Supplies for Vastu 394R - Aqueous Media/Color Theory

For those enrolled in Vastu 394R, you should have received my email with the syllabus for the course and a supplies list. I have included a few pictures below and links to help with the supplies.

In terms of the watercolor paint you have a number of options with varying costs. You could purchase a complete watercolor set with the paints we need (there are a few I will recommend) or you can buy tubes and make your own kit (this option ends up being a little less expensive, but a little less portable). Both approaches will work well for the course.

If you want to buy a complete paint travel set I recommend one of the following:

Winsor & Newton Artists Compact Set - this set has all of the necessary colors for the course and is nice, portable, and fairly inexpensive (for good paint that is). I found it online at http://www.dickblick.com/zz003/19a/#items for $70



Schmincke also makes very good watercolor paint. A great set that costs a bit more, but has more colors and expensive pigments is the Horadam half-pan set of 24 colors. I found it at Dick Blick for $151. Of course the Horadam half-pan sets of 36 or 48 colors would also work well, but they are a bit overkill.


For those that want to make their own kit, you should buy a plastic palate with a top like the one in the picture below. I bought this one at Provo Art and Frame for $14 (it is around 8" x 11"). You can also find them online.


Then you will need to buy tubed watercolor paint that we will use to make your kit when we are in Italy. There are quite a few good manufacturers of watercolor paint. Some that I would recommend are Winsor & Newton artists (not cotman), Daniel Smith, and Schmincke. I would recommend you purchase 15 ml/.5 fl. oz. tubes. The tubes have a good amount of paint and you could actually split the paint costs with two other students and share the paint (not the palates though). The tubes cost between $5-18 each depending on pigment and brand--just purchase the colors required on the syllabus.


In terms of brushes, the best are sable brushes, but they are more expensive than synthetic brushes. A good high-quality sable brush is made by Winsor & Newton and there are good prices at Dick Blick.


Synthetic brushes like those in the picture below are inexpensive and will work fine. I have used Cotman, Connoisseur, Princeton, and Robert Simmons. You can buy good synthetic brushes at most any art supply store or online at a company like Pearl Paint or Dick Blick.


In terms of paper, we will use Arches Cold Press 140 pound paper. I recommend you purchase a watercolor block of 20 sheets of 10" x 14" Arches Cold Press 140 pound paper. We might need to buy a bit more in Italy, but this should last the majority of the time. You can buy the paper at Dick Blick inexpensively as well.


I hope I am not giving too many options (just trying to make it as economical as possible). If you are confused by all of this information, I would be more than happy to go with you to an art supply store in Rome and help you pick out your supplies. It will probably cost more because of the exchange rate and not doing mail order, but I could be your personal shopper (I like doing this at art supply stores). Please let me know if you want me to help you with this in Rome.