My Favorite Supplies and Why

I'm talking about my favorite supplies is so fun for me. Why? Because when I was first starting out with my painting journey 8 years ago, I had no idea how big of an impact good supplies would have on my practice!

In the beginning, I worked with whatever I had around the house. My brushes were the ones you find in kindergarten with the hairs all damaged and splayed out. I was working on cheap paper and using watered down acrylic paints like it was watercolor. SHEESH! While I’m very grateful for the supplies I had when I was starting out and they provided many memories and a newfound obsession, nothing transformed my art quite like upgrading my supplies. That's when I started seeing more pure colors, I was able to blend and mix with more ease, the paper wouldn’t warp and buckle as much and I was having more fun!

Because I get asked this question all of the time, I thought I’d compile a list of my go-to supplies for watercolor!

You can see all these art supplies on my Amazon Storefront or my Blick Store!

This video is a segment of my Complete Beginner's Guide to Watercolor. For the full video and all the individual chapters, go here.

PALETTE

00:53 – Explaining my palette (are there extra colors than what I list?)

PAINTS

02:28 – Colors I use, how I organize them, pro vs. student levels

BRUSHES

10:00 – Brushes I use: brand, sizes, and quality.
11:11 – Quick story of how these brushes are made (HIGH quality!)
13:26 – What I use the different brushes for.

PAPER

14:28 – Now talking paper.
14:39 – Should I use cold press or hot press?
16:14 – Cotton? GSM? Block vs. Pad?
18:28 – Paper brands: Legion vs. Arches vs. Fabriano

OTHER

19:15 – Other necessary supplies…

I highly recommend you check out these supplies on my Amazon Storefront or Blick Store and try them out! Maybe you’ve been working on some cheap paper or you’ve been disappointed in how your colors turn out compared to the tutorial you’re following. Think about how much more you’d enjoy practicing if you loved the results!

And if you want my to see my list of favorite business tools, too, get free access here.

Links & Freebies

Free Color Wheel Guide
Get access to my list of favorite art supplies and business tools here.
My Spotify painting playlist
My Floral Watercolor E-book

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by Jenna Rainey

Jennie Howard-Watson says:

January 9, 2024 at 2:40 pm

I am learning watercolor, I see Jenna on utube, what is the produce she uses to hold her paper while she is painting. I don’t have good success with taping the paper

- Jenna Rainey says:
  
  January 17, 2024 at 6:56 am
  
  It’s a watercolor paper block so it’s glued on all sides and it holds it in place for you without needing tape!