ESSENTIAL Materials (Paint and Brushes) Professional Quality
The paint that you need for this course is transparent watercolor (Aquarell) paint (NOT gouache and not acrylic). Most brands sell paint in tubes and in dry ‘pans.’ It is important that you get your paint in TUBES.
I use paints from three brands: Winsor and Newton (mostly good paints, available in large tubes), Daniel Smith (the widest range of colors), and Rembrandt (some –but not all– colors of this brand are of better quality). Other brands are good too.
It is important that you get at least two versions of the three primary colors (a dark and a light color of each): one light blue and a dark blue, a light red and a dark red, as well as a light yellow and a dark brown or earth tone to function as a dark yellow.
We will mix secondary colors such as green and purple, and even black so there is no need to buy tubes of these colors. The following 12 colors are the colors that I use the most and I suggest that you get these or comparable colors to start with:
I usually buy my paint online because I have found that brick-and-mortar art stores only sell very small tubes which are expensive and also inconvenient (I’m afraid I will run out of a color half-way through a painting). These Swiss online stores sell the mentioned paints:
To complete a painting from start to finish you will need different types of brushes in various sizes. The following brushes are essential:
You need at least one extra large brush to wet the paper before painting. You can choose between two very different types: a Broad Flat Brush or a large French Brush
| Pros | Cons |
| Holds a lot of fluid | This is a very expensive brush. |
| A very flexible brush that, in addition to applying water, you can use for painting using a whole variety of strokes from very think to relatively thin. | Actual squirrel hair is of course not vegan. Some brands make synthetic versions but these are not as easy to come by. |
| Pros | Cons |
| Depending on the brand these brushes can be cheap or very cheap. The example shown is a sixth of the price of the French brush. | Holds quite a lot of fluid but less than the french squirrel hair brush |
| Much less versatile than the french brush. It is really only useful for applying water (which we will do a lot) but it is less versatile and not very suitable for painting. |
Gerstaecker: French Squirrel Hair Brush    Flat Synthetic brush
Zumstein: French Squirrel Hair Brush (this is a different brand, I have not tried it and I am not sure if it is the same size) Flat Synthetic brush
Large French brushes are very versatile. French brushes are constructed differently from regular round brushes, with the hairs tied to the shaft by a plastic ferrule bound with a string. The brush head of a french brush is also much larger relative to the rest of the brush, compared to regular round brushes. This means that French brushes generally hold more fluid and when held almost flat on the paper can be used to paint larger forms and broad strokes of a wide variety, but the pointed tip also makes them well-suited for smaller forms (though not the smallest details). They also have less bounce (elasticity), meaning that the brush tip reverts less quickly to its straight form (see photographs below). I found small french brushes not very useful, because their lack of bounce makes them less suitable for painting smaller details. I use synthetic Brushes from Aquarellys Léonard nr. 12 and nr. 10, or natural squirrel hair brushes of the same type as discussed above: Da Vinci 418 Petit Gris Pur, Nr. 8 and 6.
Bounce (elasticity) in French brushes compared to regular round brushes. The synthetic french brush depicted above does not bounce back to its straight form as easily as the regular synthetic round brush.Â
Bounce also depends on the type of hair. Synthetic brushes are generally more bouncy, the natural squirrel hair brush pictured above is not and retains an irregular shape after lifting it from the surface.Â
Gerstaecker: Da Vinci 418 Petit Gris Pur Natural Squirrel Hair Brushes (nr. 8 and 6)  Léonard Aquarellys Synthetic (nr. 12 and 10)
Zumstein: French BrushesÂ
Lachenmeier Farben: Da Vinci 418 Petit Gris Pur Natural Squirrel Hair Brushes (nr. 8 and 6)
Mid- and small size synthetic flat brushes with a short tip are great all-rounders. Of all brushes they have the most bounce. More than any other brushes they are useful to mix paints with as you can easily spoon with them. Because of their sturdy build and strong bounce they are also the best brushes to remove paint with from the paper or to blur edges with. Numbering of sizes is not universal across brands but I recommend these sizes of Winsor and Newton:
Mid- and small size synthetic round brushes are good for details. Always get synthetic as these have more bounce which is important for precise details.
I recommend getting a medium to of small sizes, say 10, 6, 4, but not the very small brushes (3-0), which in my experience are rarely useful. I have good experience with Princeton brand brushes which are available at Zumstein.
This long brush is called a ‘rigger’ because it is used to create long continuous lines such as for the rigging of boats. The best riggers have a long pointy tip and a thicker reservoir near the ferrule of the brush.Â
Where to buy: Alvaro Castagnet’s E-Store. (Get one of the ‘Needle Point Brushes’) The acclaimed watercolorist Alvaro Castragnet sells great brushes. His riggers are the best I could find. The store sells from outside Switzerland and import costs will be charged.