Painting with watercolors is an activity that has spanned human history. What was once applied with fingers and bones upon the dark walls of ancient caves is now done just about anywhere, and with better lighting. Though techniques have evolved since ancient times the basic idea is the same - to create paintings with water-soluble pigment. This guide will give you some tips on choosing your supplies and will also explain the basic technique so that you can begin creating your own watercolor paintings.

Choosing Your Supplies: Brushes, Paint and Paper

Brushes

When choosing your watercolor brushes there are a few things you should consider. First you should decide what price range you want to stay in. Top quality brushes can be quite expensive. Brushes made with synthetic bristles are a suitable and economical option for beginners. You just want to make sure that your brushes don't have any bent bristles, and that they are soft so that they will not scratch the surface of your watercolor paper. If you plan on painting something with fine details, a pointed-round brush would work well for you.

The flattened, round head of the filbert brush is ideal for painting landscapes. For large background areas, a mop brush, with a large full head of soft bristles, is perfect. Even if you don't know what you will be painting, having a pointed round brush, a filbert brush and a mop brush will allow you to begin painting all sorts of things.

Paint

Choosing your watercolor paint shouldn't be too difficult. Watercolors come in professional grade and student grade and most art supply stores carry both. Student grade paint contains less pigment, which results in a more muted painting and it will also fade faster over time.

Despite these drawbacks, most student grade paint is perfect to begin painting with. However, if you do purchase the more expensive professional grade paint – you will easily be able to appreciate the rich depth and color saturation of high quality paint. You can choose to buy individual tubes of paint or you may decide to purchase a boxed package. Either way you should supply yourself with the basic primary colors: red, blue and yellow, as well as some earth tones, such as brown and green. It is also a good idea to have a tube of white paint, which is ideal for mixing up lighter shades of color.

Paper

When choosing watercolor paper you want to be sure to choose a pad labeled cold press. Cold press paper will have a bit of texture to the surface and is perfectly suited for watercolor paint. Some pads are made with wax around all four edges, requiring you to slide a blade between the pages to separate them. The advantage to using this type of pad is that it keeps the wet paper from shrinking as it dries, which would cause your painting to warp.

Getting Started: Basic Set-up, Preparation and Technique

Basic Set-Up Once you have chosen your supplies you are ready to set up your workspace. Find yourself a clutter-free area with plenty of elbow room. You can work at an easel, however, if you don't have one, a desk or table will work just fine. In addition to your brushes, paint and paper, set out the following:

• A pencil

• Two containers filled with clean water

• Paper towels

• Hairdryer (optional)

Preparation

Before you begin painting you'll want to choose a subject and sketch an outline. Choosing a subject should be easy enough; simply look around your home or yard for inspiration. Once you have decided what you will be painting, a good sketch indicating light and dark areas will be helpful. You should spend more time on your sketch than you think is necessary. Penciling in little details will help you apply your paint effectively, especially when you are painting darker shadow areas. Be sure to sketch lightly or you might be able to see the pencil lines in the finished picture. Of course you may decide that you want to see the pencil lines as part of an effect, in that case, go ahead and be creative!

Technique

One basic watercolor technique involves painting your sketch with clean water first and then applying a light wash of shading pigment to the shadow areas while the paper is still wet. Next, the process is repeated using colors. To create a dark neutral color to use as your shading pigment, try mixing two complementary colors together, such as: red and green, blue and orange or yellow and purple. The color you end up with should be murky and sort of gray, and neither of the original colors used in mixing should be obvious.

Once you have a good color mixed for shading you are ready to begin painting. Wet your brush and apply a generous amount of clean water to an area of your sketch that needs shading. Be sure to use one of your water containers exclusively for painting clean water onto your paper, and the other for rinsing your brush. Next, use your brush to pick up some of the shading pigment and apply it to the water-washed area of your paper.

You can blot up some of the paint with paper towel to help create depth and texture. Try applying different amounts of paint and pressure to your paper. Experiment with saturating your paper with different amounts of water and learn how the paint reacts. Continue experimenting and working this process until all of your shaded areas are painted. At this point you will want to let your work dry.

It is important to remember that watercolor painting consists of layering one wash of paint on top of another and that each layer of paint needs to be completely dry before adding a new one. You may want to use a hairdryer set on low to speed this process along. Once the shaded areas are dry you may begin adding your colors in the same fashion; first painting in the area with water, then adding color and blotting as desired. Continue until your painting is complete.

One of the wonderful things about learning how to paint with watercolors is that mistakes are hard to make. The paper and the paint are fairly forgiving. If you should paint an unintended stroke, you can nearly erase the problem by rubbing the area gently with the tip of your brush and a bit of water. With the right supplies, a basic understanding and a little bit of practice you can enjoy creatively expressing yourself through watercolor painting.