The Complete Guide to Watercolour Painting

Watercolour is one of those art materials most of us meet as kids, which can make it look deceptively simple when we come back to it as adults.

Paint. Brush. Water. Paper. How hard could it be?

Then your wash dries lighter than expected, your paper buckles, your colours turn muddy and the beautiful sky you had planned suddenly has a cauliflower growing through the middle of it.

Welcome to watercolour.

We see it all the time at Art Shed: beginners assume watercolour will be one of the easiest mediums to learn, struggle with their first few attempts and immediately think they’re bad at it, or that they’ve bought the wrong paint.

Usually, neither is true.

Watercolour is particularly good at making the paint look like the problem when your paper, brush, water ratio, timing or technique may actually be what’s changing the result.

That’s why we created this beginner watercolour guide.

Watercolour is a water-based painting medium where pigment is diluted and moved with water, usually in transparent layers that allow the white of the paper to show through. It can create everything from loose florals and flowing landscapes to detailed botanical work, portraits, urban sketches and finished fine art.

Learning how to use watercolour is less about memorising a stack of rules and more about understanding how water, paint, paper and brushes work together.

In this guide, we’ll break down the best watercolour for beginners, how to choose the best watercolour brushes, which paper to start with, how to use watercolour step by step, the techniques worth learning first and what to do when things don’t quite go to plan.

With advice from the real artists and creatives behind Art Shed, plus a huge range of watercolour paints, brushes, paper and supplies from leading art brands around the world, this guide is here to make your first steps into watercolour a whole lot less confusing.

What Is Watercolour Paint and How Does It Work?

Quick answer: Watercolour is a water-soluble painting medium traditionally made from finely ground pigment held in a binder such as gum arabic. Water dilutes and carries the pigment across the paper, controlling the colour strength, transparency, flow and softness of your edges.

In normal-person terms, watercolour is essentially pigment that you control with water.

The more water in your mixture, the lighter, more transparent and more freely the colour will usually move. Use less water and more pigment, and you can create richer, stronger colour with more controlled marks.

But even a strong watercolour mixture behaves differently from an opaque medium like acrylic or gouache. Traditional watercolour is all about transparency and letting some of the paper underneath remain visible rather than completely covering it.

That’s also why watercolour usually works from light to dark. The white of your paper becomes part of the painting itself, so your lightest areas are often created by simply leaving more of the paper showing rather than adding white paint over the top later.

Watercolour can also be reactivated with water after it dries, although exactly how much colour lifts or moves again will depend on the pigment, paper and how staining that particular colour is.

Watercolour Pans vs Tubes vs Liquid Watercolour

Watercolour comes in a few different formats, and they all use water to create colour, they’re just packaged and handled a little differently.

Are Watercolour Pans or Tubes Better for Beginners?

Watercolour pans are usually the easiest place for a beginner to start, but tubes are not more difficult or reserved for experienced artists.

Pans are compact, tidy and easy to control because you simply activate the colour with a wet brush. They’re particularly handy if you’re learning, travelling or working in a sketchbook.

Tubes contain moist, concentrated paint, so they make it easier to mix a larger amount of colour at once. That can be useful for bigger paintings, broad washes or anyone who prefers working from a palette at a desk.

Neither format is automatically better quality, and choosing pans instead of tubes won’t make you a more “beginner” artist.

If you want something simple and ready to go, start with pans. If you know you want to paint larger areas or mix plenty of colour at once, tubes may suit you better.

Four Watercolour Terms Worth Knowing

You’ll see these words on watercolour paints and colour charts, so here’s what they mean in plain English:

Emma recommends getting to know how your individual colours behave, especially when it comes to staining and lifting. Some pigments will lift quite easily with a clean damp brush, while others like to stick around.

You don’t need to memorise any of this before you start painting, just knowing what the words mean will make paint labels much easier to understand.

What About White Watercolour?

Traditional watercolour usually keeps the brightest whites by leaving parts of the paper unpainted.

White watercolour does exist, such as Chinese White, and it can be useful for small highlights or corrections, but learning to save your white paper from the beginning will usually give you a cleaner, brighter result.

