General hopelessness

I am completely hopeless: firstly, it's 7 January and I haven't even managed a Happy New Year post yet. So, blog readers: Ferndell Studios would like to wish you every happiness and success in 2014.

Secondly, while attempting to migrate from my old laptop to my shiny new one, I managed to create a glitch which removed all the photos and images from this blog. I immediately reinstated some, but haven't got round to the others yet. I will do so soon. I promise.

And thirdly, I promised some time ago to post here a list of the items we generally use in our watercolour classes - but I somehow just didn't get round to doing so. Sorry! But here it is now:

Tubes of Winsor and Newton Artists’ Water Colours (NOT Cotman or anything else) in the following colours:

French Ultramarine

Cerulean Blue

Raw Sienna

Burnt Sienna

Light Red

Cadmium Yellow

Scarlet Lake

Alizarin Crimson

Two useful additions would be:

Raw Umber

Burnt Umber

Paper:

At Ferndell, we have used a couple of different papers, but I think that Bockingford NOT 140 lb (300 gsm) is the best option as it performs very well but is relatively inexpensive.

The best way is to buy precut loose sheets, e.g. ½ or ¼ sheets. To start, I would definitely recommend ¼ sheets.

Brushes:

At Ferndell Studios, we provide Daler Rowney prolene brushes, but I use Pro Arte prolene brushes. Both are good.

A size 12 round covers most eventualities, but a rigger would be a useful supplement.

Miscellaneous:

You will also need a board to work on. You can buy specially made ones from art suppliers, but any rigid lightweight board would do. Sarah's husband has cut MDF boards for us at Ferndell and they are fine. Size: big enough to tape down a ¼ sheet of paper and leave a good margin all around.

Masking tape, wide, is also needed to tape the paper to the board.

A 2B pencil and putty rubber (for sketching out your painting), and a craft knife or pencil sharpener completes the kit.

If you've any queries, don't hesitate to contact me, by commenting on this blog, or by e-mailing or messaging me (diggle_l@yahoo.co.uk, 07908 664471).