Getting Started: Watercolor - Brushes

Begin your Journey into Watercolor Brushes

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This is the third installment of my little Getting Started with Watercolors series! I have shared with you my experiences and opinions on getting started with watercolor paint and also what Paper or Journals you might purchase to use your new watercolors on!

Now, we have to talk about what we use to apply these magnificent paints, BRUSHES! Woot! This will be all the supplies you really NEED to get started with Watercolor! Are you stoked? I am!

There are so many different sorts of brushes out there in the world. I have honestly just used whatever I have available, which often was not brushes meant for watercolor. Or in other mediums a brush not necessarily meant for what I was using. This happens because I am cheap, I change hobbies and try new things so often that I am often afraid to invest in the new tools needed, or recommended for whatever activity.

Again, this is a “do what I say, not what I do” thing, haha, cause I have gone through the struggle for you already. So, what I really recommend that you do is buy supplies meant for watercolor use. I hope you see the recurring theme here.

Truth be told, any brush WILL work, but the question is, will it work GREAT?

Now, you can go to basically any store, okay, not any store, but any art store, or even Walmart, or a store that has a somewhat okay section of art supplies. And you’ll find brushes. Don’t get those ones that came in those watercolor kits we had as children, if I remember right, they often had a colored handle, red (?), and somewhat thick black plastic bristles, okay, you’ve got them in your head now right? Just pass on those.

What I recommend you do, is go to an art store, like Michaels, or if you don’t leave the house or have anything like that near you, hit up Amazon. Search for Watercolor brushes. And pick a set. I have limited experience in actual brushes, because I use something else, that I feel is WAY more convenient for me, and especially good for traveling art! The only “real” brushes I have purchased, actually meant for watercolor, are very small ones, for detail work. I don’t have anything bad to say about them, really. But they don’t stand out to be like, the most amazing thing ever, either.

Brushes are going to be a very personal thing, there are brushes that are made of some animal hair, and there are a lot of synthetic as well. There are brushes with short handles, and ones with long handles.

What I used are called Water brushes! Oh man, they’re so cool, they hold water in the handle, and you squeeze the handle a bit for some water to drip out a little, and roll on. They work wonderfully for me, and I nearly exclusively use them! I just find that the water in the handle is the most convenient thing. I don’t have to worry much about having a cup of water for rinsing out the brush, as I just have to squeeze the handle for more water to run out, and wipe it down on a paper towel, or cloth, or whatever, until it runs clear when wiping.

There are a lot of different brands nowadays, big name brands like Pentel and Sakura, smaller brands like Arteza (just put some of these in my Amazon cart to try!), and off brands found cheaply. I have only really used Pentel and Sakura. But, I would try any that I came across.

I will tell you that there are some downsides to the water brushes, sometimes they will clog up, and you wont be able to squeeze the handle. Apparently, that can sometimes be fixed with some cleaning! So, they are cheap enough to just purchase a new one, and also expensive enough to want to try and fix. Haha.

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Just a reminder, I have everything I’ve talked about (if it’s available on amazon), in one place, on The Dri Journal Amazon Store!

Now that we have gone through what supplies you need to get started with watercolor, what next? Perhaps we can talk about swatching colors. It’s one of my favorite things to do! I’m also sure that if you read my last post about the events that lead to our move here to the Caribbean, that you’d like some sort of part 2. Haha. I know, it’s been on my mind too!