Here you'll see a photo of my basic watercolor set up for the watercolorist "Aquaproject" page activity.

There's 2 different pallettes with dried watercolor already on them and they both have the same colors...so as to keep the the colors themselves clean.
Also you'll see the usual brushes, and a container for holding water....(the one that says W N) Usually I have two of these filled with fresh water...one to rinse the brush and the other to use for color mixing.

You'll also see a staple gun, and some thin plywood.
I staple my watercolor paper to one of the pieces of plywood, so it can be handled freely while painting.
That wooden box with the lid open is where I keep my extra tubes of colors.
Make sure to change your water often...like every third or 4th rinse. It keeps the piece your working on looking crisp and less dull.

Oh, and one of my palletttes that you see there is fairly large, with 8 square mixing reservoirs down the middle, and 8 small ones down one side and 4 larger reservoirs on the other side.
The round one just has aone mix area in the middle.
Both pallettes hold the same combination of the hues I like...it's just better to have more room to mix rather than less.
The more room you have to mix, the less likely your colors are to mix by accident.

There are some absorbent napkins for blotting, a light close to the painting area of course and a straight edge.
The screw-driver and piers are for removing the staples, once you're done with a piece.

So lets see........Oh...before I start laying down any colors or anything onto the paper, I first cut it to size.....then staple it firmly down onto the plywood, a staple in each corner, and three more down each side. More is always better when it comes to stapling your paper down,

THEN I get a large 2 inch (at least) brush and use that to TOTALLY saturate the watercolor paper stapled to the ply wood.
Get it SOAKED thru and thru, then set it aside, and go do something else for as long as it takes to COMPLETELY dry out. There will be a point where you may THINK the paper is dry, but it really isn't.
It may feel dry to the touch, but the way you can tell if the paper is still damp in the core of the sheet, is to put your hand on it and see if it feels cold or cool. If it is, then it's still evaporating and isn't quite dry.
Patience is important. If the inside is still damp when you start, it will screw up your work by not flattening out completely. LET IT COMPLETELY DRY FIRST.
Then start painting.

And you'll notice, that with good quality watercolor paper, that it will buckle at first after you soak it, but then as it dries, it shrinks back up and becomes tight again, and flat.
Another indication it's completely dry.

Sometimes when I get it saturated, it's then that I may add a pigment from my brush to the wet surface for various effects...like a fading sky, or some other soft edged , wet on wet effect that I might want.
But after you lay any wash down, then just WALK AWAY.
Again, let it dry completely before you continue on.

The plywood should be JUST large enough to accommodate the paper, and light enough so you can tilt and turn it after you put down your washes, so as to control the pigment flow while doing a wet on wet technique.

That pretty much covers it I think.
Hope it wasn't to much of a ramble.

Definitely enjoy yourself tho.


Made for Aquaproject "tools of the trade"