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Botanical Drawing and Watercolor Supply List

ByBerlin Room

Here is the supply list for the upcoming Botanical Watercolor Workshop.

For a guide on where to buy art supplies in Berlin, go HERE.  

Check List:

  • Hot Press Watercolor Block, 300g, A4
  • Watercolor Set (Malkasten) – cakes in a box with space for mixing colors
  • Watercolor Brush round size 4-6, size 1-2
  • Pencils, HB and 2B
  • White eraser
  • Paper-towel
  • Water cup
  • Notebook for taking notes and testing colors
  • Optional but highly recommended for Lockdown version: Masking Fluid

Long version with explanations and all details:

Paper: 

Hot Press Watercolor Paper (also called smooth, Glatt, Glad) 300 g, A4.

  • Botanical Illustrators have traditionally used Hot Press Watercolor Paper for their work because its smooth surface is conducive to fine detail. 
  • Watercolor paper can be purchased as a block (edges glued together so paper doesn’t buckle) or as individual sheets. If you choose to work on loose sheets, you will need a board to tape your paper to.
Hot Press “Glad/glatt” Watercolor Block, 300g
purchased at Boesner – cost 7 Euro

Brushes: 

These are the minimum required brushes. Look for the brushes marked for watercolor with the short handle. The larger brush must be real or synthetic sable – this is the fibre that the brush is made from and can be referred to as Sable, Kolinsky-Sable, Rotmarderhaar (de). Real Sable brushes are made from animal hairs are are superior to synthetic brushes. 

  • #1-2 round brush – for fine detail
  • #4-6 round brush – Sable, Kolinsky-Sable, Rotmarderhaar (de), or synthetic sable

Watercolors: 

I recommend buying dry cakes of watercolors in a box (Aquarell Malkasten).

The fewest colors you can get by with would be these 6 colors below, the three primaries in warm and cool versions. If you have a watercolor set, bring that along and we can see if some colors can be substituted. Different brands also have different names for the same colors sometimes. 

PRIMARIESCOOL COLORSWARM COLORS
BLUE Phthalo Blue or Prussian BlueUltramarine Blue or Cobalt Blue
REDAlizarin CrimsonCadmium Red or Vermillion
YELLOWLemon Yellow Cadmium Yellow
Malkasten

Additional optional colors: Cobalt Blue, cerulean blue, Payne’s Grey, Burnt Sienna, Violet, Green Gold, Sap Green, Viridian Green, Permanent Rose/ quinacridone rose, Yellow Ochre, transparent yellow, your choice!

White Gouache (opaque watercolor) – titanium white

Other:

  • Pencils: HB, H, 2B and white eraser
  • Notebook for taking notes
  • Water cup 

Optional:

  • masking fluid (and a cheap small brush to use with the masking fluid)
  • masking tape  
  • additional palette for mixing colors  
  • magnifying glass
  • knife
  • pigment Liner 0.1 (artist archival ink pen)
  • kneadable eraser

If you have any questions, let me know!

Check out our GUIDE TO BUYING ART SUPPLIES IN BERLIN

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