My Watercolour Art Materials

Watercolour Art Materials Suppliers List

(a work in progress! )

Welcome to the list of suppliers of the materials I use to create my watercolour paintings. I am constantly evaluating my painting materials to ensure they are the best for my style and painting methods.

The list is provided solely as a service to artists who wish to find stockists of the materials I use. It is comprised of suppliers that we are sure stock the products shown. We have been in contact with many of them and in some cases they have specifically ordered in the product(s) for you.

You will find a comprehensive list of the watercolour materials I use under the ‘My Materials’ tab below the ‘PARKERS’ banner. Next to that tab are country tabs arranged alphabetically, listing information on suppliers in each of the countries. If your country is not listed, you may find a resource on the Schmincke website to be helpful. It is a very good retail store locator for their paints worldwide, enabling you to find art supply stores near you. The page can be found here: https://www.schmincke.de/en/buy.html

My aim is to make the suppliers’ list as accurate and comprehensive as possible, but if you have additional information please let me know and contact me through my contact form. If any suppliers, wholesale or retail, big or small would like to be included on the list please let me know your contact details and the materials I use that you stock. Many thanks.

It can be difficult to find a single stockist of virtually all the materials I use. Nevertheless, there is one in particular that I can recommend, having worked closely with them to ensure that artists attending my Australian watercolour workshops can source the materials they need. That store is Parkers Art Supplies of Sydney, Australia, a ONE STOP SHOP for all of the materials I use. They are art supply experts and ship the products to artists around the world. The prices on their website are in Australian dollars, which means the US$ price should be numerically significantly lower (depending, of course, on the current exchange rate).

Click on the banner below for a direct link to the Susan Harrison-Tustain art supply page at Parkers or use this link:

https://parkersartsupplies.com/collections/susan-harrison-tustain-collection

A Summary of My Watercolour Materials:

You will all know I spend a great deal of time extensively testing the products I recommend, so the products I use and promote are ideal for our purposes. I receive no financial benefit from promoting any of the products. My goal is to give you a very comprehensive list of products (and a list of where you can purchase them) to help you on your painting journey.

Brushes:

da Vinci Artists’ Brushes

Since the early years of my watercolor journey my favourite brushes have been ‘da Vinci’. These are made in Germany by a wonderful group of dedicated craftspeople. Below, for your interest, is a short video showing the hand making of top quality da Vinci brushes:

The da Vinci Brushes I use – for full descriptions and information about each brush please click to visit my Signature Sets page here: • da Vinci brush sets in leather pouches

These 6 brushes are available individually or in the da Vinci Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Brushes set with sumptuous leather protective pouch (Set 1 on the Parkers website):

These 7 all synthetic brushes are available individually or in the da Vinci Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Brushes set with sumptuous leather protective pouch (Set 2 on the Parkers website):

Artists’ Watercolours:

My paints are limited to just twelve colours. I believe I can mix any colour I will ever need with just these twelve colours.

The paints I mostly use are:

Schmincke Horadam® Aquarell Finest Artists’ Watercolours

The 12 colours I use (with their Schmincke numbers. Please note that some retailers incorporate the Schmincke number into their own numbering system, for example Cheap Joe’s uses the item number SH208-15 for the 15ml tube of Schmincke Aureolin Hue): Schmincke Horadam Aquarell 12 Susan Harrison-Tustain paints

TIP: A mix of Transparent Red Deep (355) + Ruby Red (351) will result in a beautiful rich staining alternative to Alizarin Crimson that I have previously used.

You can read more about the magical color palette I highly recommend at this page on my website:

https://www.susanart.com/workshopslessons/color-palette/

All 12 Schmincke colours are available in 5ml and great value 15ml tubes and in the

Schmincke Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Set of 12 x 5ml tubes

For more information please visit my Signature Sets page here: Schmincke Watercolor set in Japanned tin with mixing trays

I very much recommend Schmincke Horadam watercolor paints, but for those artists with Winsor and Newton paints here is an alternative palette:

Winsor Yellow
New Gamboge
Orange (No transparent alternative – mix New Gamboge with Scarlet Lake)
Scarlet Lake
Permanent Alizarin Crimson
Permanent Rose
Quinacridone Magenta
Winsor Blue (Green Shade)
French Ultramarine
Winsor Green (Blue Shade)
Permanent Sap Green
Paynes Grey (no transparent alternative)

Paper:

Arches 300gsm (140lb) Hot Pressed Paper Natural White

Gator Board for stretching my paper onto:

Gatorfoam® ¾” White (white facers & white foam core) made by Alcan Composites

The sizes I use:
• 24” x 24”
• 24” x 16” (Takes a 1/2 sheet of Arches paper and is a good size for travelling, as it will fit into a suitcase).

