ART MATERIALS THAT I USE FOR WATERCOLOR PAINTING

Hey guys!

How are you holding up during this pandemic? I've been doing my best to stay sane though the last two months have been insanely tough - in so many ways!

But now that the world is in quarantine, no matter how sad and depressing the situation may be, I can say that I am still fortunate enough to at least have a roof above my head. I still have clean running water to use, food to eat, electricity and of course, Internet connection that I can use to communicate with the rest of the world. If I really think about it, I actually just lost my income, this is still me, and I'm still alive! I still have my skills and talents, I'm really just low on cash! When my pea-sized brain finally grasped that, I started moving again without waiting for any motivation. One of my favorite vloggers said "action first, motivation later". It is true though, that motivation will eventually catch up with you the moment you start to move your ass. 

While I still have a lot of free time in my hands, I've been trying my best to work on my YouTube channel and of course, update this blog. If you've been reading my blog for quite sometime, you'll notice that I did some changes with the theme. I finally had 'time' to sit down and tweak my cyber home! Yay! 

I've also been spending a lot of time working on my art. If you've been following me on Instagram, you'll notice that my latest posts are mostly about my art. And since I've been hearing questions from people on FB and Instagram about my art and what I use to make art and how I make art, I decided to just make a blog post that would answer most of the questions in one go! 

So, without further ado, I'll show you my stash of art materials that I'm trying to store neatly in my dorm room. However, because of our limited space, I really can't put them all in one place! Haha! 

Lets start with the paper that I use!    

A couple of years back, during my early stages of painting, I was only using Berkeley watercolor pad. It's good for beginners since it's quite affordable and it does the job. Berkeley was actually the first watercolor paper I've laid my hands on! Haha! Back in school, when we are in art class, they usually just hand us normal paper for all types of art, including painting and I've been wondering what the f*ck was wrong with it. I was never satisfied with my outputs when I was a student. Why? Well, first of all, I realized that most of my 'art teachers' are not really artists. Second, no one actually pushed me to do better and go further in this area. Though I'm from a family of artists, I was never considered one. They probably thought I would just end up staying at home, doing household chores and raising a family. No one actually thought I would one day wind up in this route. Anyway, when I got serious about learning how to paint and finally bought a decent paper, I was shocked! I was in my late twenties when I actually blurted out "Oh, so THIS is watercolor paper!"

Eventually, I started buying Fabriano and Canson watercolor papers. I rarely use the Berkeley now but I keep my old watercolor pads just because looking at my old paintings never fail to give me a good belly laugh! 

When I dove deeper into the world of watercolor, I learned more and more about different types of papers which is always shocking for most of my friends! I'm pretty sure they feel like they are in the presence of an alien every time I drag them at my favorite art store. When we reach the paper aisle, my eyes would literally light up, yet all they can see is PAPER. So, I would automatically tell them about the three main types of watercolor paper - the hot press, cold press and rough press. I can blabber more about these types of papers in another post. For now, I just want to point out that I'm only using cold press papers because I LOVE the texture and its dramatic look especially when I take close up shots of my artworks. 

Next, let's talk about the watercolor!

I actually started with a very simple and cheap watercolor cake pans that I got from National Bookstore - a famous bookstore here in the Philippines. One day, I just had this nagging feeling that I couldn't simply push aside which eventually led me to the 'paints' aisle. The picture below shows my very first palette and first round brush which I got from Papemelroti. 

Eventually, I switched to Phoenix Watercolour set which I got from one of my favorite craft stores - The Craft Central. 

These days though, I'm using Louvre Aquarelle (made by Lefranc & Bourgeois) when I'm practicing. I was so happy because when I purchased it, it came with a free Canson watercolor pad which I'm actually using to practice tiny art like fruits and mini floral designs. This brand is available at National Bookstore and Art Bar. 

My favorite brand so far is Cotman Watercolours which is made by Winsor & Newton. I only buy them one at a time though. I get them from National Bookstore, Art Bar and Fully Booked. 

I only have a few artist grade paints, all of them were gifts from my sister! Haha! These are Mijello and the latest ones are from Schminke. Sometimes, I love mixing them up with my Cotman Watercolour pigments. 

And now for the brushes...

My very first round brush was a size 6 Scrivo, the pink brush that I bought the same day I got my first watercolor cake pans. Actually, I still have it until now though the bristles are not in their best shape anymore. When I bought the Phoenix Watercolour set, I also bought a set of round brushes from The Craft Central. 

I also love Princeton brushes, especially their Snap! series. I prefer to use synthetic brushes because I don't want to feel guilty about using real animal hair for the sake of my hobby. I've also read that real animal hair are way too soft and that might work with some artists, but I personally want something that is more flexible, snappy and easy to control. My first Princeton brush was also a size 6 round brush. I think if you are a beginner, that's a very safe size to use since you're still learning the basics. I did a lot of my floral arts and landscapes using size 6 brushes. 

Actually, sometime last year, I joined an IG contest hosted by Princeton Artist Brush Co. and...I believe it was all because I was practicing the Law of Attraction that I was randomly chosen to be one of the 40 lucky winners to celebrate their 40K subscribers. WOOHOO!!!  

Aside from Princeton brushes, I also have one synthetic Raphael pyramid/triangle brush which I ordered online from Art Nebula. I got two free brushes (cat's tongue and small triangle brush) from my teacher/mentor, Ms. Beth from Play Crafts PH. I only have one Winsor & Newton round brush and one Monte Marte triangle brush.

I don't know if it's just because of the color of the handle, but I've been using the Scrivo series quite often these days. You guys know I like anything that comes in pink, with the exception of Majin Boo! At the moment, I have sizes 4, 6, 8 and two size 12 of this series. Why do I have two size 12? Because I'm a recovering hoarder, yo! 

Nah, I actually just forgot that I already have size 12 and that I was supposed to buy size 10 when I purchased the second one. But kidding aside, these brushes have the perfect grip (for me!) and I love how snappy the belly of the brushes are. They really just flow with me while I'm painting. Imagine Harry Potter going to Ollivanders for the first time and getting his hands on the perfect wand - that's how I feel about these brushes! They chose me!   

Other things that I have in my art stash are washi tapes to tape down papers so they won't move or curl up and also to create a nice border for my artworks. I have scissors and cutter, spray bottle to dilute the pigments and I wasn't able to take a separate photo but I have three round palettes and a rectangular one. In my pencil case, I always have a pencil, eraser, sharpener, pens and some markers that I use when I'm making manga art when I'm in the mood for it! 

I have been painting for a few years now and I find it really therapeutic. Just like writing, I feel like I'm in a totally different world when I am painting. I don't always do it because I'm not always in the mood to create, but once I start, I really find it hard to stop. 

Well, that's it for today's post! If you're into art - any kind of art, I would love to hear about what you keep in your art stash. If you're interested to make art though you haven't tried that before, let me know what's holding you back from trying. If you're a part-time or full-time artist, you can also share your favorite materials and maybe give some recommendations. Feel free to leave a comment down below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can!