Materials

A number of years ago I made two changes in my choice of materials that resulted in a dramatic and immediate improvement in my painting. Those two changes were going from 26 colors down to a limited palette of 9 colors. Later I added 2 more. The second change was to go to larger (and far fewer) brushes- which really helped to loosen up my work.

My materials are now few, and my setup simple yet comfortable and functional. Here we go!

PALETTE (colors):
Lemon yellow, alizarin crimson, cobalt blue, ultramarine blue, raw sienna, light red, burnt sienna, burnt umber, paynes gray. *Later I added (although rarely use), cadmium yellow and cadmium red.
NOTE: You may have noticed I have no green in my palette – I prefer to mix my greens.

BRUSHES:

These 4 simple yet versatile brushes can produce every effect I need. You don’t need a drawer full of expensive sable brushes to paint in watercolor. Sometimes simple is better!

NOTE: Probably over 80% of every painting I do is done with the large hake. I always use the largest brush I can!

PAPER:
Bockingford 140 lb. Cold Press in 11″ × 15″ sheets. Bockingford is made in England and has been the choice of professional and amateur painters in the UK for many generations. It’s my absolute favorite for the wet-in-wet painting I do.

PALETTE (mixing surface):
Holbein #40 Aluminum Folding Palette with 13 wells.

EASEL:
French Box Easel (a VERY versatile piece of equipment!)

MISC:
Board (to hold paper), metal clips (to attach paper to board), hair dryer, rags, ruler, sketch book, pencil, masking fluid, water jar, paper towels, and oh yeah-water!