Once I decided to use watercolors as my medium I visited several of my favorite art forums and blogs and assembled a list of materials to help me get started. I purchased watercolor paint in both half pan blocks and tubes since I didn’t know which product would work best for me. Here’s a peek at my shopping list:

• Cotman Watercolors by Windsor & Newton–#654 Turquoise, #538 Prussian Blue, #322 Indigo, #502 Permanent Rose, #095 Cadmium Red Hue, #089 Cadmium Orange, #118 Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, #744 Yellow Ochre, #076 Burnt Umber, #731 Windsor Yellow Deep, #489 Permanent Magenta, #672 Ultrarmarine Violet, #379 Manganese Blue Hue, #637 Terre Verte, #311 Hooker’s Green, #447 Olive Green, #074 Burnt Sienna, #507 Pereylene Maroon, #554 Raw Umber,  #465 Payne’s Gray, #217 Davy’s Grey, #331 Ivory Black, and #150 Chinese White
• Daler-Rowney FW acrylic ink in Burnt Umber, Evergreen, Olive, Black, and White
• Koh-i-nor ink nibs and holders
• Pigma micron 05 pens color set – 16 pens
• Derwent 6H drawing pencils
• Windsor & Newton Cotman Watercolor Round Series paint brushes in various sizes
• Windsor Newton water color art masking fluid
• Acquarello Watercolor Artistico Extra White 100% Cotton (Grana Satinada Hot Pressed) paper by Fabriano
• Aquarelle Fontenay 100% Cotton paper (Fine Grain, Cold Pressed) by Canson
• Ultra-slim Light Panel light box by porta-trace

I found some of these items at Michael’s craft stores, some at a Benjamin Moore Paint store that had an interesting artist’s loft upstairs with a small selection of art supplies (and a coffee bar), and the remaining items at www.DickBlick.com. All totaled, this was quite an investment. The final bill was well over $500.