Choosing Watercolour Paper: The Most Important Place to Start

Quick answer: For a beginner, a good-quality 300gsm watercolour paper is an excellent starting point. If your budget allows, choose 100% cotton. Cold press is the most versatile surface, hot press is smoother and better for fine detail, and rough paper gives you more texture.

If you’re going to spend a little more money anywhere in your first watercolour kit, spend it here.

“Invest in your paper first. If you can, start with a good quality 100% cotton paper around 300gsm, then choose between hot press, cold press or rough depending on what you're intending to paint.”Emma, Art Shed Artist

Paper is also one of the things Emma gets asked about most in-store, particularly what cotton percentage, GSM and all the different textures actually mean.

And honestly, paper can make or break your first experience with watercolour.

You can put beautiful artist-quality paint onto flimsy paper and still have a frustrating time. Put a decent student-grade paint onto good watercolour paper and suddenly washes are easier to control, colours blend more cleanly and you actually get a fair chance to see what your paint can do.

Which Watercolour Paper Should a Beginner Buy?

First up: don’t get too hung up on finding one magical “best” watercolour paper.

If you’re choosing a proper watercolour pad from a reputable art brand, you’re already in a much better position than trying to make watercolour behave on ordinary sketch or cartridge paper.

Brands like Art Spectrum, Fabriano, Winsor & Newton and Mont Marte all have good options. The better question is how much you want to spend and what you’ll be using the paper for.

For a first good-quality pad, my personal favourite is the Art Spectrum 100% Cotton Watercolour Pad 300gsm – Medium/Cold Pressed. I use it for gouache too. It’s 100% cotton, a solid 300gsm and nice enough that you get a proper feel for how quality watercolour paper behaves, without being so precious that you’re afraid to actually use it.

Fabriano Artistico 100% Cotton Watercolour Paper is another favourite among a few Art Shedians and a beautiful option if you want to step into more premium paper. Fabriano has a long reputation for artist paper, and the Artistico range is one you’ll see come up often when artists talk about quality watercolour surfaces.

Winsor & Newton is another globally recognised name in watercolour and a very safe brand to have on your radar when you're comparing materials. If you’re new to the medium and overwhelmed by all the options, sticking with established watercolour brands like these is a pretty easy way to narrow things down.

If you’re still experimenting and mostly want paper you can happily burn through while learning, though, Mont Marte Watercolour Pads are where I’d look. They’re much more affordable and still give you a proper watercolour surface to practise washes, colour mixing and techniques without mentally calculating the cost of every sheet.

That’s probably the easiest way to think about it:

• Learning and experimenting? Mont Marte is a great affordable place to start.
• Want to experience a good 100% cotton paper without jumping straight to luxury pricing? Art Spectrum would be my pick.
• Ready to explore more premium artist papers? Start looking at ranges like Fabriano Artistico and other professional watercolour papers.

The important thing is simply that you use paper designed for watercolour. This is one medium where the surface underneath really does change the result.

What About Watercolour Blocks?

Watercolour blocks are also worth knowing about, especially if buckling and warping paper is already driving you a little nuts.

A watercolour block is basically a stack of watercolour paper glued together around the edges. You paint directly onto the top sheet while it’s still attached to the block, which helps keep it flatter as you add water.

Once your painting is completely dry, there will usually be a small unglued section where you can carefully slide a palette knife underneath and separate the finished sheet.

They’re particularly handy if you like working quite wet but don’t want to stretch and tape down your paper every time.

Cotton vs Cellulose Watercolour Paper

Watercolour paper is usually made from cotton, cellulose (wood pulp), or a blend of both.

100% cotton is the premium option. It handles water beautifully and gives you more time to blend, lift and work your paint.

Cellulose paper is more affordable and perfectly good for learning, swatching and everyday practice, while cotton blends sit nicely somewhere in the middle.

Art Shed Tip: If your starter budget is limited, we’d put more money into your paper and use a good student-grade paint rather than doing the opposite. Fancy paint can only do so much on paper that starts waving at you the second it sees water.

What Does GSM Mean?

GSM means grams per square metre and basically tells you how heavy and thick the paper is.

For beginners, around 300gsm is a great place to start. It handles a good amount of water without buckling as easily as lighter papers.

Hot Press vs Cold Press vs Rough

The surface simply changes how smooth or textured your paper feels.

