MATERIALS
I always encourage students to begin my classes with whatever you already have on hand, and then build your tools collection over time. This helps lower the barrier to entry a bit, as you are not required to buy a huge list of supplies to be successful. Instead, most students add to their collection of materials over time once they get to know my classes and what landscapes they are most interested in.
With that said, folks often ask for a recommended list to get started, so I am providing that here. Again, you do not need to purchase these specific items to begin or be successful in the classes. And, if you have any questions, especially if you are a new student or starting with no supplies at all, feel free to email me! claire@adventureartacademy.com .
Materials overview
Here's the basic list of materials used in the Adventure Art Academy classes. Scroll down (or click the buttons above) for more info about each category.
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Watercolor paints: a variety of each primary color (red, blue, yellow), and a very dark grey or black
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Paint brushes: a medium-sized round brush that comes to a fine tip (and a smaller one if it does not make fine lines). Fun to have a larger round as well
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Pencil and eraser
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Waterproof fine tipped pen (add a brush pen for the Ink Sketching Course)
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Paper Towel or rag
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Watercolor Paper: any paper made "for water-media" will work, but a 100% cotton paper (such as Arches cold press) will give the best results.
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Paper to practice techniques on- anything for water media and cheap! I use Canson XL paper pads
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Cup for water (or portable tin)
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Palette or mixing surface for paints
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Flat surface to paint on. If taking your supplies outside- a bag to carry everything in, and a large envelope with cardboard inside works well to carry paper and as a painting surface.
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Comfortable desk and chair indoors, and/or a sit pad or chair outside!
Watercolor Paint
When buying paint there are a few options. The first is a starter watercolor set (like the Cotman palette listed below) which is great if you are looking for a cheaper way to try out painting.
Then, there are the higher quality "artist" or "pro" quality pigments that cost more because of a higher pigment load and different raw materials. These paints will often be easier to work with and have more unique personalities, as well! When I teach, I demo everything using this kind of high quality paint made by Daniel Smith, as I like to teaching using the same materials I work with in the studio and outdoors.
You do not need the exact same colors I use to have fun in the classes!
A good starter set that I've tried out is the Windsor & Newton Cotman 20 color palette. This compact set of colors is perfect if you are just starting out and aren't quite sure if you are going to stick with watercolor. These paints will not be as vibrant or highly pigmented as mine, but they work well enough that you can get a general feel for the medium.
If you are looking to invest in some higher quality paint that will last a long time, I personally love Daniel Smith paints. I've used these since the beginning of my painting journey, and stuck with them because they are more often on sale and easier to find online than some of the other artist quality paints. Ten+ years later and I'm still so happy with them (and still have some of my original tubes!).
When buying paint you can get it in pre-filled and dried pans or in tubes of color. I recommend the tubes just because you get so much more paint, especially if you are willing to spend the extra for the 15ml tubes instead o the tiny 5ml tubes. In addition, none of the current pan-palettes from Daniel Smith match up well with my list of colors most used in the Adventure Art Academy classes. The 15ml tubes cost more but are a better value per ml, and I buy all of mine from Blick, which often has some kind of discount going.
Here's a list of the colors I recommend if you are just getting started in the classes. Again, you don't need these exact colors to be successful, as I focus a lot on teaching you how to mix beautiful colors from variations of the primary colors. This list of eight colors is based on what I use the most in the lessons.
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Quinacridone Rose
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Perylene Red
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Hansa yellow medium
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New Gamboge or Quinacridone Gold
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Phthalo Blue GREEN shade
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Cobalt Blue
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Indanthrone Blue
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Neutral tint
The other colors I use frequently in my classes are:
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Ultramarine Blue
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Quinacridone Gold
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Quinacridone Burnt Orange
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White gouache (Schmincke brand)
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Indian red (named after the country of origin) or burnt sienna
Palettes: If you need a mixing area, the dried pan palettes will have an area for this built in. If you buy the tubes, you can squeeze them out onto a white plate with space for mixing, or you can also buy a palette to fill with the colors. Because I take my paints hiking so often, my primary palette is made by Art Toolkit, and it is very light and compact and what I've used for the last 13 years! (The code ARTOFHIKING10 will give you 10% off most of their products.)
If you are looking for a cheaper and bigger option to use at home, I like this aluminum palette because the wells for the colors are easy to access, and you don't need to fill them very full! The 12-well version is also quite small.
PAINTBRUSHES
The primary paintbrush I use in the majority of my paintings and classes is a synthetic #10 round brush. I've tried quite a few out now, and most of them perform very similarly. I like synthetic fibers (like golden takylon) the best because they are durable (so I don't wear them down too fast), affordable, and hold a good amount of water without being too soft. If you want to get one brush to start, a #10 round with a good fine point is my recommendation.
For some paintings I use a larger round brush, like the #4 quill brush from Black Gold. It can be handy to have a larger brush for big areas of the sky, or if I want to be able to apply a lot of water when pre-wetting an area. When I work in a REALLY big painting, if I'm in the studio I'll use the large white brush you see in the photo above - that is a 1.5 inch hake brush that uses wool fibers. Super soft and floppy and amazing for washes.
In just a few classes you will see me use an angled shader or flat brush. I find these the most useful when I want to paint desert patterns. In these classes you could also use a round brush, too!
WATERCOLOR PAPER
In addition to paint, paper can make a huge difference in how easy, fun, and cooperative watercolor can feel. I like having two kinds of paper on hand.
1. Practice paper, like the Canson XL watercolor paper pads, which are great for color mixing experiments and the techniques practice section of each lesson.
