Some thoughts about the relative importance of different tools and materials

 This is something I was thinking about (again) last November.

11/15/24:

In my ranking for most important watercolor supplies and tools for which having good quality is most important (paint, paper and brushes are the three aspects I think about), PAPER is definitely first!

There's paper that's not even useful for learning on, because it's such crap you can't learn anything at all except how awful it is - and possibly take in the lie that you're no good as an artist or watercolorist - boo! Lie!

Whereas good paper does such dreamy things, and okay paper works pretty well too, for my money.

Second place goes to having at least one good brush, for me. I had a wonderful brush - I still have it but, through forty years of use, it has gotten worn and can't do nearly the wonderful things it used to be able to do - which I have not been able to find a good substitute for, for all my looking.

It holds a lot of water and a lot of paint (it's a #12), and yet, in its youth, it could hold a fine point, even loaded. And it was generous in giving up that paint to the paper, where I've found, with other big-bellied brushes, that I could load them up with paint and water, but they were stingy in letting that out onto the paper. When my favorite brush was in its heyday, it was just about the only one I needed or used.

Third (last) place, for me, is paint. There are things that good-brand paint will do that cheaper ones will not, and yet I've had fun playing with everything from Prang 8-color sets (are those still around?), or even very cheap very tiny souvenir sets from tourist shops. (I got mine in the Farmer's Market in L.A.) You could probably tell, from the colors and shades of colors, which paintings I was using those on, but I enjoyed them too.

Let me see if I have photos of some of those cheap-watercolor paintings...

Okay, here's one. Not the greatest reproduction, but you can see a bit. Note especially the middle painting:

 

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