Art Supplies

Sketchbook – 6"x 9" Aquabee 808 Super Deluxe, Stillman & Birn Spiral-bound Beta Series, 9” x 12” Canson All-Media Sketchbook or 11” x 14” Canson Montval Watercolor book.
Watercolors – Holbein or Winsor & Newton artist’s tubes. My colors are Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Olive Green, Ultramarine Deep, Cadmium Red Light, Cobalt Turquoise Light, Mineral Violet, Cadmium Yellow Orange, Cobalt Blue, Raw Sienna, Gamboge Nova, Cerulean Blue, Quinacridone Gold, Greenish Yellow, Marine Blue, Burnt Sienna, Titanium White, Opera, Burnt Umber
Palette - Winsor & Newton Field Sketch Box or Frazer Price Palette Box filled with tube paint for location sketching; John Pike palette, Holbein 500 metal palette, or Craig Young palette for studio work.
Brushes - Kolinsky Sable watercolor round brushes in the following sizes: nos. 4 round, 6 round, 8 round, 10 round, and 2 Rigger. I prefer Rosemary & Company Series 8 or 22. For location sketching I use Escoda Reserva Kolinsky-Tajmyr Pocket Brushes or Da Vinci Maestro Pure Kolinsky 1503 Travel Brushes.
Paper - 140# Fabriano 100% cotton watercolor paper, 140# Arches hot-press, or 140# Saunders Waterford CP (Not) finish. I use blocks or loose sheets attached to a rigid board with clips.
Pencil, pens and eraser – Kaweco Sketch Up 5.6 lead holder with 5B leads, Pentel P207 0.7 mechanical pencil with 2B lead, Sanford Uni-ball Micro pen or Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens, Pentel Sign Pen, and Mars Staedtler plastic eraser.
Misc. Items – Holbein or Faber-Castell Collapsible water cup, Holbein spray bottle and paper towels.

Good Habits to Develop

Discipline - Sketch and paint even when you don't feel like it.
Quality - Strive to do your best work all the time.
Quantity - Paint a lot. Try to draw or paint each day.
Location - Work from life whenever possible. Outside is best but it’s easy to set up a still life inside. Any subject can be an interesting sketch or painting.
Read - Nothing is a substitute for the skills you develop while painting. You can however learn much from books both from a technical and an inspirational standpoint. Build a good art book library.
Instruction - Take classes, seminars and workshops from a variety of artists. Don't learn from just one teacher.
Fun - Watercolor is a challenging medium. The difficulties are worth the rewards. Above all, remember to have fun on your journey.

Favorite Artists and Their Books

A Brush with Disney – Herb Ryman
Painting What You Want to See – Charles Reid
David Gentleman’s Britain – David Gentleman
The World of Urban Sketching
The Art of Urban Sketching
Travel Artist – James Richards
Freehand Drawing & Discovery – James Richards