HOME | DD

Description
There’s plenty more stuff in my studio, of course, but these are my most essential tools of the trade.

Clockwise from top left:

Spray bottle
Very handy for wetting paper, directing the flow of washes and keeping the paints on the palette moist.

3 Water containers
The first one is the “wash cycle”, the second is the “rinse cycle”, while the water in the third container will (hopefully) stay clear and clean, for wetting brushes before picking up paint.
I realize that this makes me look like a total neatness freak. But how will I get bright, clean, shiny colours if I use dirty water?

Tissue paper – for mopping up and lifting colour

Palettes – “flower” type and cheap plastic plates with dividers

Paints
I mostly use Winsor & Newton (artist grade) paints in the big 14 ml tubes.
Winsor & Newton because they are the only really good brand available here.
Tubes because I like the juicy, full-bodied colours they give.
Big 14 ml tubes because I tend to paint big, and also because the fiddly little covers of the small tubes drive me nuts.

Masking fluid
The blue one on the right is by Schmincke and comes with a thin nozzle – ideal for masking fine detail and thin lines.
The yellowish one on the left is by Winsor & Newton and needs to be applied with a brush or whatever else you can dream up, like a twig, the edge of a credit card (preferably an old one), a bamboo pen, palette knife, crumpled paper or whatever.

Masking fluid should not be left open for any length of time because this will lead to it thickening, becoming lumpy and even drying up. For this reason I keep a tiny Sake cup for pouring out just the amount of mask I will need.
I also keep a small cake of soap handy. I wet an (old, synthetic!!!) brush, draw it over the soap a few times, and only then do I dip it into the mask.
The soap is also handy for cleaning the brush when I notice that it is becoming clogged with mask.

Natural sponge – used like a stamp, it is great for texture, especially greenery.

Brushes
I have dozens, but these are my favourites.
From the top down:
A very old Chinese “washing” brush or Hake brush – as the name implies, good for laying down washes.
The XL brush next to it is made of marten hair, then there are two sables in L, and M. Expensive, a luxury, definitely not essential... but such a joy to paint with! They can also hold an incredible amount of water/ paint, and as I already said, I tend to paint “big”.
The last two are “normal” watercolour brushes for detail work.

Paper and support
I use a kind of foam-board as painting support. Cheap, very light, and easy to cut to the desired size. I just clip my watercolour paper on with those big plastic clips. This is normally enough as I only use 300 g/ 140 lbs paper.
For paper, as I said, nothing lighter than 300 g/ 140 lbs because it doesn’t buckle easily, even without stretching. I usually buy sheets, 56cm x 76cm/ 22” x 30” and leave them whole (as I said, I like to paint big) or else cut them in half.

Colour swatches
I save any leftover bits and pieces of watercolour paper and use them for testing colours before putting them down on the actual painting.

Description
There’s plenty more stuff in my studio, of course, but these are my most essential tools of the trade.

Clockwise from top left:

Spray bottle
Very handy for wetting paper, directing the flow of washes and keeping the paints on the palette moist.

3 Water containers
The first one is the “wash cycle”, the second is the “rinse cycle”, while the water in the third container will (hopefully) stay clear and clean, for wetting brushes before picking up paint.
I realize that this makes me look like a total neatness freak. But how will I get bright, clean, shiny colours if I use dirty water?

Tissue paper – for mopping up and lifting colour

Palettes – “flower” type and cheap plastic plates with dividers

Paints
I mostly use Winsor & Newton (artist grade) paints in the big 14 ml tubes.
Winsor & Newton because they are the only really good brand available here.
Tubes because I like the juicy, full-bodied colours they give.
Big 14 ml tubes because I tend to paint big, and also because the fiddly little covers of the small tubes drive me nuts.

Masking fluid
The blue one on the right is by Schmincke and comes with a thin nozzle – ideal for masking fine detail and thin lines.
The yellowish one on the left is by Winsor & Newton and needs to be applied with a brush or whatever else you can dream up, like a twig, the edge of a credit card (preferably an old one), a bamboo pen, palette knife, crumpled paper or whatever.

Masking fluid should not be left open for any length of time because this will lead to it thickening, becoming lumpy and even drying up. For this reason I keep a tiny Sake cup for pouring out just the amount of mask I will need.
I also keep a small cake of soap handy. I wet an (old, synthetic!!!) brush, draw it over the soap a few times, and only then do I dip it into the mask.
The soap is also handy for cleaning the brush when I notice that it is becoming clogged with mask.

Natural sponge – used like a stamp, it is great for texture, especially greenery.

Brushes
I have dozens, but these are my favourites.
From the top down:
A very old Chinese “washing” brush or Hake brush – as the name implies, good for laying down washes.
The XL brush next to it is made of marten hair, then there are two sables in L, and M. Expensive, a luxury, definitely not essential... but such a joy to paint with! They can also hold an incredible amount of water/ paint, and as I already said, I tend to paint “big”.
The last two are “normal” watercolour brushes for detail work.

Paper and support
I use a kind of foam-board as painting support. Cheap, very light, and easy to cut to the desired size. I just clip my watercolour paper on with those big plastic clips. This is normally enough as I only use 300 g/ 140 lbs paper.
For paper, as I said, nothing lighter than 300 g/ 140 lbs because it doesn’t buckle easily, even without stretching. I usually buy sheets, 56cm x 76cm/ 22” x 30” and leave them whole (as I said, I like to paint big) or else cut them in half.

Colour swatches
I save any leftover bits and pieces of watercolour paper and use them for testing colours before putting them down on the actual painting.