Water Activated Tape for securing paper to board:

Lukas wet adhesive tape

I use:
• 40mm (approx 1½ “) white

Tape for masking around painting area:

Alvin Drafting Tape

I use:
• 1” (25mm) x 60 yds

Masking Fluid for retaining areas, lines, highlights without paint:

Pebeo Drawing Gum 45ml

Colour Previewers:

Many of you have seen me use these in my ‘Put Some Colour in Your Life’ TV show. If you haven’t seen it you can view it on this page of my website: https://www.susanart.com/workshopslessons/video-clips/ It’s the first video on that page.

The colour previewers are made by an artist friend of mine, Maria Kellner, who lives in Australia. You can find more information about them here:

http://mariamarylkaartkellner.blogspot.co.nz/2010/10/colour-previewers.html

On that page Maria provides a good description of how to use the previewers too.

When I conduct my watercolour workshops in Australia I tell the artists taking part that they can find all the materials I use at ‘Parkers Sydney Fine Art Supplies’. ‘Parkers’ has been extremely helpful and thorough in sourcing the materials I recommend. In addition to all the individual products, they also stock the 2 Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Sets of da Vinci brushes and the Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Set of 12 x 5ml tubes Schmincke Horadam® Aquarell Artists’ Watercolours. ‘Parkers’ has 3 physical stores and an excellent online store. The main physical store is in central Sydney at:

Parkers Sydney Fine Art Supplies

3 Cambridge Street, The Rocks, Sydney, NSW 2000 Tel: (02) 9247 9979

Email: parkersartsupplies@aapt.net.au Website: www.parkersartsupplies.com

To go directly to the web-page listing my recommended materials please click HERE

Of course it can be good to support your local art supply store too. If you have one convenient for you I’m sure it will stock at least some of the materials I recommend. On the Schmincke website there is a very good retail store locator for their paints worldwide. You may find it useful for locating art supply stores near you. The page can be found here: https://www.schmincke.de/en/buy.html

Hello and ‘Bonjour’ to our Canadian friends. At present we are a little short of suppliers specific to Canada. We welcome any who would like to be included on this list. Importers of products into the USA often cover Canada as well, and online stores are generally happy to ship throughout North America I believe.

If you wish to find some online Canadian art supply stores try a search for ‘Art Stores Canada Online’. Of course it can be good to support your local art supply store too. If you have one convenient for you I’m sure it will stock at least some of the materials I recommend. On the Schmincke website there is a very good retail store locator for their paints worldwide. You may find it useful for locating art supply stores near you. The page can be found here: https://www.schmincke.de/en/buy.html

This is the information we currently have for Canada:

da Vinci Artists’ brushes:

da Vinci Artist Brushes USA, the importer of da Vinci brushes for both Canada the USA has my Signature Brush Sets available HERE. On that page if you click on the image of each brush set it will go to the information and image page for that set.

da Vinci Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Brush Sets:

For full details of my da Vinci Signature Brush Sets and suppliers please visit my ‘Signature Sets’ page HERE

Schmincke Horadam® Aquarell Artists’ Watercolours

Store locator at: https://www.schmincke.de/en/buy.html

The Schmincke Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Paint set is available from Parkers Sydney Fine Art Supplies in Sydney, Australia (click Australia tab above).

Arches 300gsm (140lb) Hot Pressed Paper Natural White

Some Arches stockists I have found are:

Curry’s Art Store, Mississauga, Ontario

DeSerres, Montreal

Delta Art, Edmonton

Opus Art Supplies, 7 stores in BC

Studio Six Art Supplies, Markham, Ontario

Swinton’s Art Supply, Calgary

All have good online stores.

I have worked closely with Jackson’s Art Supplies and they stock a good number of the products I use, including the 2 Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Sets of da Vinci brushes. Jackson’s has 3 stores plus an excellent website and online shopping. The physical stores are in Stoke Newington (London), Fulham (London) & Quedgeley (Gloucester).