If you have no idea which one to choose, 300gsm cold press is the safest all-round starting point.

Emma also recommends thinking about size: smaller pads are handy for studies and details, while larger sheets give washes and brushwork more room to move.

Pads, Sheets or Blocks?

Pads are easy and convenient for everyday painting.

Loose sheets give you more freedom with sizing and are common in premium papers.

Watercolour blocks are glued around the edges to help keep the paper flatter while you paint, making them especially handy if you like using lots of water.

Do I Need to Stretch Watercolour Paper?

Usually, no, especially if you’re using around 300gsm paper and aren’t completely soaking it.

Stretching is more useful for lighter paper, larger paintings or very wet techniques. It involves wetting the sheet and securing it to a board while it dries so it stays flatter once you start painting.

Emma recommends considering it when you're using lots of water or working on paper under 300gsm.

If you want the easier option, use a watercolour block and let the glued edges do some of the work for you.

[VIDEO INSERT: Watch how to stretch your watercolour paper]

We could talk about paper for days, and we probably will. Keep an eye out for our full Watercolour Paper Guide, where we’ll go deeper into cotton percentages, GSM, surfaces, stretching, blocks and how to choose the right paper for the way you paint.

Choosing Watercolour Paint: What Should a Beginner Buy?

Quick answer: Beginners absolutely do not need artist-grade watercolour. A reliable student-quality set is more than enough to learn colour mixing, washes, layering and water control, and make genuinely beautiful finished work.

“Student-grade watercolours can create beautiful, finished artwork and are a great place to start... At the end of the day, a great painting comes from the person, not the price tag on the paint.”Emma, Art Shed Artist

Artist-quality paints generally give you a higher pigment load, more individual pigment choices and better lightfastness options. Useful later? Absolutely. Essential for your first palette? Not at all.

The Best Watercolour Paints for Beginners

Mont Marte Watercolours

Mont Marte is probably our most common beginner recommendation in the Shed. It’s affordable, reliable, genuinely good to learn with and there are so many options to experiment with.

Their watercolour half-pan sets are particularly easy for beginners: add water and go. You can start with a smaller palette or jump into one of the bigger tins if having lots of colours to play with is half the fun, Art Shed currently carries options right up to the 73-piece Half Pan Set.

Mont Marte also makes tube sets and individual watercolour tubes, which is handy once you start figuring out the colours you actually use. Individual Premium 8ml colours are an affordable way to replace a favourite or start building your own palette without committing to another whole set.

Honestly, this is one of the nice things about starting with Mont Marte: the range is affordable enough that you can experiment. Try pans. Try tubes. Try a bigger colour set. See what you naturally reach for and what style of painting you enjoy before spending serious money.

Winsor & Newton Cotman

Winsor & Newton is one of the most globally recognised names in watercolour, and Cotman is essentially their accessible entry point.

Cotman uses fine-art pigments at a lower pigment load than Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolour, keeping it more affordable while still giving you consistent, transparent colour. The range includes 40 colours across pans and tubes, so it’s also easy to add individual colours as you develop rather than replacing your whole palette.

If you want to spend a little more on your first palette and buy into a watercolour range you can comfortably keep using for years, Cotman is a very safe choice.

Reeves Watercolours

Reeves is another classic beginner option if you simply want an inexpensive set to start experimenting with.

They’re approachable, uncomplicated and a good choice if you’re not yet sure whether watercolour is going to become your new personality or something you pull out every few months.

Art Spectrum Watercolours

Art Spectrum is another name well worth looking at for watercolour, and their Watercolour 12 Pan Set + Brush is a particularly nice affordable starter option.

You get a compact traditional pan palette and brush without a big upfront investment. Art Shed currently lists the set at under $20, making it an easy way to try the medium properly without diving straight into a premium palette.

How Many Watercolour Colours Do You Need?

Honestly? Not that many.

Around 6–12 useful colours is enough to learn with, especially because mixing your own colours is part of learning watercolour.

That said, there is absolutely nothing wrong with grabbing a larger set if having more colours makes you want to paint more. Just don't assume 48 colours will automatically make learning easier than 12.

