Watercolor Art Supplies - My Favorite and Not So Favorite That I've Purchased Over The Years 

I loved this longer format! And, seriously, please don't think you have to apologize for having an opinion. If a product doesn't meet your needs for your art style (and we are here because we adore your art style), your honest opinion and review goes a long way. And I really appreciate that you speak up when your opinion changes! I have changed brand preferences several times since I started concentrating on watercolor. But then when I realized I preferred mixed media, everything changed gears. Totally understandable. I used to fall into the trap of lightfastness. And when I am honest with myself, 97% of my art will never see daylight or will be presented in digital or repro format, it became a no-pressure issue. I create primarily for me. And if people like it, that's cool. If they don't, that's totally fine. Long and short, I appreciate your opinions, your impeccable eye for style, and all the hard work you put in behind the scenes. Keep being exactly you.

I like your chatty videos about supplies. You often have a use-case I have not considered and it helps me make better purchasing decisions.

The Frixion (pronounced just like "friction") doesn't actually erase any ink from the paper. The heat of rubbing the eraser over the ink changes its properties so that it becomes invisible at ambient temperature. This means other temperature changes (direct sunlight, hot/cold car, sitting a hot/cold cup on your notebook) will affect it. They don't play well with other media such as pencil and correction tape, and the more "layers" you do the more skipping you'll get. All that being said, I love Frixion pens for appointments that might move. Could I use a sticky note instead? Sure. But with Frixion pens I can color-code. SO basically, they have a purpose for me, and I can overlook the potential issues.

Yes please do more! I am brand new to watercolor....any kind of painting and just came across you tonight. I love listening and learning about all this stuff out there. Tfs

Elizabeth Keefner here…. I love all your videos. This one was great because I could just relax and listen to your thoughts on supplies while working on projects.

This is a really fun chatty video 😊 interesting to hear your thoughts on Daniel smith, I know everyone seems to rave about them. I had a similar thing where I bought a blue that looked lovely, and then realised later on that it was far too granulating to use for portraits 🤦🏼‍♀️

Hope it's not rude for me to bring this to your attention, but the Faber-Castelle graphite pencils that you shown on the video at 13:31 is not the graphite matt pencils but their standard graphite pencils line. Their matt graphite pencils go by the Pitt Graphite Matt name - while they are significantly less shiny than the standard graphite counterpart, they still have a subtle sheen to it (similar to some watercolour colour binder sheen that you see in certain watercolour brands when used in mass tone).

Awe, God bless you and wellness !! Thanks for ALL you do for us !

I love the silver black velvet brushes but…. The “fakes” on Amazon are also really fantastic and more student grade prices. So as long as you don’t think you’re buying an authentic Silver brushes I would highly recommend the Dainayw brushes also they are really nice.

wow. really enjoyed this video... Thanks for talking about inks too. I am looking into buying some in future and ph radius would be on my list now. Waiting for your video on papers.

✅ Definitely do more videos like this one about your thoughts on supplies! 💟 Stay well 🙏🏼

I know this is late, but in terms of trying new watercolor papers, I recommend trying Hahnemuhle's The Collection cold press. It's more like a soft velvet than your typical cold press texture.

Hey, so nice to see a video from you again. Nice to have you back but don't overdo it too quickly. Your body needs a rest and you should listen to the signs. Wishing you well🥰

Very informative. I totally agree with you about Silver black velvet brushes. As a beginner one year ago, I started with a Princeton Heritage and it is a great brush. I still use it for certain things. But then I got a Silver and it made a huge difference in the quality of my work. They say in golf you cannot “ buy” a lower score, lol. But this brush definitely improved my “game.” It did indeed have a learning curve. I now have 5 or 6 of them and those babies do hold the liquid.

I really like these kinds of videos. Please do some more of them. 🙂

Welcome back!! Very informative!! Thank you!

Hope you will show us the window fading results! :) Very nice video. Hope youll feel 100% soon!

Great video. Very informative, especially for someone that is beginning to utilize the medium. Thank you for sharing.

you are an awsome artist. im glad you are here

Happy you're feeling better! XO🍒

Tellement heureuse de t'entendre à nouveau et de te voir ! Merci pour tous tes conseils 💕🌼🌻🏵🌸

Great video❤

Very interesting and helpful! ☺️ Thanks a lot!

LOVE this video…learned so much, also subscribed 🎉 More please!

Before I forget, just wanted to tell you that you can reshape your brush when you dip it into boiled water. 🤗

Like the Daniel Smith iridescent paints, some of the other paints in each brand don't re-wet as well and need to be fresh from tube. Winsor and Newton recommend getting their paints in pan form if you're looking for pan paints, as they adjust the formula slightly to compensate, but I have found that most of their paints re-wet just fine. Only a few struggle, and they're worth adding a little extra glycerin or honey to them when you make your own pans, to help. I do that with Winsor and Newton's Potter's Pink, which is hands-down my favourite Potter's Pink. It's got that little bit of pink in it that some other brands seem to be missing. I have found that some Daniel Smith paints cracked when dried and so I will be adding a few drops of glycerin to help them along next time. I don't trust Daniel Smith as a brand (look up Moonglow lightfast rating if you're not aware yet) and so if I'm painting something that matters to me, I won't be using their brand. Schminke and Senellier are the other brands I use sometimes, and they're lovely. I won't use White Nights (Russian brand) right now. I can't bring myself to. Winsor and Newton, though, are my absolute fav. Thanks for the chat!

