Dear Students;
I look forward to our workshop! Below is a suggested list of supplies. Use your judgment - and please call me for any questions concerning anything at (386) 441-4930 (evenings are best), or email me at: steve@watercolorsbyrogers.com .
PAPERS: I paint on Arches 300 lb cold pressed 22"x30" or 140 rough. You may choose to paint on a smaller size paper but try to work as large as you feel comfortable.
WATER CONTAINER: Make it adequate (no little jars) - I use a bucket
PAPER TOWELS: (I use Bounty) HAIR DRYER: Not essential - we can share.
DRAWING PENCIL: An office #2 is adequate – I use a mechanical pencil with 9mm leads of H or HB
KNEADED ERASER: This eraser will not "tear-up" the paper.
SPRAY BOTTLE: For keeping paints wet
PALETTE: I use a small Cheap Joe’s pallet, which I hold much like an oil pallet; any John Pike or Robert Wood pallet will do. The fundamentally important thing is to squeeze out plenty of fresh color.
BRUSHES: I generally use the same size brush throughout the course of a painting accept for very large areas where I use the Hake’ brush. I use a #16 or #18 Cheap Joe’s Dragon’s Tongue or an Escoda 1210 Kolinsky Sable round. You need only one of these. A good and significantly less expensive alternative are the synthetic sables from Escoda (Versetile) Also I use a 1 ½ inch Holbein Hake' brush for large washes.
PAINTS: Primarily, I use tubes of Winsor & Newton and Holbien professional grade watercolors. Colors vary a great deal between manufactures so if you have a different Cerulean Blue than W/N it may not look or behave the same as in my painting. In other cases especially “staining colors”, like Prussian Blue, American Journey colors are a less expensive and equally high quality alternative. Many of these colors may be substituted. If you already have Winsor Blue or American Journey Permanent Rose, for instance, you’ll be just fine. Avoid “Sudent Grade” or colors referred to as “tint” or “hue” which are simply a dye + white paint. These won’t perform the same as the pigment they imitate:
| Manganese Blue Amer. Journey | *Burnt Sienna -W/N | *Cobalt Blue -W/N |
| *Aureolin -W/N | Brown Madder -Holbein | *Cerulean Blue -W/N |
| **Yellow Ochre -W/N | Permanent Magenta -Holbein | *Prussian Blue-W/N |
| Raw Sienna -W/N | *Cadmium Scarlet -W/N | French Ultramarine Blue -W/N |
| Cadmium Orange -W/N | Scarlet Lake -W/N | New Gamboge – Daniel Smith |
| Permanent Rose -W/N | Cadmium Yellow Pale -W/N | *Quin. Violet - Holbein |
| Cobalt Green-Holbein | Cobalt Turquoise -W/N | *Quin. Gold - W/N |
* indicates colors I think are the minimum necessary. Close colors, ie. Thalo Blue for Prussian are acceptable. Use your judgment.
SOURCE MATERIAL: Please bring enough good quality photos (preferred) or sketches if that’s your method or both. Do not bring photos of paintings by other artists. Be sure subject is sufficiently large and clear . Sunlit subjects are preferable to overcast. Boats and other subjects with reflections will be covered during the workshop so try and have some of these if possible. I usually try and bring some reference photos of boats for those who are not able to find any of their own (i.e. residents or Kansas) but I don't have enough for a whole class and it's better that you work from materials that you photographed or sketched or with which you are familiar.