As you improve, don't feel like you need to graduate from your entire palette at once either. Keep using what works and upgrade when you can actually identify what you want more of: stronger pigmentation, better lightfastness, a particular pigment or simply a favourite colour you keep running out of.

Intermediate Watercolour: Where to Experiment Next

Once you’ve got the basics down, you don’t necessarily need to rush into expensive artist-grade paint. This is a great point to start experimenting with different pigments, finishes and ways of working.

Winsor & Newton Cotman can absolutely stay in your palette here. It’s reliable enough to keep using as your skills develop, and because you can buy individual pans and tubes, you can gradually add the colours you actually use instead of replacing the whole lot.

Kuretake Gansai Tambi is a really fun next step if you want something a little different. These traditional Japanese watercolours are creamy, vibrant and can be used more heavily than a typical Western transparent watercolour, giving you the option to play with richer, more opaque colour. At Art Shed, you’ll find everything from compact 12 and 18 colour sets through to 24, 36 and 48 colour palettes, portable sets and individual pans, including metallic and specialty shades.

Then there’s Derwent Inktense. These give you that fluid, watercolour-like experience but with much punchier, ink-like colour. And once fully activated and dry, the colour becomes permanent. That makes them brilliant for layering, illustration and mixed media without constantly reactivating what’s underneath. Art Shed carries both the Inktense travel pans and larger studio sets.

This stage is really about figuring out what you like: traditional transparent colour, creamy Gansai, permanent Inktense, big palettes, tiny palettes. There’s no compulsory next step.

Artist and Professional Watercolour

Artist-grade watercolour starts making more sense when you want stronger pigmentation, more specific pigment choices, better lightfastness and greater consistency when mixing and layering.

Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolour is the obvious step up from Cotman and one of the most established professional watercolour ranges globally, with a huge selection of individual colours for building your own palette.

Sennelier L'Aquarelle has a distinctive honey and gum arabic formulation that gives the paint a beautifully smooth feel, easy rewetting and luminous colour. It’s a lovely option if you enjoy softer, flowing washes.

Art Spectrum Artists’ Watercolour is an Australian-made professional range and a great one to explore if you want artist-quality tubes, particularly their colour selections inspired by the Australian landscape.

And you definitely don’t need to replace your whole palette in one dramatic shopping spree. Start by upgrading the colours you use most. If Ultramarine Blue is disappearing every second painting, upgrade that first. If Viridian has been sitting untouched for six months, she can stay exactly where she is.

Specialty Watercolours: Just for Fun

Once you’ve got the basics, there are plenty of fun extras you can throw into the mix: metallics, shimmers, super-bright colours, liquid watercolours, Gansai, Inktense and other water-soluble mediums that don’t always behave like traditional watercolour but work beautifully alongside it. They’re great for adding little pops of colour, sparkle, texture or something unexpected to a painting, and there’s really no rule about when you’re “ready” to use them. If it looks fun, give it a go.

Choosing Watercolour Brushes and Essential Tools

Quick answer: A beginner only really needs two or three watercolour brushes: a medium round, a smaller round for detail and, if you want to work with bigger washes, a mop or wash brush.

Watercolour brushes are designed to hold and release water, so the shape and bristle type can make quite a noticeable difference to how your paint behaves. As Emma points out, the size, shape and material all affect how much water and pigment the brush carries and how it puts that colour onto the paper.

Which Watercolour Brush Shapes Do You Need?

If you're only buying one brush, make it a medium round. If you're buying three, add a small round and a larger mop or wash brush.

No need for the 47-brush surgeon's kit just yet.

Synthetic vs Natural Watercolour Brushes

Natural hair brushes, particularly squirrel-style brushes and blends, can hold a huge amount of water and release it softly, which is why artists love them for washes.

Synthetic brushes are usually more affordable, durable and easier to care for, and modern synthetics can hold and release water extremely well. They're also the obvious choice if you prefer vegan materials.

For most beginners, a good synthetic or mixed-bristle brush is an excellent place to start. You can always explore softer natural-hair mops and specialist brushes once you know what you actually enjoy painting.

Watercolour Brushes We Recommend

If you want an easy all-in-one starter option, the Mont Marte Signature Paint Brush Set – Watercolour Mixed Bristle in Wallet 11pc gives you a mix of useful shapes to experiment with without having to choose every brush individually.

