Start watercolor painting
Paint with water and a little pigment, and let the colors flow and blend on the paper. Here's the video that hooks everyone, and everything you need for your first landscape.
Space neededA kitchen table
First projectA mountain landscape
Skill levelBeginner-friendly
Good forAny age, sitting down
The video that hooks everyone
A mountain sunset, painted layer by layer
A soft orange sky, then rows of teal mountains, each one darker than the last, and a line of dark pines across the bottom. Press play and see why it hooks people.
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Tool list
What you need to start
Everything you need for your first project, and nothing you don't.
Starter kit
01Watercolor paper140 lb (300 gsm) cold-press. Thick enough to take water without buckling.
02Student paint setA pan set with about a dozen colors is plenty.
03Round brush, size 10Your main brush. Holds lots of water and still comes to a point.
04Round brush, size 2For pine trees, branches and birds.
05Flat brush, 1 inchWets the paper and lays in the sky.
06Mixing paletteA white plastic palette. A white plate works too.
07Two water jarsOne to rinse your brush, one kept clean for mixing.
08Board + masking tapeHolds the paper flat and leaves a clean white border.
09Paper towelsBlots extra water off your brush.
The manual tells you what to look for when you buy each one.
- 1Too much water, or too littlePuddles dry into blotchy blooms, and a dry brush drags. Aim for paper that's damp and shiny, not a pond.
- 2Painting dark before lightWatercolor goes light to dark. Once a dark is down, you can't paint a light color over it.
- 3Going back into a drying washTouch a half-dry layer and you get streaks and hard edges. Let each layer dry all the way first.
