Top Used Watercolor Painting Tools in my Studio

You know how you have those favorite tools in your kitchen that are your go-to items? And when you’re in someone else’s kitchen you’re at a loss as to how in the world they even begin to function without those things? That’s how I am with my watercolor painting tools in my studio. How do people SURVIVE without these things?

Most Used Watercolor Painting Tools in my Studio — These are the main items on my painting studio desk–but not ALL of them ranks on my list of “most used watercolor painting tools”. Only my Very Favorites get to rank on that list! I do love all of the products shown, though–there’s a reason they’re on my desk!

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I’m always open for more ideas for things to add to my supply list, though, so…I thought I’d share my list in case something catches your eye and maybe could help you out! Let me know if you have any questions about any of these things: how I use them, any further information about WHY they’re my favorites, whether they may be a good fit for you, etc — I’m always open for questions!

First off in my is my Daniel Smith Fine Watercolors. These are THE BOMB. And I’m not even kidding with that–they absolutely are my favorite thing. (I have collected my own set of colors individually, but this set I linked to here is what I 100% would have gotten at the beginning if I had known how much I would love them.) This set has a set of primary colors in cool tones and in warm tones. It’s incredible what can be done with just these and a basic knowledge of the color wheel! I painted for the first several months with just 3 basic primary colors and it was SO good for me to be restricted to that. It wasn’t actually a restriction at all!

Next up is my Escoda Brushes. My most used is the Round brush size 6 at this point, but I’m eyeing the Round size 2. These definitely aren’t as cheap as the brushes you can get in a package deal from the dollar store or the local craft store. But they’re an excellent middle-of-the-road option between that and the top-of-the-line brushes that cost multiple hundreds of dollars. (I do love my Princeton brushes, too…)

And now we come to paper. I’m picky about my paper–but I’m so open to trying new things, because I keep finding new things I love! My current absolutely favorite is Legion Stonehenge Aqua Watercolor Block. (And I just placed an order for several more blocks of this watercolor paper for my own studio — can’t run out!) I haven’t tried their hot press paper yet, but that’s next on my list.
- (my go-to is the 9×12 block linked above, but this 10×14 block I recently got is SO useful.)

I do a lot of pen work in my watercolors, and these Micron Pens absolutely make it on my list of watercolor painting tools. There’s a whole assortment of pen tips sizes, but my Most Used are the .03, .01, and .005.
- (I recently found out that they also come in .003 tip size. This caused great excitement in my life, but so far I haven’t had good luck with them. The ones I’ve gotten have dried out extremely fast. I haven’t figured out if it’s an issue with the suppliers I’ve gotten them from, if I’ve gotten duds, or if that’s just how they are. I’ll update if I find a good supplier that maybe haven’t had them sitting around on the shelf for a long time. If you have had success with these, pleeeease let me know your secret!)

This next one is a Very Important Item – tissues. Seriously, guys. I use them ALL THE TIME while doing watercolor painting! There’s a reason these made it onto my Very Elite watercolor painting tools list! I dab paint off my paper if I get too much on there, add texture to my painting, use it lifting paint off while doing laying techniques, fix mistakes, blow my nose mid-painting … it’s just so useful for so many things! Try to get the stuff that has as little lint as possible. I can’t tell you which one that is, though — at this point I just usually grab whatever’s on sale at the grocery store. It’s been great so far. (But be sure it’s not the stuff with lotion added to it, or anything! Your nose may love that stuff — your paintings will not.)

Other honorable-mention items:
- my music playlist
- a good comfortable chair — which I happen to currently NOT have and am seriously in the market for … any ideas for me?
- M&Ms. Always. (Oftentimes it’s peanut M&Ms, but I’m not completely picky about it. )
- a good pencil and eraser
- an iced americano

Those are pretty much the main staples for in the painting tools department at this point. Again, if you have any questions at all about anything–don’t ever hesitate to ask.