Watercolor Supply List — Kyra Wells Creative

Hello all! Welcome to the blog section of my website. I don’t often get to chat with you in a long format, so I’m excited to have you here. I thought I’d talk a little bit about the supplies I use when painting with watercolors (even though...it’s not many) for those who may be starting out or for those who want to treat yourself to a little refresh or upgrade.

I’m a firm believer that you can create beautiful art with whatever supplies you have. By all means, dig out your Crayola six-pan watercolor tray and go to town. That being said, enclosed are my favorite supplies and why I love them. Hope you enjoy!

When I first started painting with watercolors, I was a sophomore in college. I dug out a random bag of miscellaneous art supplies from under my dorm bed which included watercolors my parents had won for me as part of an art bundle being sold at an auction to raise money for my middle school (I went to a charter school). The watercolors included in this were a pallet from Van Gogh by Royal Talens. I don’t think they sell the exact one anymore seeing as I got it over ten years ago, but this one is the updated version. It’s an 18 pan travel palette with a travel brush.

To be completely honest, I used this travel brush and this travel brush only. It’s a rounded tip and very small, but for some reason, it was just perfect for everything I needed. I work pretty small and I love little details so I always prefer a rounded brush on the smaller side. I only stopped using it this spring when I upgraded my supplies since, after three years of heavy use, the pointed tip became quite frayed.

This is the palette I use now. I love it so much. There is only really a handful of colors that I don’t use (one color is the worst yellow/green/brown you can think of, the other is dark purple. It also comes with a few metallic colors which are just so much fun to play with). This palette has 48 colors and although I strongly believe you can use whatever materials you have, this type of paint is my favorite.

I know a lot of watercolor artists use tube paint, and that may be more economical in the long run (I have to replace my natural green and my black relatively often) I can’t stand using watercolors from a tube. For me, I have a harder time controlling the pigment and the paint itself is too soft. I like having all my colors out in front of me and I find the firmness of a pan pigment is helpful when I often paint details/linework. Also unwrapping the pans for the first time is like unwrapping candy and I love it.

Now, I still only use one brush. Yes, you heard me. One brush! While this might be crazy, I genuinely don’t ever need another brush. Believe me, I have other brushes. Flat brushes, big brushes, smaller brushes. I never reach for them. My holy grail brush is a Van Gogh series 191 No. 6 and, you guessed it, it came with the palette (I’m sure you’ve all lost your minds at this point, my apologies. I’m a simple gal). For some reason, I cannot find the exact brush link but I have found the other sizes. If I had to pick another one, I’d choose a No. 4. This is another one that would do the trick. Here is a No.6 by Windsor and Newton that I also love. Windsor and Newton is my second favorite brand. Forgive me for choosing the most allusive brand in all of the art world to be my favorite, but we’re all about being honest here.

As for paper, I use Canson cold press watercolor pads in 9x12 and 11x14. I prefer the stiffness of cold press compared to the softness of hot press, and it absorbs the water better (eg, it’s easier to lift paint to fix mistakes by adding more water, which I do a lot since I don’t sketch with pencil first). I know cold press is often for beginners or drafts and then hot press is used for final pieces, but I personally like to stick to what’s easiest. Art is art no matter what it’s painted on.

The last tool I use is my scanner. I use the Canon LiDe 220 which is amazing for scanning in watercolors which are notoriously hard to scan. I use the photo setting and then I pop them into Photoshop to create that crisp white background seen here.

And that about wraps it up for my materials! I love exploring and playing with different art supplies, but I always return to my tried and true. I hope you find this helpful. If you have any questions feel free to reach out!

Happy painting,

-Kyra

Field Notes