It seems to me that those who try watercolour fall into three categories: Those who dip their toe in, find it frustrating, and move on to other forms of art; those who wade in, don't mind the hobby but it stays at that; and those who get in up to their necks (or deeper!) and realize that there is so many choices of paper, paint, brushes that they soon realize they may be drowning in either options or debt (or both). Ok I think I have pushed that metaphor as far as I can.

"It's the poor craftsman that blames the tools?" No.

Watercolour can be frustrating when beginning for many. Watercolour is a liquid medium designed to flow on the paper, but the quality of the paper and the paint will affect how it moves and plays and how it looks when dried. Most beginner student varieties of paint have some form of filler that inhibits the flow of the paint, how it mixes with other colours, and how it reacts as it dries. Similarly, many papers call themselves "watercolour paper" but when a beginner tries a technique shown by an experienced artist nothing seems to work right. To thin and the paper rips or buckles, made of the wrong material and it may not be absorbent enough. Even the brushes can affect the quality of the strokes.

Using the best you can afford, for what you want it to do.

My husband is a photographer. Like watercolour art, there are numerous choices and not enough money to own all the equipment that could be acquired in the attempt to follow a dream. He once told me to purchase the best I could afford in camera equipment for what I wanted it to do. For my husband that meant specific brands of printer, paper, camera and lenses. I wanted to take pictures for fun so a medium range lense and more basic camera were the best choice. For watercolour it specific qualities of paper, paint and brushes, will mean you can do different levels of art, however starting with some good base products will decrease the frustration in learning the art and may encourage the continuation of such an amazing form of creativity.

The Paper

Watercolour paper is now made in hot press (smooth), cold press (textured) and torchon (very textured) varieties, and made from either celulose (wood) or cotton in three main thicknesses (90 pound, 140 pound and 300 pound). The goal is to find an paper that absorbs watercolour slowly without causing the paper to warp too much. The best quality is 100% cotton based watercolour paper in 140 pound or higher that is cold pressed. Prices range depending on the store. There are student brands that are part cotton part cellulose based that are a good compromise for beginners at the same thickness. I still use these often for my practice work. As you become more proficient the higher brands made with 100% cotton will allow more manipulation and both sides have a similar texture allowing one to paint on both sides, since paper is expensive.

Watercolour paper comes in blocks (sealed around all sides to prevent warping), pads (bound on one side) and loose. Don't waste money on the blocks - it's just as easy to tape down your paper to a board to prevent warping.

Best student pre-cut paper in bulk: Opus Student Watercolour paper. 7.5X11, 11X15, 15X22

Best pre-cut paper: Strathmore Ready Cut. Comes in three sizes: 5X7, 8X10 & 11X14

Best beginner watercolour pads on a budget: Canson Montval Cold Press 140 pound 9X12 (12 sheets)

Best value 100% cotton (block only): Winsor Newton Professional Watercolour paper 7X10 (20 sheets)

Best 100% cotton: Arches Aquarelle Cold Press 9X12 (12 sheets) also comes in other sizes.

The Paint

The choice of the paint you choose will be key to what you can achieve with your painting but choosing a good brand is only the start, as deciding on the colours you can live without will be what keeps your watercolour painting - especially at the beginning - from breaking the bank.

First, let's look at what makes up a watercolour paint. Watercolour paint is made from pigment, or a blend of pigments, and a binder. Pigments are either natural, made from ground minerals, or synthetic. The binder is either gum arabic solution, glycerine, or honey. To learn more about pigment check out these great articles:

Artist Network: what you need to know about pigments

juliabausenhardt.com/An introduction to watercolor pigments

Don't buy low end paints. Student grade paints often contain chalky fillers which fatten up the bottle, but also stop the flow quality of the paint making it act more like acrylic paint (easier to control) and leaving the dried painting more chalky looking. These paints are also brittle if dried in small portions out of their bottle, and are harder to rewet making them frustrating to work with. I quickly moved from student grade to professional grade paint when I began painting as I was not able to replicate the tutorials I was watching as I learned the art.

Artist quality paint brands I would recommend are: Winsor & Newton Professional quality & Daniel Smith however this is only because I haven't had the finances to research further. Once I found Daniel Smith I stopped looking.

To get started many choose to purchase a set of paints. Here are some I would recommend:

Good mid priced set 20-10 ml tubes: Van Gogh Watercolour set

My pick for best starter set 6-5 ml tubes: Daniel Smith Essentials Mixing set

Best price for professional paints half pan set of 24: Winsor & Newton Professional set

Best budget student quality paint set with 10 base colours: Winsor & Newton Cotman paint set

Each of the above are great options but the price for an artist quality set range from $80 to $200 and some of the colours in the set you may find you don't really enjoy using. The Winsor & Newton Cotman set was my first decent paint set I purchased, it was a great go between the cheap tubes I first bought that crumbled and dried out soon after opening, and the professional grade paint brand, Daniel Smith, that I settled on. Cotman paint has a chalk filler that makes it great if you are struggling lack of control and wanting a paint that stays where it's put. When you choose to move to a professional paint, you can invest in a set, but I suggest starting with a select few colours and decide what brand you like to work with. Most professional artists will mix their own colours working with single pigment paints to get the range of colours they enjoy using in their paintings. It is worth noting that watercolour, unlike acrylic and oil, dries lighter and sometimes will look slightly different in tone and hue then when it was wet. One of the biggest challenges for me was learning how much pigment to place on my paper during each stage of painting to get the effect I wanted.

