memory of all the times I have painted in front of a group in the past. I just brace myself and keep painting. Even if I’m not happy with the results the rest of the class is always satisfied, and it’s good for me to be honest about my own struggles with perfectionism.

A mediation teacher once said, “There is a reason meditation is called a ‘practice.’ We are never perfect at it. We are constantly working on it.” The process of making art or doing projects doesn’t feel like the the cute projects you see on Pinterest or Etsy. While we can feel successful, and the process can be fun and joyful, it also has its ups and downs, just like ordinary life.

Debunking Nine Watercolor Myths

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Oh the assumptions people make about watercolor! Some of these misconceptions seem like common sense, others are myths that people like to throw around, but neither are based on experience. I want my students to experiment and make discoveries, but these false beliefs prevent them from experiencing their full potential. Here is a list of these misconceptions followed by the reality that I routinely witness in my classes and with my own painting process.

 Beginning watercolor students should purchase cheap materials since they aren’t good enough for better quality products. Cheap quality watercolor materials are tempting, especially since the initial investment can be expensive. But really cheap materials are cheap for a reason. Nobody wants paintbrushes that shed hair and paint you can barely see on the paper. It breaks my heart when new students blame themselves when their pictures don’t turn out well, and it’s clearly due to bad paint or paper. Nobody should use the really cheap quality stuff, and the better stuff doesn’t have to cost much more, especially if you know what to look for and where to shop. I will give you tips on how to spend less and still get decent materials below.

Tube colors from left to right:Holbein Zinc White Gouache, Cotman Intense (Phthalo) Blue, Cotman Indian Red, Winsor & Newton Winsor Yellow, Academy Cadmium Red Deep (not recommended), M. Graham Transparent Red Iron Oxide, Sennelier Bright Red, Sennelier Ultramarine Blue. This a random selection of colors I have bought over the years. Some are great, some are just okay, all of them are better than Reeves brand student watercolors.

Buy an inexpensive set of paint with big tubes and lots of colors, the more the better. It’s a better deal to buy a 24 color set for $10 than a set of 12 colors for a little more. Students who buy the big cheap sets soon discover that the paint doesn’t dissolve easily in water, looks streaky and pale when you paint with it and the colors become muddy when you mix them together. Better quality paint contains better quality  pigment and is more concentrated with less fillers, so a smaller tube will mix better and may even last longer than the big cheap tubes. My students who buy cheaper paint often express regret when they see how much better the good quality sets behave. I resent those chalky, pastel looking kid sets, Reeves and Sakura Koi brands of paint for frustrating so many of my students. I recommend they buy a better quality student grade paint set by  Cotman or Van Gogh. These aren’t as pricey as the professional brands, but they are produced by and behave similarly to professional companies like Winsor and Newton, Sennelier, Daniel Smith and M. Graham. It is also a good idea to search around for  deals on www.cheapjoes.com or www.amazon.com. Only shop at Blick and Michael’s if there is a sale to avoid paying too much. Good sets can cost the same as the bad ones if you find a good deal.  Don’t get stuck with paint you hate!

Strathmore watercolor paper must be good because they sell it everywhere. I’m convinced that paper quality matters even more than paint quality, and I’m not alone. As a student I used Strathmore almost exclusively until the day my watercolor teacher cornered me and told me that I should buck up and spend the extra money for Arches cold press 140 lb paper. Initially I resisted, but once I gave it a try I never looked back. Here are two painting samples that I  show my students to demonstrate how different these two papers are.

Strathmore 400 cold press 140 lb. paper
Arches Cold Press 140 lb. paper

The paints used in both swatches are identical, and yet the paint on the Strathmore paper is pale and the layered colors resist each other. The colors are much more intense on the Arches paper, and they layer effortlessly. The only difference is the paper. Don’t mess with paper that that is thinner than 140 lb. It should be 100% cotton and acid-free. I occasionally try other papers in hopes of finding a cheaper option, which often results in cursing out loud as I paint. I’m not a fan of Canson XL although I’ve used it, some artists recommend Fabriano Artistico and Kilimanjaro by www.cheapjoes.com. The best cheap student grade paper I’ve tried is my Field Watercolor Journal with Fluid brand watercolor paper. I understand the need to go cheap it if money is tight or you are going through a lot of paper, but Arches is always my first choice, and the brand I recommend to my students. You can see a comparison of watercolor papers in the following videos, this one features color swatches and this one features wet into wet technique.

