My Essentials for Watercolouring | Blog Post by Kenry

Since I started journaling, I picked watercolours as my major means of illustrating / recording my daily happenings or baking moments over others like colour pencils or oil pastels because it’s handy to carry a light-weighed watercolour palette with me; and I really love the soft strokes and light style that watercolours create. And I just got even more addicted when I received my first ever Pental Aquash Waterbrush (medium) from The Stationery Selection box a few months back.

I am so surprised that I was given another Pental Aquash Waterbrush (large) in June’s box. Because I was struggling whether I should get one more.

Pens/ Brushes – In most of my paintings, I first drafted with pencils. It’s always a safe way to do so as I can erase whatever I don’t feel like in the end. Once I get satisfied with the sketch, I lightly rub away the darker / stronger strokes with an eraser (light pencil marks can still be seen) just to avoid any trace of unwanted pencil marks left behind after adding in colours.

Sometimes I just randomly picked a photo on instagram and practice my sketching & watercolouring. (credits: https://www.instagram.com/p/BjJyD7gjgTM/?taken-by=comehome.n)

Papers / Sketch Book – Personally I prefer a thicker textured paper (210gsm above) when I paint with watercolours. The green Vif Art Watercolour Notebook I received from June’s box is textured and weighs 242gsm (strong enough to absorb watercolours and not making the paper wrinkle) Sometimes when painting with more layers, I may even use a paper of 300gsm.

My two favourtie watercolour books.

When you can never get enough watercolour sets, LOL.

Watercolours – Before the June’s box, I’ve already got myself two sets of watercolours, one earthy-toned set from an esty shop and one vibrant-coloured set from a Japanese brand呉竹-顔彩耽美 (http://www.gansaitambi.jp/). And I was so thrilled when I got to know Mits is getting us a sumi-based watercolour box which is something totally different from what I have.

Palette – Like for me here, I bought a tin box to store my watercolour blocks and it also comes with spaces for you to mix different colours or adjust the pigment consistency before putting on papers. If you don’t have any, you can simply get a plate or tiny dish to serve this purpose.

Brush Washing Container – I never think I gonna need one when I first started using the Pental Aquash Waterbrushes but I was wrong! There must be a moment when you want to give your brush a quick wash between using two distinct colours (if you don’t want one colour to mix with the other) or, sometimes you just want a tiny little bit more water to soak the tip of your brushes to dilute the colour intensity. For easy carrying-around, I have this little container (with a lid) from Muji.

It’s compact and handy for storing a small amount of water, for washing brushes or diluting colours.

Napkins / towels – If you ever tried playing with watercolours, you will know controlling of the water amount is very important. So get a napkin / cotton towel ready by your side, to absorb extra water from your brushes whenever needed.

Outlining pens – I do not always outline my watercolour paintings because I do not really like making a solid / rigid frame but if sometimes I want to have something with more defined details, I will let Marvy Uchida Fine Line Drawing Pen do the job. 

A painting without solid outlining.