Thursday, May 21, 2020

What's in Your Kit?

Charlie asks: What’s in your kit?
Everything I need for drawing or basic painting lives in a belt pouch which I bring everywhere. It's small enough to take everywhere and big enough to hold a whole painting kit.



What are your favorite watercolor art supplies to use? 
I have a 12-color watercolor pan set and a small, changing set of gouache. 

What brands do you prefer in watercolor and gouache? 
I keep coming back to M. Graham and Winsor and Newton, but I have samples of most brands. I keep a several different brands in play at any given time, and combine colors from more than one brand in any given painting. Holbein makes a good starter set, and Shinhan Pass makes a watercolor/gouache hybrid set that is quite reasonable with a wide variety of colors. People who watch my videos know I also use Richeson casein occasionally, both for doing finished paintings, and for underpainting. 

What brushes do you use?
I use flats and rounds the most. A good starter set is the short-handled travel brush set made by Richeson.

What kind of paper do you recommend? 
I use a Pentalic watercolor sketchbook, which has heavyweight, medium-textured watercolor paper that works for all my water media paintings and sketches. I use illustration board and linen canvas for my separate framable oil paintings. 

What cameras and audio do you use to capture your videos?
Lately, I've been using a Canon M6, which is great for video, stills, and onboard timelapse. I keep a compact point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot Elph on a belt holster. For a digital audio recorder, I use a Zoom H2N, and that's handy for capturing voiceover and for room tone. I also include a Rode Video microphone.


What else do you carry?
I also carry a couple of water cups with lids that hold on well. In the metal box I carry a water-soluble colored pencil set, plus graphite pencils, a few pastels, a fountain pen, erasers, and water brushes, which work with the colored pencils in tight spaces. And of course I need a paint rag. 

Where can I learn more about your easel?
I use a homemade sketch easel and a tripod. Here's a link to a tutorial on how to make one, and here's a link to a Facebook group of other builders.

14 comments:

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  3. Hi James Just to let you know - some of the link don't work.
    Thank you for your generosity and beautiful art!

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  4. Just a head up, it looks like the links in your "Cameras&Audio" segment are all pointing to the same blogger page.

    Easy enough to find the models either way but just thought you should know.

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  5. Hi James, just wanted to let you know that some of the links in your post here are broken. Specifically the watercolor pan set, the watercolor sketchbook link, and all the AV gear links.

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  6. Thanks, everybody. I think I've got all those links fixed now, and also the one from Richeson.

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  7. In the bottom right of the equipment picture you have what appears to be a dowel rod painted in alternating black rings, what is the function of this little object? Also do you like your Lukas watercolors? I see them occasionally in your videos and I have never used them, but they seem a bit less expensive than most professional colors.

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  8. Stephen and Nyree, That dowel is a measuring stick. I'll explain more about it and its use in an upcoming video on how to draw accurately. Yes, I have used Lucas watercolors and I like them.

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  9. James, thanks for the quick response! I look forward to the video on drawing accurately as well. That is an area where I can definitely use some improvement suggestions.

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  10. I look forward to a video on drawing accurately I seem to be struggling with cars some how I’m getting the width wrong. Thanks again

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  11. Is it coincidence that the photo of you painting the Belgian draft horse is in the same position of Munnings painting the white horse in the previous post?

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  12. Since we are talking about kits I wonder how do you deal with brushes used with gouache when painting on location. Is it easy to clean them with water later?

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  13. Unknown, while it's best to wash brushes right away, you can reactivate dry gouache in brushes and get them clean afterward.

    Carol, Yes, that's just a coincidence. I'm an admirer of Munnings, in any event.

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  14. James, thank you for answer. I think I will try to use gouache on location first when going around my home and see what are my experiences with cleaning them.

    It's quite cold and humid where I live so there is a chance brushes will be still wet when I go back home.

    Rafal, formerly Unknown

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