2. Cotton paper, such as Arches 140lb cold press. (Arches is the brand name, cold press means that the paper has a bit of texture to it, which I find more forgiving than the smooth hot press. And the lb number refers to the paper weight.) The cheapest way to buy the paper is in a five pack of big sheets I just tear or cut to size from Blick, which is shipped in a flat cardboard box also convenient for storing paintings! You can also buy pads of the paper with glued edges that keep the paper from getting as warped.
When working small I often don't notice the impact of the paper as much because I can cover a lot of the area in a short time. Once I start working 8x10 inches or larger, however, many of the cheaper papers will dry out too quickly.
I'm often asked if I use a sketchbook, and I personally don't use them too often because I don't want to carry the extra weight while hiking, and at home I'm now just used to using loose leaf paper. Many students, however, use books for all their class paintings which can be super fun!
Taping down a painting: when working in the field I will use a few little pieces of tape to adhere my painting to the hard surface and keep it from blowing away. When back in the studio, I personally prefer not to fully tape or stretch my paintings, as I like to move them around a lot, and I just work with the paper warping and flatten afterward.
ADDITIONAL TOOLS
Pencil, Eraser, and Pen
All of my paintings and classes start with a pencil sketch. I try to keep this super simple, as a guide for the watercolor and not a linear prison of lines that I must follow exactly. I personally like a mechanical pencil (like the Pentel 07 width, P207) because it is cheap, and I don't have to worry about sharpening it in the field!
When hiking I also have a piece of a gummy or soft eraser that I stick onto my pencil! While I prefer the perfect eraser results I can get from a regular white plastic eraser, these cause little plastic bits that I don't want to leave outside. A gummy eraser leaves no plastic behind, and works well enough!
For some of my watercolor classes I will use a fine tipped waterproof pen to add darker lines before I start painting. More in the supplies for the ink sketching course below.
Here's a few other things I use in the classes:
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paper towel (I like the reusable blue shop towels from hardware stores) or a rag
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Cup for water
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Mixing surface or palette
FIELD PAINTING KIT
Painting outside also has unique challenges, from the weight of my pack to mosquitos and inclement weather. These obstacles to creating led me to gather a streamlined and lightweight collection of tools that make it easy and fun to paint outside anywhere.
The list below represent the baseline art kit that I take with me on every trip, and I share more info about the supplies below.
Foundational Painting Kit List:
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Art Toolkit Folio Palette filled with Daniel Smith Paint (I carry around 26 colors in the standard pan from Art Toolkit)
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# 10 round brush and a ½ inch round brush (sometimes a flat brush as well)
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Watercolor paper
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Mechanical pencil (07)
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Eraser
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Waterproof Pen
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Re-usable blue paper towel
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Tin for water
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Tyvek sleeve & plastic backing board - you can get a tyvek sleeve from the post office (priority mail envelope, and you use it for mail once it's worn!) You can get plastic cardboard/ gatorboard for free from political signs on public land!
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Ultralite Sacks bags to carry everything in - these are little zippered pouches that I use now instead of a big freezer ziplock, because I used to wear those out too quickly. These zippered pouches are super durable and also water resistant so they keep paint or color from the rag away from my other gear.
inK SKETCHING
COURSE MATERIALS
When I first embarked on my 100 day sketching challenge I went down a supplies rabbit hole. I knew nothing about fountain pens or different kinds of ink. Over time I found a small collection of favorites, listed below, which are my go-to's because of good performance and affordability. If you already have tools you love, that's awesome! Please note that I will use a BRUSH PEN in every class. You don't need the exact brands I list below, but every student last year eventually got one!
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Brush Pen Option 1: Pentel Pocket Brush Pen- This is the most affordable option (https://amzn.to/40DjfmR) and comes with a few extra cartridges of ink as well. It does have a longer brush tip, which makes for a wider line variety but less control.
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Brush Pen Option 2: Kuretake No.13 Brush Pen- if you know that you will want the maximum control over your brush strokes, this pen costs about $10 more, and some students last year found that the the shorter and smaller brush tip was easier for them to use. (https://amzn.to/3OZwAkm)
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Fine Tipped Pen- Something like a Micron pen is great, but I found that I was using them up quickly, so I switched to a refillable fountain pen. I love the Platinum Desk Pen- affordable, feels nice to hold, and designed to work with waterproof ink. (https://amzn.to/3NeN2gs)
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Sketchbook/ Paper- If you want to use printer paper, you can! Or any kind of non-textured paper. I unexpectedly really loved having all my sketches collected in a book. I like this one ( https://amzn.to/3ufZNAy) because it is not too expensive, ink flows beautifully on the pages, and the thinner paper actually helped me let go of perfection and worry less about results!
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Pencil and Eraser- Anything works here! My go-to pencil is always this little pentel mechanical pencil (https://amzn.to/3Tz2p7t), as I like the soft lead and no sharpening required.
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Carbon Black Ink- my favorite refill ink for the Platinum desk pen and the brush pens. Might clog or be slow in other pens with more narrow feeder mechanisms. If plan to draw every day you will need the refill ink! https://amzn.to/35ryS8I
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Refill Needle- I use blunt tipped needles to refill the ink cartridge that come with the pens- easier and cleaner than the other cartridge options I tried! Here's the link for a 5 pack from Amazon (I bought mine originally from Jet Pens or Goulet Pens when I ordered some ink!) - https://amzn.to/4bBfpzU
If you sketch every day for a month you will need to refill your pens. The easiest way I've found to do this is to buy a blunt-tipped needle, and just refill the cartridges that come with the pens instead of buying messy converters. My current favorite ink is the Platinum Carbon Black; it is beautifully dark, and also waterproof so I can sketch under watercolor paintings, too!