Neef is one of our go-to brands when you want to start choosing individual brushes more deliberately. Their watercolour range is huge, with everything from synthetic rounds to soft mops and specialist shapes, so they're particularly good once you know, “Yep, I want a really nice round,” rather than just wanting a bit of everything.

Winsor & Newton Cotman brushes are another reliable step-up option, especially if you're already using Cotman paints. Their range covers the staples like rounds, riggers, mops and one-stroke brushes, so you can build your kit one useful brush at a time.

And if you want something simple and affordable for experimenting, NAM (National Art Materials) has some great basic watercolour brushes too. They're handy for trying different shapes, keeping a spare brush around or for things like masking fluid where you definitely don't want to sacrifice your favourite brush.

The main thing? Don't buy brushes just because there are lots of them in a pack. A couple of brushes that hold water well and suit the marks you actually want to make will take you much further.

What Else Do You Need for Watercolour?

Beyond paper, paint and brushes, your essential setup is very small.

Use a palette or mixing surface, two containers of water, a cloth or paper towel and a light pencil for sketching.

Why two water containers? Use one as the grubby rinse jar and one as your clean water jar.

It seems slightly excessive until your beautiful yellow wash turns swamp green because the water you dipped into contained half your palette.

Masking tape can help secure paper and produce clean borders. Masking fluid is useful for preserving intricate white areas, but use a cheap synthetic brush or a dedicated applicator with it rather than sacrificing your favourite brush.

How to Paint with Watercolour: Your First Painting, Step by Step

You have your paper. You have paint. You have a suspiciously clean brush and absolutely no idea what happens next.

Here is a simple order of operations.

1. Tape or secure your paper. Place your watercolour paper on a flat surface and tape the edges if you want it more secure or want a clean border.
2. Choose a small palette. Pick three to six colours rather than trying to use every colour you own.
3. Swatch before painting. Test each colour, then make a few simple mixes. Emma recommends swatching because it shows you how pigments behave and what happens when they are layered together.
4. Make a very light pencil sketch. Keep it simple. Heavy graphite lines can remain visible underneath transparent washes.
5. Identify the areas you want to keep white. Those brightest highlights are easiest to preserve before paint reaches them.
6. Mix a light wash and paint the largest shapes first. Think pale skies, petals or background areas rather than tiny details.
7. Let the first layer dry before adding darker shapes. This is the point beginners most often rush. A damp first layer plus a second layer can create unexpected bleeding.
8. Build your mid-tones gradually. Use transparent layers rather than trying to achieve the final darkness immediately.
9. Glaze darker values and lift areas where needed. Add depth once previous layers are completely dry.
10. Finish with your darkest and most concentrated marks. Tiny shadows, branches, edges and accents usually belong near the end.

Art Shed Tip

Keep a scrap of the same paper next to your painting.

Test your mixture there before committing to the artwork. It gives you a much better preview than looking at the colour sitting on your palette.

And stop before you think you are finished.

Watercolour has a suspicious habit of looking lovely, then receiving twelve unnecessary “final touches”.

Essential Watercolour Techniques and Water Control

If you only practise one skill at the beginning, practise controlling water.

You can learn dozens of fancy effects later. Your understanding of how wet the paper is, how wet the brush is and how concentrated your paint mixture is will influence nearly all of them.

How Much Water Should You Use With Watercolour?

There is no single perfect water-to-paint ratio.

Emma recommends thinking in terms of the tea, coffee, milk, cream and butter method, a framework popularised by renowned watercolour artist Joseph Zbukvic.

The idea is to think about the consistency of your mixture rather than frantically measuring drops of water.

These are teaching guides, not formulas.

Payne's Grey at “milk” strength is obviously going to look much darker than a pale yellow mixed to the same consistency. What you are learning is the relationship between pigment and water, not trying to make every colour achieve identical values.

Emma’s biggest advice is to stop obsessing over the mathematically perfect ratio and start learning what the paint looks and feels like. That judgement becomes increasingly instinctive with practice.

Flat Wash

A flat wash is an area of reasonably even colour.

Mix enough paint before you begin. Tilt the paper slightly if useful, load your brush generously and work down the area while keeping the lower edge wet.

Avoid repeatedly brushing back into areas that are already beginning to dry.

