Debra Birtwell Designs: March 2017

Basic Watercolor and Acrylic Supplies

Hi, welcome to the world of painting. I am going to introduce you to all the basic painting materials that you will need to create beautiful paintings using watercolor and acrylic paints.

I have put together a collection of the most popular and useful watercolor and acrylic painting materials for you to review. These are some of my favorite watercolor & acrylic brands and products.

Best Watercolor Paint Set

Winsor & Newton Starter Kit - Watercolor Paint Set

This is a great watercolor starter kit for students to begin with. The paints are made by Winsor & Newton and great quality. It's a bit more economical to start with than buying individual paints.

A starter kit will give students a chance to see which colors you like and one can easily replace favorites with larger tubes.

The starter set includes one 5 ml tube each of:

Burnt Umber, French Ultramarine, Hooker's Green, Permanent Rose, Winsor Yellow, and Yellow Ochre.

They have included a 20 sheet, 9 x 12" cold press block of Arches watercolor paper and a Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable #4 brush.

These are some of my favorite watercolor paints:

Best Red Watercolor Paints

Best Blue Watercolor Paints

Best Yellow Watercolor Paints

Best Green Watercolor Paints

Winsor & Newton Permanent Sap Green
Winsor & Newtonn Winsor Green (Blue shade)
Grumbacher Permanent Green Light

Best Brown Watercolor Paints

Best Gray Watercolor Paints

Winsor & Newton Payne's Gray

Best Pink Watercolor Paints

Winsor & Newton Rose Madder Genuine

Best Watercolor Paper

I have tried several watercolor papers throughout my years of painting and have to say
Arches watercolor paper is the best.

Arches Watercolor Paper

Arches watercolor paper comes in hot press, cold press, and rough. The paper comes in several weights, 90lb, 140lb, and 300lb. I recommend the Arches140lb cold press watercolor paper for the beginner. It is the most economical and forgiving. I will be blogging at a late date regarding the different types of watercolor paper that Arches has to offer. Here are some options to get you started.

Arches watercolor paper 9 x 12 Pad of 140lb Cold Press (12 sheets)
Arches watercolor paper 10 x 14 Pad of 140lb Cold Press (12 sheets)

I would recommend the full sheets for the avid painter.You can customize the size of your paper for small to larger pieces.

Arches Full sheet 140lb Cold Press 22" x 30" (5 sheet package)

Best Watercolor Brushes for Beginners

I really like these Winsor & Newton Cotman brushes, I have used them for both watercolor and Acrylic painting.

I have used these brushes made by Winsor & Newton for over 20 years! Yes, I mean I have the same brushes I bought 20 years ago.

Winsor & Newton Cotman Synthetic 1" One Stroke Flat Brush and Winsor & Newton Cotman 1/2" One Stroke Flat Brush

Buy A Rigger Brush For Fine Lines

The Winsor Newton Cotman Rigger brush is used to create fine lines. It is great for painting fine lines such as grasses and flowers, etc.

Buy a Scrubber Brush Set for Lifting out Paint

The Dick Blick Scrubber Brush Set is a great brush for the Artist to add to their Brush Sets. This brush comes in handy when the artist needs to lift out paint.

Best Masking Fluid For Watercolor Painting

Grumbacher tinted Masking Fluid is great because of the orange tint. The orange tint helps the artist determine where they applied the masking fluid on the watercolor paper.

Best Watercolor Paint Palette

The White plastic palette made by Dick Blick is a great item to have. It is affordable, lightweight and a great way to organize your paints.

White Enamel Butcher Trays

White enamel Butcher Tray Palettes are another way to go for a palette. I use them because they do not stain. They are great for mixing colors and come in various sizes.

Watercolor Miscellaneous Supplies

You can pick up most of the following supplies at your local Dollar Store. Please do not bring sea salt or pink salt. The plain salt works the best. The kleenex should be the plain type, not the Puffs Plus which have lotion in them.

Ruler, Pencil, & a white eraser
Box of Kleenex
Regular salt in a shaker
Masking Tape
2 plastic chopping placemats
Spray Bottle
Toothbrush
2 plastic water containers

Basic Acrylic Painting Supplies

This is a great Acrylic paint starter kit with smaller tubes for the students to try and see which tubes they like and then they can can purchase additional tubes in a larger size.

Liquitex Basics Acrylic Tubes Starter Set of 48 22ml tubes

Liquitex Basics Titanium white 250ml tube of Acrylic Paint

The Acrylic student will use a lot of white acrylic paint while painting (and I mean A LOT!!!) So I recommend the BIG TUBE! Seriously I am looking for someone who sells a half gallon size with a pump!!!! Ha Ha Ha!!!

Gesso Primer

Gesso is a great product. It can be used to prep many surfaces for painting. You might want to paint on wood or tile and the gesso is used to prime the item you want to paint. It can be used on canvases to smooth the surface or perhaps you have an old painting you do not like. You can cover it with Gesso and start over!!

I like to recommend a few extra tubes of my favorite Acrylic Paints which the beginner might want to add to their collection.

Winsor & Newton Quinacridone Gold

I love this this product. I use it a lot for glazing.It is a transparent warm yellow paint and it is amazing how it brings life into your paintings.

Liquitex Basics Medium Magenta

I love using this Liquitex Basics pink. It is so vibrant and great for all types of painting subjects.

Liquitex Light Portrait Pink

I love the Liquitex Basics Light Portrait Pink. I use it a lot to make beautiful grays when mixed with cool blues.

Liquitex Basics 64oz bottle of Gesso

Best Acrylic Paint Palette

The Masterson Sta-Wet Premier Palette from Dick Blick is a great item for the Acrylic student. It extends the life of the acrylic paint due to the inserted sponge. This great palette includes the sponge and paper.

Buy Replacement Sponges

You can buy additional replacement sponges that come in a 3 pack.

Buy Replacement Palette Paper

You can buy replacement palette paper too!

Buy Canvas for Acrylic Painting

This is a great deal from Dick Blick, (Pkg of 7) 11" x 14" stretch Canvases.

Canvas Panels

Blick Canvas Panels are an economical product for the beginner and are easy to tote around. Dick Blick has a great starter package of 24 8" × 10"canvas panels to get you started.

Best Gloss Medium and Varnish For Acrylic Painting

I recommend Liquitex Gloss Medium and Varnish. The gloss medium is great for extending the fluidity of the paint and a great product to varnish your completed work. The Gloss really brings out the colors!

Best Starter Acrylic Brush Set For Beginners

A great starter Acrylic Brush set from Dick Blick is the set of 4 Blick Synthetic Sable Brushes.

Best Transfer Paper

Sally's Wax Free Graphite Transfer Paper is a great supply for the Artist to keep on hand. It is user friendly and helps the beginner Artist who might struggle with their drawing skills from time to time. It is easy to trace a subject right on to your watercolor paper or canvas
It comes in a roll of 18" x 24" sheets.

Miscellaneous Painting Supplies:

Ruler
Pencil
White Eraser
Hand Towel
2 Plastic Containers For Water
Plastic Table Cloth
Apron

I hope you enjoyed this collection of Watercolor and Acrylic Supplies.

If you have questions regarding some of the information I have provided ,please do not hesitate to email me at: birtwelldebra@gmail.com

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Debra Birtwell Designs

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Basic Watercolor and Acrylic Supplies 2017