The Fusion ink will disappear again if you put sheet in microwave. Run in 10 to 30 sec intervals until ink is gone. 😊

Hi, again if you like dye based watercolor you might try Peerless sheets, I have used them for many years and as long as they are placed behind UV glass they do retain their vibrancy for years! I have a painting from 1981 and it is still a lovely painting! Maybe you can give those dye based sheets? You might try cheap joes Kilimanjaro house brand of papers! I would recommend Schmincke iridescent mediums over Dan Smith! They also have half pans of metallic paints. Schmincke that is! I was raised with Grumbacher professional grade paints and they were flat and even. I went to buy my first refill as my Gran gave me my first palette and I thought the paint was defective! It was granulating all over the place! I came back to traditional art methods and I picked mijello mission gold they are lovely, it was not until I found Denise Soden’s channel and DaVinci paints did I become entranced with those watercolor paints!!! I hope you continue to enjoy yourself and sharing your journey with us!

Hi Carrie. Jerry's Artarama carries sheets of Fabriano Soft Press. 😉

I noticed that the synthetic brushes don’t keep their point very long compared to real hair brushes

Jacksons in-house brand watercolour paper would be good for you to try, one in particular "cold pressed (not)" is the name

I want to get into watercolor so I'm getting the hydrus since it's liquid

So I don't know if you can get it in the US but I have been using Leyton hotpress watercolour paper and I love it. It's a chinese brand but is 100% cotton and I love it more than Arches hot press or Saunders waterford hotpress, It just seems to stay wet that little bit longer. If you find it, try it.

I am sure you will have other things in this video that I can comment on, but I wanted to share this before I forget about it! I wanted to eliminate the lines under my paint too. I have used a regular H pencil and use a kneaded eraser to lighten my lines, but I have started using Col-erase pencils and watercolor pencils matching the color to be painted and this works very well for me. I am a true convert to DaVinci watercolor paints and I simply cannot recommend another paint! I do agree DS has the most choices but they are a horrible company and I will never spend another dime to buy any product from that company!!! Ok, more to watch!

Have you checked out Regina’s Watercolor her paints are made from Hydrus PH Martins. I love her paints I have her full color palette.

I hated to see AC Moore close too. I think they just couldn't compete with Michaels and Hobby Lobby. I knew they were in trouble when they had a huge wall plus several rows of just Cricut machines. & accessories. They also reduced and eliminated certain big brands and substituted their own. I heard that Joanna is struggling too and they have a lot of Cricut products that I think push out other competitive brands. Plus when I just went there recently looking for some Royal & Langnickel brushes, they were gone and in their place they had a lousy selection of their own brand of brushes. They still have a great selection of home dec and fabric and sewing related products, but art & craft supplies-wise, nothing like they used to have.

What is the Ecoline color that you like? I can't read the number on the bottle. Thanks!

If it comes back you may not have gotten it hot enough to make it go away. Use a heat gun or a blow dryer, and they should be gone forever. I found out the hard way putting something through my laminator, and it never came back.

Have you tried water soluble pencils for your artworks? I've found them a bit scratchy but haven't tried them with watercolour yet.

Dang it, you made me buy another ruler. 😂

On the non-lightfast watercolor concentrates, does using a UV spray like Krylon UV Archival help them not to fade?

don you have a link to your fav supplies please? Thank you

I find my hyrus works if I premix colours from tubes into empty pans. Just keep it to far LESS hydrus and mix thoroughly. I also add a touch of honey to hydrus pans to encourage rewetting. The touch of honey also seems to help when premixing colours with added hydrus. Always only add a touch of hydrus and mix thoroughly. I hear vegetable glycerin may work similar to honey so add a touch perhaps. I also advise touch of hydrus to pre-panned gouache for stronger vibrancy of colours. I have some non lightfast radiant mixes too they are gorgeous (including gouache) when you pre wet them the dye rises BUT it mixes in and works fine even if it 'seems' to separate. When I actually remix it and use it it works fine in practice. I agree about them mixing oddly IN the pallet fresh. I use fugitive materials just for personal use not for original for sale art. Sometimes you need them for the most vibrant colours!

Frixion tells you all about the temperature stuff upfront. But really why put it in the freezer? Also at least what I understand is they're intended more for the rocketbook kind of notebooks. So you wouldn't even need to care about any of that usually, you write your notes or drawings etc, snap the photo their app to save and sort etc and erase. Repeat. If you upload right away, even if you for some reason put your paper in the freezer... it doesn't make it the end of the world. Just putting it out there for anyone who was considering these pens. They work well with the rocketbooks and I enjoyed the whole system. But yeah, read the back of your boxes and directions etc and you'll be fine. ;)

MisterArt has Fabriano 640 Gsm Soft Press by the sheet as of today on their website. Blick has it as well but it costs about $2.00 more. There are a few other places as well. Thank you for being so chatty and personable :)