Resources
Looking for supplies? Here's the Materials List →
Free PDF Handouts
Here you’ll find hand-drawn guides, tips, exercises and experiments to support your watercolor journey, as well as a reading list and a complete list of supplies with links. Everything here is free to download and use at your own pace. Enjoy exploring.
General Tips & Tricks
Composition BasicsHand-drawn notes on rule of thirds, horizon placement, and simple formats for strong compositions.
Design PrinciplesAn overview of balance, rhythm, emphasis, proportion, unity, and contrast in your paintings.
Essential Swan Song SecretsFive big-picture tips for unified, compelling paintings: plan washes, include variety, simplify, and more.
The Order of EventsA step-by-step roadmap from observing a scene to planning, painting, and finishing a landscape.
Order Out of ChaosIdeas for finding structure in loose starts using patterns, formats, and acrylic negative painting.
Plan Graded Washes for DramaWays to use graded washes and dramatic value shifts to light your subject and add impact.
A Pair of TricksTwo handy concepts—“1-2-3” variety and “Negative to Positive”—for livelier shapes and layers.
Using Our Artist’s BrainA reflection on seeing like an artist instead of naming things, with notes on symbols and perception.
Dramatic Lighting & Rembrandt’s TrickNotes on spotlight-style lighting and simplifying objects into basic shapes for stronger drawings.
Sky IdeasPractical approaches for painting skies: graded washes, wet-in-wet moods, and sky/background starts.
Water IdeasTechniques and practice ideas for waves, reflections, and texture when painting water.
Exercises & Landscape Elements
3-Color Wash & Painting a StructurePractice a three-color wash and learn simple steps for painting buildings with depth and clean shapes.
Band of Light: Photo to PaintingA quick exercise in turning a photo into a sketch by simplifying shapes and using light to guide the viewer.
Fall Colors & Snow on the MountainLearn to highlight fall colors and use negative painting to create snowy mountain scenes.
Figures in the LandscapeTips for adding simple human figures to boost scale, storytelling, and movement in your scenes.
Two-Color Harmony & Winter LandscapeUse two-color harmony to paint trees, reflections, and a balanced winter composition.
Distant Ridges ExercisePractice painting layered mountain ridges using hard and soft edges for atmospheric depth.
Flower IdeasLight, shape, composition, and charging vs glazing techniques for expressive watercolor flowers.
Ideas for Trees & ForestsA large set of studies showing how to paint trees and forests with brushwork, sponges, and layering.
Further Experiments
Mark-MakingSeven playful techniques for creating texture and collage papers using crayons, ink, bleach, combs, splatter, masking pens, and glued papers.
Masking Fluid TricksThree creative masking methods using a stick, a straw, and a chip brush to add lively shapes and textures.
Moving Toward AbstractionA gentle guide to loosening up through studies, collections, warm-ups, scraps, and risk-taking to explore color and shape.
Reading List
Here are some books to accompany you along the way—inspirations, poetry, and encouragement to take the risk.
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Painting as a Pastime by Winston Churchill
This is an intruiging look at Churchill’s life-long painting practice. He used oils rather than watercolors, but his thoughts about the creative process and how painting enriched his life are inspiring. -
Winter Morning Walks by Ted Kooser
This book includes the short poems I refer to in the videos. Quick word sketches by a keen observer of nature. -
Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
This is one of many collections of Oliver’s poems. She spent her life deeply immersed in nature and passes on the joy of careful observation and sharpening our senses. -
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke
This is the short book I refer to in the video course. For nearly a hundred years it has comforted and encouraged those who take the risk of following a creative path. -
Creative Authenticity: 16 Principles to Clarify and Deepen Your Artistic Vision by Ian Roberts
Roberts shares extremely helpful insights he has discovered in his life as a painter. He helps dispel some of the fears, myths and “shoulds” that keep people from their best creative life.
Materials List
This is a list of all the materials used in the course. You don't need fancy supplies to begin. A few basic tools will take you far. Start with what you have, upgrade only if you want to, and remember: watercolor is about curiosity, not perfection.
Affordable Essentials
All of these items are included in the Basic Starter Kit →
- Brushes - You don't need a $100 brush to make beautiful paintings, but cheap ones can limit you. Here are some great middle-of-the-road options:
- Paper - Just start with the basics, tear them into smaller pieces and get lots of practice before investing in expensive paper and feeling precious about it.
- Paint - You don't need a million colors. Start with a few, or just what you have, and see what you can make with them. Try experiments, take notes, and add more as you really need to. Your paintings—and your wallet—will benefit. Here's a set of the 10 colors from DaVinci that Bob uses for nearly everything in the course. These will give you endless possibilities to explore:
Bob's Full Setup
All of these items are included in the Advanced Starter Kit →
- Brushes - If you're ready to invest, these brushes are only a little spendier than the ones linked above, and should serve you well for years to come:
- Paper
- Newsprint Pad
- Student Watercolor Paper Pad (Canson Cold Press) - great for practice studies & experiments
- Arches Watercolor Paper (Cold Press)
- Arches Watercolor Paper (Hot Press)
- Paint - Here is the full set of all 18 of the exact colors that Bob uses throughout the whole course:
- Folding Watercolor Pallette (20 Colors)
- ¼in. MDF board and Kraft Paper Tape for stretching paper
- All of these items are included in the Advanced Starter Kit →
Optional Extras for Further Experiments
These tools expand your creative play, especially in Module 6. They’re entirely optional.
These items are included in the Further Experiments Kit →
- Masking Fluid
- Ruling Pen for applying masking fluid
- Rice Paper Pad for collage
- Artists' Tape
- India Ink (In the Mixed Media lesson, Bob uses Blue, Yellow and Van Dyke Brown)
- Elmer's Glue-All
- Plastic Wrap
- Wax Paper
Getting Serious about Watercolor?
Here are a few upgrades that will help you go the extra mile.
- Aluminum folding pallette with 26 color wells - A bigger, more heavy-duty pallette, like the one Bob uses in his videos. Perfect for tossing in a backpack and hitting the trail.
- Arches Watercolor Paper - Full Sheets (140lb. Hot Press)
- Arches Watercolor Paper - Full Sheets (140lb. Cold Press)
Note: these are affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase, Bob may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you. We only recommend tools and materials we genuinely use and believe in.
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Copyright © 2023-2026 Robert Hamilton-Pennell.
Copyright © 2023-2026 Robert Hamilton-Pennell.