Materials

Paper

  • 300 GSM (140 lb) watercolour paper, 100% cotton, Cold Pressed or Rough

  • Paper size: 38cm × 56cm, 4 sheets per day should be enough

Recommended brands:

Consistency matters more than brand. Choose a brand that works and stick with it till you get the hang of it.

Brushes

Keep it minimal, these are enough for almost everything:

  • A large hake for washes (eg Neef goat hake 4cm)

  • A med-large round brush (your primary brush - natural hair or mixed, avoid synthetic-only brush if possible)

  • A small brush for details

Optional Calligraphy brushes

I have recently discovered them and have come to like them a lot. I usually have some available, contact me in advance if you’d like to buy a set from me.

The goal is to use one primary brush for most of your painting. Over time, it becomes an extension of your hand, and builds intuitiveness with water control, pigment loading and strokes.

Colours

You only need 6 colours maximum (for most of my paintings I use just 3-4).

Core Palette:

  • Blues (Warm & Cool):

    • Ultramarine Blue

    • Cobalt Blue

  • Reds:

    • Crimson Lake/ Permanent Rose / Rose Madder (preferred over Alizarin)

  • Yellows (Warm & Cool):

    • Yellow Ochre or Raw Sienna

    • Transparent Yellow / Aureolin / Indian Yellow

  • Burnt Sienna

Colour Selection Tips

  • Choose transparent, single-pigment colours wherever possible

  • Avoid opaque & semi opaque pigments

  • Avoid colours made of more than 1 pigment. E.g. sap green (3 pigments)

  • A limited palette leads to colour harmony and fewer pigments overall creates cleaner mixes

  • Avoid cake/pan sets. Prefer professional watercolour tubes.

Recommended Brands

Dont Forget

Mixing palette, water container, towel, masking tape or clips, spray bottle and a backing board to paint on.

My approach to teaching is built on reducing unnecessary variables.

Using fewer brushes, a limited palette and the same paper for a while allows you to:

  • Understand your materials faster.

  • Build intuitiveness regarding paper wetness, timing, brush strokes, loading the brush with the right amount and right consistency of colours.

  • Improve through repetition with the same materials rather than changing these variables constantly.

Once you truly understand your tools, exploring new materials becomes easy. Until then, I recommend keeping it simple.