Jennifer Rose's standard kit
In the below video, Jennifer explains the equipment she uses and recommends for her style of loose watercolour painting.
Because her painting technique is different from Anna's, the equipment Jennifer Rose uses differs slightly from the equipment Anna uses and recommends.
1. Paper:
Whereas Anna usually uses Hot Pressed paper on a glued block, Jennifer uses Cold Pressed paper in loose sheets. The make Jennifer uses is Arches and the paper thickness, or weight, is heavy at 300gsm (140lb).
Jennifer will only stretch her paper if she knows that she'll want to frame the finished piece under glass, to ensure that there will be no paper buckling. In case you want to stretch your paper, we'll be sharing a paper-stretching demo in the near future.
- Cold pressed Arches paper sheets: Buy from the UK / Buy from the US
2. Brushes:
The biggest difference between Anna's equipment and the equipment Jennifer uses is in the brushes.
Whereas Anna uses pointed spotter brushes which don't hold much water, Jennifer uses mop brushes as these can carry a lot of water.
Note that mop brushes are sometimes sold as 'quill' brushes because of the way they've been made, but not all quill brushes are mop brushes and vice versa. The most important thing is to look for brushes that have this mop shape to the bristles:
Mop brushes are often made using squirrel fur. Since there is little significant difference between the performance of a real or synthetic hair mop brush these days, the links below are for mop brushes made with synthetic hair.
The main sizes of mop brush which Jennifer commonly uses are 4 or 2, 0 and 000. She also uses a ten-zero brush for smaller work. Below are links for buying this type of brush:
- Mop brushes: Buy from the UK / Buy from the US
If you're looking to invest in a set of mop brushes, Jennifer now has a range of brushes made by Rosemary & Co which you can view and buy here.
3. Palette:
Jennifer uses a 'daisy style' ceramic palette which is comprised of individual 'ponds' which enable you to mix up large amounts of watery paint and keep the colours separate.
- Daisy style palette: Buy from the UK / Buy from the US
4. Paints:
Jennifer works with the same paints that Anna recommends, in the same colours - so if you have Anna's recommended paints, you have the colours you need for Jennifer's tutorials.
The only difference is that Jennifer squeezes her paint fresh from the tube when she's painting, rather than allowing her paints to dry on the palette like Anna does.
You'll therefore find it easier to create paint mixes for Jennifer's classes by using watercolour paint that comes in tubes.
5. Masking fluid:
For painting backgrounds, Jennifer uses masking fluid to protect the area of the painting that will be the subject. She applies the masking fluid with an old paintbrush.
- Masking fluid: Buy from the UK / Buy from the US