Information on the store locations is here: https://www.jacksonsart.com/ourshops

da Vinci Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Sets of brushes:

For the Original set of 6 brushes click HERE

For the NEW Casaneo set of 7 synthetic brushes click HERE

Find individual da Vinci brushes on their website HERE

Schmincke Horadam® Aquarell Artists’ Watercolours

For the Jackson’s Art Supplies Schmincke Horadam Watercolour paints (5ml & 15ml tubes) page please click HERE

Arches 300gsm (140lb) Hot Pressed Paper Natural White

Jackson’s page for this is HERE

Pebeo Drawing Gum 45ml

Jackson’s page for this is HERE

It can be good to support your local art supply store. If you have one convenient for you I’m sure it will stock at least some of the materials I recommend. On the Schmincke website there is a very good retail store locator for their paints worldwide. You may find it useful for locating art supply stores near you. The page can be found here: https://www.schmincke.de/en/buy.html

My local art supply store is The Red Studio, 4 Cherokee Place, Mount Maunganui. They stock a great range, including da Vinci brushes, Schmincke paints and Arches paper. Their website is here: http://www.theredstudio.co.nz/

In Christchurch, The Drawing Room, at 500 Colombo Street has a great range of supplies including Arches paper and my alternative palette in Winsor & Newton colours (listed under ‘Artist’s Watercolours’ on the ‘My Materials’ tab). Paul will be happy to help with any advice. Their website is here: http://www.thedrawingroom.co.nz/

da Vinci brushes are stocked by:

Gordon Harris with stores in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch. Go to the link below for a list of stores and click each one for contact details: https://www.gordonharris.co.nz/page/8/gordon-harris-stores

Studio Art Supplies, 35 Crummer Road, Grey Lynn, Auckland 1021 Phone: 09 360 1238 Website: http://www.studioart.co.nz

da Vinci Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Sets of brushes:

The Signature Sets of brushes are not currently stocked by a retailer in New Zealand, but Parkers Sydney Fine Art Supplies in Sydney, Australia will happily send internationally and can be contacted by ‘phone from New Zealand on the number (including international access code): 00 – 61 – 2 – 9247 9979. Keep in mind that Sydney is 2 hours behind New Zealand. To go directly to the product page please scroll up this page to find the link.

Schmincke Horadam® Aquarell Artists’ Watercolours are stocked by:

Gordon Harris & Studio Art Supplies (see links under ‘da Vinci brushes’)

Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Set of 12 x 5ml tubes:

The Signature Set of Schmincke colours is not currently stocked by a retailer in New Zealand, but Parkers Sydney Fine Art Supplies in Sydney, Australia will happily send internationally and can be contacted by ‘phone from New Zealand on the number (including international access code): 00 – 61 – 2 – 9247 9979. Keep in mind that Sydney is 2 hours behind New Zealand. To go directly to the product page please scroll up this page and click on the ‘Australia’ tab.

Arches 300gsm (140lb) Hot Pressed Paper Natural White

The Gordon Harris page for this is HERE

Pebeo Drawing Gum 45ml

The Gordon Harris page for this is HERE

da Vinci brushes:

Online you can find an excellent selection of da Vinci brushes at Blick Art Materials. See their page here:

https://www.dickblick.com/brands/da-vinci-brushes/

da Vinci Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature Brush Sets:

For full details of my da Vinci Signature Brush Sets and suppliers please visit my ‘Signature Sets’ page by clicking HERE

Schmincke Horadam® Aquarell Artists’ Watercolours

On the Schmincke website there is a very good retail store locator for their paints worldwide. You may find it useful for locating art supply stores near you. The page can be found here: https://www.schmincke.de/en/buy.html

Of course, the large online retailers stock the Schmincke Watercolors, for example:

Blick Art Materials page is here: https://www.dickblick.com/products/schmincke-horadam-aquarell-artist-watercolors/

Cheap Joe’s Art Stuff page is here: https://www.cheapjoes.com/catalog/product/view/id/27218/

Jerry’s Artarama page is here: https://www.jerrysartarama.com/schmincke-horadam-finest-artist-watercolors

Currently the Schmincke Susan Harrison-Tustain Signature set of 12 x 5ml tubes is only available from Parkers Sydney Fine Art Supplies in Sydney, Australia. (click Australia tab above).