Left over or dried paint should be thrown away. So long as it isn’t moldy, old or dry paint can still be dissolved in water. I actually squeeze tube paint on my palette and let it dry on purpose. If a tube of paint dries out and becomes hard, cut it open lengthwise with a razor blade, peel back the metal tube, cut out a chunk of paint and place it on your palette. If you live in a humid climate, let your palette dry uncovered in a sunny or spot to prevent it from growing mold. Mold will not grow in bright or dry surfaces.

Acrylic paint can be used just like watercolor paint. This is true up to a point. Acrylic paint contains an acrylic binder to help it attach to a surface. Too much water may  overdilute the binder and the pigment may not fully attach to the papers surface, causing it to flake off. Add a little liquid acrylic medium in addition water to maintain sufficient binder in the paint so it will attach properly. Also be very careful to wash your brush thoroughly since dried acrylic paint will permanently damage your brush.

Brushes and tools from left to right: paraffin candle, eye dropper, vinyl eraser, Princeton #2 synthetic sable liner, Princeton #2 golden synthetic liner, Princeton $10 Round Golden Synthetic, Cotman #2 Fan, Rafael #2 Quill Imitation Squirrel, White Sable #10 Round, Utrecht #8 Red Sable Blend, Princeton 3/4″ Wash, Princeton #0 Round, Pencil Sharpener. Most of these brushes were under $10 and work fine.

Watercolor and acrylic brushes are the same. Soft round brushes designed for acrylic paint can be used with watercolor, however the handles are much longer since they are designed to be held at a distance from a canvas, not up close to paper. Stiff bristle brushes are typically used with oil and acrylic paint unless you want a special effect. If you find you frequently have to dip your brush in paint as you work, try a bigger brush that comes to a fine point, or choose a brush that either contains real or imitation hair. Brands I’m happy with include White Sable and Princeton, but my favorite is a #2 Raphael Softaqua quill imitation squirrel brush, which cost about $25. It holds a ton of paint and can paint both fine detail and thick washes with ease.

Watercolorists need white paint to make lighter colors/you should never use white paint. This is a tricky one. What makes watercolor different from other paint is its transparency, so you don’t need any white paint to execute a watercolor painting. However, adding little white paint to gray clouds gives needed opacity, and even John Singer Sargent added accents of white and pastel colors to sunlit pictures. Just don’t paint over a mistake with white paint and then try to paint over it again with another and expect it to look like the mistake never happened. If you really need to hide a mistake, either 1. apply water to the mistake and scrub it out (Some papers and colors do this better than others) 2. cut out a piece of watercolor paper and carefully glue it over the mistake, making sure the glue only touches the area where two sheets meet. Ultimately the decision whether or not to use white paint is up to the artist.

Granulation is a sign of cheap paint. Those little tiny dots you see in burnt sienna and ultramarine blue are the tiny bits of pigment that don’t dissolve in water. It doesn’t reflect the quality of paint. Ultramarine blue was originally made from the precious stone lapis lazuli, and burnt sienna was made from heated soil that contains iron oxide. Many watercolorists like the granulated effect so much that there are mediums that imitate the granulated effect. (I tried it once. I wasn’t impressed.)

Every color of paint should behave the same way. Each tube of paint contains one or more different pigments, each of which vary in density, transparency, lightfastness and toxicity due to their chemical composition. As a result, colors behave very differently from one another; granulating ultramarine blue will sink and dye-like phthalocyanine blue will overwhelm other colors and stain your brushes. Synthetic colors like opera rose are notorious for fading over time. The cadmium and cobalt colors are very toxic, so don’t drink that coffee after you accidentally rinsed your brush in it. Better quality brands of paint offer charts that give information about how different paints behave. I’ve picked up copies in art supply shops, or you can search online. Here’s a chart for Winsor and Newton’s Cotman brand paint. Use the plus size on the right to enlarge the image and the key at the bottom to decipher the symbols.

So go out there, take risks and experiment, but be careful about making assumptions, especially if you are new to watercolor. It’s important to use reliable materials so you can have a positive painting experience.