"Christmas Cards Watercolor Workshop" for Beginners - Materials List
Christmas Cards Watercolor Workshop
for Beginners
Materials list
This is a detailed list of all of the materials you’ll need for this Watercolor Mastery Workshop. All of these art supplies can easily be found by clicking on the provided links to blick.com or may be found at your local art supply store.
I purchase most of my art supplies at Blick.com. They are quite a bit cheaper than purchasing locally, even with shipping.
The Watercolor Mastery Workshop is scheduled far enough in advance of the last ticket sold for you to have plenty of time to purchase your art supplies if you need them.
If you already have your own watercolor painting supplies, feel free to use what you have. You can substitute colors that are close the ones listed too. (example: Raw Sienna instead of Yellow Ochre, or Ultramarine Blue instead of Cobalt Blue, etc.).
Paper: The quality of the watercolor paper you use will be the one thing that will have the biggest impact on the performance of the rest of your art supplies. Try to opt for 100% cotton paper if you can. I always recommend Arches cold press watercolor paper to my students.
Arches Bright White 140lb watercolor single sheet cold press (16 x 20)
Our project paintings for this workshop will be in a card format, or roughly 5 x 7 inches for each. We will be able to easily cut 4 sheets of 5 x 7 paper from a single sheet of 16 x 20 cold press watercolor paper. We will be completing a total of 4 Christmas card paintings within the 4 hour workshop.
Please have your watercolor paper cut into 4 sheets of 5 x 7 size (always keep scraps that are left over after cutting your watercolor paper to practice on!)
A little practice paper will come in handy as well.
*You can also purchase a 9 x 12 block of watercolor paper if you prefer.
A block is a 20 sheet pad of paper that is bound on all four sides and ready to paint on. Just search for “Arches watercolor block” within the Blick.com site.
It’s much more expensive than a single sheet, but worth it if you do a lot of painting (or a lot of workshops!)
9 x 12 Arches Cold Press Watercolor Block
Brushes: We’ll be using 4 brushes for this workshop. A #2 round, a #4 round, a #8 round & a #12 round brush.
Cheap Throw-Away Brush
Any inexpensive watercolor brush (small round like a #4 or #6 is perfect). We'll be using this to apply masking fluid
Winsor & Newton Watercolor Round Brushes
Watercolor paint: All of the watercolors used in the workshop exercises are Grumbacher Academy 7.5 ml tube colors.
Here is the color palette we’ll be using:
Masking Fluid
We will be using masking fluid for this month's project painting. My recommendation is Pebeo brand drawing gum.
1” Masking Tape: Any regular masking tape will work and can be found at any hardware store, or you can find it by clicking here.
2 Containers for water: One for clean water and the other for dirty water. Any jar or large drinking glass will work fine.
Paper Towels: I like to have a few paper towels handy for blotting brushes on
Hand towel: A rolled up hand towel works great to prop up your painting board at a 20 degree angle.
Tissue: Any kind of facial tissue will work, be sure that it does not contain oils or moisturizers. TP is a good alternative.
Painting board: We’ll be attaching the paper for the main painting project to a painting board.
My preference is a product called “Gatorfoam board.” It can be purchased by Clicking Here. Their smallest cut size is 16 x 23.
You can also use any flat wood or plastic board that is a bit larger than your paper. You’ll need the board in order to be able to tilt your painting surface when needed.
Pencils and eraser. For this watercolor workshop we'll be using an F lead pencil, A 6B pencil, as well as a kneaded rubber eraser.
Straight Edge or Ruler:
You'll need something to create a straight line with.
Palette: For this workshop I’ll be using an Eldajon watercolor palette
The reason I am using the Eldajon palette is because it has deep wells for mixing color which will give us an advantage over a flat surface.
Electric Hair dryer: A hair dryer is highly recommended for this workshop.
I will be using a hair dryer a few times in the presentation to speed up drying time.
In addition, make sure you have adequate lighting, a comfortable chair to sit in, and a nice flat and stable painting surface (a desk or kitchen table is great).