Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolours

I used to love acrylics, but quite recently I fell in love with watercolours.  I just love their translucency and vibrancy. They are so easy to mix and blend, never knowing what you get in the end. They have a mind of their own, the way they mingle on the paper.  You can control them to some extent but the end result is always a bit of a mystery. I like that unpredictability. I'm always pleasantly surprised at what they can achieve. Watercolours are also a very forgiving medium: if you don't like the results, you can always change it by adding more water or colours and mop up any accidents with a dry paper towel.

A few weeks ago I bought a Winsor & Newton Cotman Watercolours Pocket Box. I absolutely love it! It contains 12 half pan watercolour paints and a small brush, which seems to be very good quality. You know how the manufacturers sometimes include inferior accessories with their products as selling points and you think, why even bother? In this case, the brush is as good as the rest of the set and a valuable addition.

The box is very small - it actually fits in your pocket, but it's all you need to start painting with watercolours. You can mix numerous other shades with just these 12 colours and the half pans go a long way. At under £10, I think it's very good value.  Since then I also bought the studio set. It was an absolute steal for just £24.99 on eBay, so it's worth shopping around. Amazon tends to have the best prices, but not always.

If you are after a good quality watercolour set on a budget, I'd highly recommend this one.  Take a look at the colour chart I did using this set.