News — beginners

Don't Throw It Away

beginners supplies

I have the frugal instincts of a 90 year old grandma who grew up in the great depression and can't seem to let go of anything. My husband makes fun of me for cutting open tubes of lotion so that I can scoop out every last glop. I was using the handle of my toothbrush just the other night to flatten and push any remaining toothpaste up to the top of the tube, and he took it away from me and called me ridiculous. But I don't care, in fact I'm trying to lean into it. And I prefer to...

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The best website for beginning watercolor artists

around the web beginners

Gotta give credit where it's due right? And let's be honest, I basically want to be Tonya Lee, the woman behind Scratchmade Journal--the absolute, hands down, best website I found while I was just starting my watercolor journey. I'm impressed by Tonya's style, her generosity, and the abundance of research she's done. I do not have the patience do be so methodical, but hot damn do I appreciate the folks who do it so I can learn from them! I probably read her article on supplies for beginners half a dozen times when I was deciding what to purchase when...

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Supply Experiment: Watercolor Ground

beginners experiments supplies

If you're tired of painting on paper, watercolor ground is for you! I tried watercolor ground for the first time and filmed it for my little baby YouTube channel. It took a lot more time to prepare since you have to paint it on your surface and let it dry a few times before you can even paint on it. It behaves a lot differently that watercolor paper, but that also means there were unusual effects. It was exciting to go through the process and I totally nerded out while watching the actual paint move on the ground. Get notified...

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Recommendations for budget supplies

beginners supplies

Here are my suggestions for the absolute, bare minimum supplies to get started with watercolor. (These are not affiliate links--I haven't bothered to figure that system out yet, so they're just my legitimate recommendations.) Paint A Winsor & Newton Cotman set. (I have this specific one.) Even two years later it's still a great travel set, now that I've replaced a couple of the colors with ones I use more often. It also came with a tiny brush that I wouldn't recommend and that I've removed. While I also purchased a Sennelier 5 color set, and a Holbein 12 color set, I don't...

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