So what colours to pick? We all learned that red and blue make purple. But when there is a choice of 10 or more reds and the same number of blues to decide from then what? Each pigment will mix differently with other pigments depending on the composition and hue of the pigment. Some pigments are opaque while others are transparent, some are granular and float on the water used to dilute them while others are so finely ground that they dissolve in the water, some will stain the paper while others will lift off easily when rewet. Pigments will be warm, cool or neutral. So let's look again at that red and blue. A cool blue and cool red will make a gem toned purple similar to an imperial purple, while a warm of each pigment will make a more neutral violet like a plum. Mixing one cool and one warm will result in something between. By picking up a warm and a cool single pigment paint you can begin to create a huge variety of colours just by varying the amount of each paint, and by choosing the warm or cool options when doing so. This is why my pick for a paint set is the Daniel Smith Essential Mixing set listed above. Each paint in the set is a single pigment paint, with a warm and cool choice in the three basic colours. Oh, and to make grey or brown, mixing red, blue and yellow in the right amounts will get you there. The only downside is that the 5 ml tubes don't last long.

Brushes

There are more brushes than paint choices, I think. Brushes vary in use, size, shape, and composition. The most important thing to remember is purchase watercolour brushes. These brushes are designed to hold liquid watercolour paint, be soft enough to paint smoothly and release the paint slowly onto the paper. Depending on how detailed you choose to paint, the size of the brush tip will matter. This plays into the shape, as a mop brush will either have round tip or a pointed one, a flat brush will either be straight, rounded or diagonal and each shape has its own name. Brushes can be made from synthetic fibers or natural fibers. I started my painting journey using synthetic brushes, but found that they lost their shape when left too long in water or when used too forcefully. I then heard about squirrel hair brushes which I fell in love with but the cost of a brush was extremely high, they are very soft and the options for brush shape were limited. Lately I have moved to sable hair brushes which hold their shape and have a lovely snap giving me more control of where my paint flows to my paper and have experimented with calligraphy brushes made from wolf hair and goat hair as well as mixes of squirrel and sable brushes.

For more information on brushes check out this site by solvingwatercolour.com - what brushes do I need.

Brushes, like paint, are very personal. Many watercolour artists will have a variety of brushes, including some odd choices that allow them to be more creative with their strokes. I have head of artists who use small old paint brushes just to get the texture they want. In my kit I have feathers, an odd shaped stick, a tooth brush, some yarn tied to a pencil as well as some synthetic and natural brushes. Today there are many synthetic sable and squirrel hair brushes that have almost the same qualities as the natural versions. And since brushes do eventually degenerated no matter how careful we are, it is best to be wise with your investment and choose brushes you enjoy working with first and foremost.

Good round sable hair brush starter brush kit: Round 9 piece set

Good mixed sable hair brush kit: Round & Flat 8 piece set

Best squirrel hair set: Pointed mop brush 3 piece set

Fun alternative brush set: 8 piece Chinese calligraphy set

Best value synthetic squirrel hair brush set: mixed 9 piece set

Nice selection synthetic sable hair brush set: Kingart 8 piece set

Nice Little Extras

Now that you have the basics there are a few additional items that make painting more fun that are nice to have around, but fortunately none of these will break the bank.

The most important are:

• painters tape (just the green stuff from any hardware store will do)

• a small spray bottle, at least two water containers for washing brushes (one to wash the paint off and then one to rinse the brush clean)

• a hard surface or two (old binders work great, so do old board games if you can find some at a thrift store)

• paper towel (great for blotting brushes & removing excess water pooled onto your paper)

• pill organizers (if you are working with paint in tubes - squeeze out a small dime sized amount then let it dry before using, this will prevent using as much paint as the rewetted paint allow more control of how much pigment you want to use)

• a few white plates for mixing colours (porcelaine is best as it allows the diluted paint to cling to the surface)

Some fun things to experiment with found in your own home

Salt, rubbing alcohol, dish soap, saran wrap, rice, crayons, sponges, and tooth brushes all have been used to create interesting effects when used with watercolour. There are loads of fun videos on youtube that can give you a creative break when feeling a bit frustrated. My favourites are salt and dish soap (very tiny drop watered down with plain water) which create amazing patterns on paper when used with some of my pigments. However this is where play and experimenting is so important as not all pigments will react the same and not all experiments will work out in a way that allows for a masterpiece (or even a amature piece!)

Art stores will have many other enticing options that could enhance your art, however these are not necessary nor even advised until you understand the use of paper, paint and brushes and you can get a lot of joy in just watching what paint does when quality paint touches quality paper and melds, flows and changes as it dries.