Flat washes are brilliant practice because they teach water control without giving you anywhere to hide.

Graded Wash

A graded wash transitions gradually from dark to light.

Begin with a stronger mixture. As you work down the paper, introduce more clean water so each pass becomes lighter.

The key is keeping a wet edge so each band joins the next rather than drying into stripes.

Variegated Wash

A variegated wash blends two or more colours while they are still wet.

Instead of creating one even colour, place different pigments into neighbouring wet areas and allow them to meet naturally.

This is fantastic for skies, foliage, abstract backgrounds and landscapes.

Wet-on-Wet Watercolour

Wet-on-wet means adding wet paint to wet or damp paper.

It is also the technique Emma would teach first to a complete beginner because it immediately demonstrates how watercolour wants to move.

“If the paper is very wet, the paint will travel and spread more freely, while slightly damp paper gives you a little more control while still creating those beautiful soft edges.”Emma, Art Shed Artist

Wet the area with clean water, then introduce pigment and watch what happens.

A glossy, very wet surface produces greater movement. A damp surface creates softer edges with more control.

Different pigments also behave differently, and your paper surface changes the result: smoother hot press and more textured cold press or rough paper do not move pigment in exactly the same way.

This is where you start discovering that watercolour is less like colouring in and more like negotiating with a very pretty puddle.

Wet-on-Dry Watercolour

Wet-on-dry means applying wet paint onto dry paper or a completely dry previous layer.

The edges remain much sharper than wet-on-wet, making the technique useful for defined shapes, details and controlled layers.

It is one of the easiest ways to understand the difference between hard and soft edges.

Glazing and Layering

A glaze is a thin transparent layer of watercolour applied over a completely dry layer beneath it.

Each layer subtly changes the colour and value, allowing you to build depth without immediately mixing a heavy dark colour.

Emma recommends making swatches and testing layers before your final artwork so you can see which colours combine cleanly and which become dull or muddy.

The completely-dry part matters.

If the first layer is still damp, your second colour can feather into it. That can be gorgeous when intentional and mildly heartbreaking when you were trying to paint a crisp window frame.

Lifting Watercolour

Lifting means removing some pigment from the paper to lighten an area, soften an edge or recover a highlight.

Rinse your brush, remove excess water so it is damp rather than dripping, gently work the area and blot the loosened pigment with a clean cloth or paper towel.

Some pigments lift easily. Others are highly staining and remain embedded in the paper.

That is why swatching your colours is useful for more than choosing pretty combinations: it teaches you how forgiving each pigment is.

Preserving White Areas

The brightest white in traditional transparent watercolour usually comes from the paper.

You can preserve it by painting carefully around the area or using masking fluid.

Masking fluid creates a temporary barrier. Once the surrounding paint is dry, the masking material can be removed to reveal untouched paper beneath.

Use an inexpensive synthetic brush or purpose-made applicator. Masking fluid and your lovely expensive natural-hair brush are not a romance we recommend exploring.

Dry Brush

Dry brush uses concentrated paint with very little water on the brush.

Drag the brush lightly across dry textured paper and the bristles catch on raised areas while skipping across the lower texture.

Use it for bark, grasses, stone, fur, waves and broken natural texture.

Blooms and Backruns

A bloom forms when wetter paint or water flows into an area that has already begun drying, pushing pigment outward and leaving a cauliflower-like edge.

Sometimes this is considered a technical mistake.

Sometimes it looks incredible.

If you want smooth controlled washes, avoid dropping extra water into a partially drying area. If you want organic texture, experiment with doing exactly that on purpose.

Granulation

Granulation happens when pigment particles visibly settle into the texture of the paper rather than forming a completely smooth wash.

Granulating colours can create beautiful natural texture in skies, landscapes, rocks and foliage.

Rough and cold-press papers make these effects especially visible because there are more valleys in the paper for pigment to settle into.

Salt Effects

Sprinkling salt into a damp wash can create irregular starburst-like patterns as the salt alters the distribution of water and pigment around it.

Wait until the painting is completely dry before gently brushing the salt away.

It is a fun effect.

It is not, however, compulsory to put salt on every watercolour painting you make between now and retirement.

