Watercolour Painting in Samos and Ikaria Summer 2008 – Materials to Bring

Dear Painter,

These are suggestions for beginners – experienced painters will already know what suits them best !

Paints

‘Pans’ or tubes, artist quality paints are much better – go for quality rather than quantity! This is my basic palette, it is not definitive but try to have at least one ‘warm’ and one ‘cool’ shade of the primary colours and a couple of ‘earth’ colours.

LemonYellow (cool)

Cadmium Yellow Pale (warm)

Cadmium Red (cool)

Alizarin Crimson (warm)

Monestial (Winsor) Blue (cool)

French Ultramarine (warm)

Raw Sienna (earth)

Raw Umber (earth)

Burnt Sienna (earth)

I also find useful:

Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Turquoise, Cobalt Violet, Naples Yellow, Rose Doré

Paper

Bring plenty – a watercolour ‘block’ , glued at the edges is very convenient . A sketch book and some cheaper paper a good idea. Try to bring a variety of textures – “not’ or cold – pressed is a good all round texture.

Brushes

At least one decent size ( 10 or 12 ) good quality sable or synthetic equivalent that will point well.

Some other useful brushes include a ‘rigger’ for finer lines, a ‘mop’ (eg squirrell) for large washes and a coarser ‘hog’ for lifting off pigment. An old toothbrush for ‘spattering’

Other Things

Important other things include a mixing palette, some pencils ( soft eg 2B) a putty rubber, a drawing board ( a piece of card will do) and masking tape for dealing with loose paper, masking fluid and perhaps a lightweight folding stool. Water pots can be improvised locally !

Most Important

Don’t feel you have to spend a fortune ! A little goes a long way and if you have fewer colours you’ll get to know them better. One good brush is better than lots of mediocre ones.

Looking forward to meeting you in Greece

Paul