How To Paint Large With Watercolour

I hope you enjoy this painting that was done for my friend's wife for her birthday!

If you would like a step by step course that will help you understand the medium of watercolour and paint in a loose way using the Kyoto Approach (Hake Brushes and Bowls of Wash) then click on the link below:

https://www.scottswinsonclasses.com/w...

Paper:
Full Sheet of Rives BFK Etching Paper, 100% Cotton, Acid Free, 56cm x 76cm, 285gsm, White.

Paints: (All paints used are Winsor and Newton Artist Quality Tubes of Watercolour)
Cerulean Blue
Mix of Cobalt Blue and Light Red
Mix of Winsor Blue (red shade) and Light Red added to the sea
Cobalt Turquoise Light
Yellow Ochre painted and flicked on
Burnt Umber painted and flicked on
Mix of Winsor Blue (red shade) and Light Red for the land mass

Brushes:
1" Holbein Hake Brush
1.5" Holbein Hake Brush
Small Ron Ranson Hake Brush
2" Holbein Hake Brush
Medium Ron Ranson Hake Brush
2.5" Holbein Hake Brush

Other:
MDF Board 60cm x 90cm x 6mm
3M Magic Tape (Green Packet)
Tissues
Spray Bottle Enjo
Hair Dryer

0:00 Intro
1:09 Start Painting Sky
8:32 Painting in the Sea
10:25 Warm Foreground
14:10 Painting in the Land

Paper:
This is the most important thing to spend some money on. If you can afford 100% cotton paper then get that. I use Rives BFK Etching Paper by Arches (280gsm, white, full sheets of 56cm x 76cm) quite often but I also use Saunders and Waterford and Arches normal cold pressed watercolour paper.

Rives BFK Etching Paper by Arches
https://geni.us/RivesBFKEtching

The reason I use Rives is because it is very white which gives me beautiful luminous skies and landscapes, because it has less sizing the layers go into the paper more which makes painting layers easier and because it is quite smooth the water and paint move a lot when working wet in wet!

Below are some alternatives that are cheaper.

Alternatives to Rives BFK Etching Paper:
Saunders Waterford Watercolour Paper Sheets 300gsm cold pressed 100% cotton from your local art supplies store. Or the links from amazon below.
Sheets of 425gsm:https://geni.us/SaundersWaterford

Hahnemuhle Etching Paper Sheets 300gsm (75% cotton 25% high alpha cellulose)
https://geni.us/HahnemuhleEtchingPaper

I can get Hahnemuhle sheets (53cm x 78cm) for $11.50 Australian from my local art store when buying them one at a time. This gives me 16 sheets of A5 which is much cheaper than buying a pad. If you can afford to buy 50 sheets at a time that can save you a lot of money!

Arches A4 Cold Pressed 300gsm 100% Cotton Pad: https://geni.us/Arches300gsmPad

Arches A3 Cold Pressed 300gsm 100% Cotton Pad: https://geni.us/Arches9x12Pad

Arches A3 Block if you wanted to use that instead of tape to a board:
https://geni.us/ArchesWatercolourPaper

Paints:
If you wanted to follow along to my paintings then it is probably best to get Winsor and Newton Artist Quality Paints.

Winsor and Newton artist quality paints come in 3 different sizes. 5ml, 14ml and 37ml. I would suggest you get 14ml or 37ml tubes as it is much more economical at these sizes (form me here in Australia it is but feel free to work it out where you live).

The Cotman student quality paints come in 8ml or 21ml tubes. Again I would suggest you go for the 21ml tubes.

As you can see in the video I use large bowls to mix my watercolours in. I let these bowls dry out in between painting sessions and then just wet them, let them sit for at least 30mins preferably 2 hours, then mix them up.

Winsor and Newton Artist Quality Paints
Cobalt Blue amazon: https://geni.us/WinsorNewtonCobaltBlue
Yellow Ochre amazon: https://geni.us/YellowOchreTube
Light Red amazon: https://geni.us/LightRedTube


Brushes:
Brushes are important but you don’t need a huge number to be able to paint really well! I love Holbein Hake Brushes as they are softer, have less thickness and so hold a bit less water than the Ron Ranson Hake Brushes (which I like as it gives me more control). I like the thickness of the handle (thinner and lighter than the Ron Ranson Hakes) and the overall weighting of them. But having said all of that you could probably use any sort of hake (although I don’t love Art Spectrum’s Hakes).


Size 12 Round Sable
Pure Kolinsky Round Sable Size 12 - Cornellisen (quite expensive over $150)
https://geni.us/PureKolinskySableSize
https://geni.us/IsabeyPureKolinsky

or
Synthetic Round Sable Size 12 - Micadore For Artists - roymac Revolution Taklon - ($20)
https://geni.us/SyntheticRound

Hake Brushes x 3-4 (you could also get a wide 6”-8” hake brush if you wanted to)
Holbein 2.5” Hake Brush (my preference)
Holbein 2” Hake Brush (my preference)
Holbein 1” Hake Brush (my preference)
https://geni.us/HolbeinHakeBrush
or
Ron Ranson Large Hake Brush (about 2”)
Ron Ranson Small Hake Brush (about 1”)
https://geni.us/RonRanson