Common Watercolour Problems and How to Fix Them

Watercolour can be unpredictable, but most beginner problems come back to three things: water control, timing and paper.

Why does my watercolour look muddy?

Muddy watercolour usually happens when too many colours are mixed together, complementary colours are repeatedly worked into one another or a wash is brushed over and over while it is beginning to dry.

Try mixing with fewer pigments.

Make the mixture on your palette first rather than repeatedly introducing new colours directly into the painting.

Rinse your brush properly between colours.

And give layers time to dry before adding another glaze.

Sometimes the solution is genuinely to stop touching it.

Finishing, Storing and Caring for Watercolour Artwork

Your masterpiece has survived the painting stage. Please do not immediately ruin it by stacking it underneath a damp palette.

Let Your Painting Dry Properly

Allow finished watercolours to dry completely before stacking, trimming or framing them.

If the paper has curled slightly, let it dry flat before storing it. For finished pieces, keep them somewhere dry and away from prolonged direct sunlight.

If you're framing work you want to keep long-term, suitable glazing, particularly UV-protective glazing, can help protect the colours from light exposure.

Clean Your Watercolour Brushes

Just because you're painting with water doesn't mean your brushes don't need washing.

Pigment can still collect deep in the bristles and around the ferrule, so rinse brushes thoroughly in clean water after painting, gently reshape the tip and let them dry flat or with the bristles safely positioned.

A Mont Marte Stainless Steel Brush Washer can be handy for keeping your rinse setup organised while you work. Just don't leave brushes sitting bristle-down in water once you're finished, as this can bend the hairs and damage the brush over time.

Once they're clean and dry, store brushes upright in a jar, flat in a brush wrap or safely inside a wallet. Some smaller brushes will even fit nicely into pencil wraps, which is handy if you like keeping your kit portable.

This is also why brush sets that come in their own wallets are genuinely useful rather than just fancy packaging.

Storing Your Watercolour Paints and Supplies

One of the nice things about traditional watercolour is that dried paint usually isn't wasted. Paint left on your palette can generally be reactivated with water next time you sit down to paint.

Tubes are best kept somewhere dry, organised and protected from being squashed or punctured.

For a slightly nicer studio setup, TOYO steel toolboxes are brilliant for storing paint tubes, palettes and little watercolour supplies. And, more importantly, they come in colours like Italian Yellow and Lilac Purple, which clearly has no effect on your painting ability but does make opening your art cupboard approximately 40% more exciting.

Whatever you use, the main goal is simple: keep your paints dry, your brushes clean and protected, and everything somewhere you can actually find it next time inspiration hits.

Build Your Watercolour Kit

If you have made it this far and your brain is currently screaming, “Lovely. Just tell me what to buy,” this bit is for you.

The Art Shed Beginner Watercolour Kit

If we were putting together a no-nonsense first kit, we would choose:

• Paper: 300gsm cold-press watercolour paper. Ideally 100% cotton if your budget allows.
• Paint: A small student-grade pan or tube set. Winsor & Newton Cotman is an excellent starter investment, while Reeves and Mont Marte offer lower-cost ways to begin experimenting.
• Brushes: One medium round, one smaller round and optionally a wash or mop.
• Extras: A mixing palette, two water jars, a paper towel or cloth and a light graphite pencil.

That is genuinely enough to learn with.

As Emma says:

“I'd much rather see someone start with a few good quality materials that suit the way they want to paint than buy a huge selection they may not end up using. Although, having said that, I'm definitely guilty of thinking, ‘I just need one more colour…’ and somehow ending up with five.”

Fair.

We have all been there.

Frequently Asked Questions About Watercolour Painting

And if it produces one beautiful wash and three questionable leaves? Excellent. You're officially painting.

Ready to Start Painting?

The best way to learn watercolour is eventually to stop reading about it and put some water on the paper.

Begin with decent paper, a small palette and a couple of brushes. Make swatches. Test how wet-on-wet behaves. Let layers dry. Learn which colours stain and which lift. Make a few muddy mixes so you understand why they went muddy.

Most importantly, do not judge your early paintings by how completely you controlled the medium.

Watercolour becomes much more enjoyable when you realise you are not supposed to control every millimetre.

Give the paint somewhere to go.

Then see what it does.

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