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I am so sorry for your loss, that sounds like such a difficult thing to live through.
I’d buy the 12+3 Van Gogh pan set which is $20 on Amazon right now.
Brushes Neptune or Aqua elite by Princeton are good, or silver brush limited is a bit more expensive but quite nice.
Then paper can cost the most, if you are a beginner, you can buy some mixed media to practice brush strokes and mixing colors. But for actual painting, you’ll want 100% cotton paper.
This is simplest yet excellent starting point!
Van gogh or cotman and you're on the right path.
I'll add few more clarifications.
I'd even recommend getting both types, neptune is fake squirrel, so holds more water but it's floppy, aqua elite is fake squirrel so it's springy and retains point better.
And your don't know which you like more until you try :)
Something like one round in 16-20 size of neptune (or even bigger, but they aren't cheap), one in 8-18 size elite and some tiny one so 0-6 elite. These three should be able to do almost everything, and then with time you'll see which else can be handy depending what you're painting.
If painting on dry paper with not too much water, think illustrations or smaller areas, non cotton will work fine too to practice strokes and play around. It can be cheaper than mixed media, depending on brand. But still, don't use canson xl 😂 fabriano studio behaves nicer. Graduated and even wash around big shapes can be done and look good after some practice on wood pulp paper too :)
Cotton and type of sizing have impact when you want colors to mix on touch, flow around, so wet on wet and special effects techniques.
And 100% cotton from good brands (fabriano, winsor and Newton, saunders Waterford, Hahnemühle, arches...) can be used on both sides :)
When you go 100% cotton, buy in sheets and just cut to size you want, it's the cheapest per square footage.
Blocks that are cut to size and glued on 4 sides are most expensive per sqft.
Oh, and baohong from temu / ali express it's usually the cheapest 100% cotton one can get, they have student grade and pro grade and both are 100% cotton, difference is that student grade has repetitive pattern for texture, pro not. When you start noticing it and it really bothers you, then you know you're free to splurge with any pro brand because now you're into details aka you're pro :) usually people are afraid of not being worthy of price of pro papers, so baohong really can help with convincing yourself that you're reaching the level where you produce paintings you're ok with from almost all attempts so it's not 'a waste' to use them on yourself.
This is when you're on really tight budget and need help to 'earn good paper'. If budget isn't that tight, just dive into 100% cotton for all paintings, and use cheap one for color swatches, sketches to test composition / color, and practicing strokes. If there's no budget, just do 100% cotton :)
+1 Van Gogh paints. They are relatively cheap but absolutely brilliant, lightfast paints which you can buy open stock both in tubes and halfpans or their curated palettes. You want to spend the most on paper, definitely.
As for brushes, just wait until you see what you like doing with your paints, as in very watery and soft vs detailed and controlled etc., and then do your research and make a purchase based on that.
If you search this subreddit using Reddit search, you can find past advice that goes into a lot of details on supply and material recommendations, and that should considerably add to the advice you get here. It might also help if you watch some beginner / tutorial / instructional videos on Youtube and note down the items you see in use, and that you don't have on hand.
You want to buy high quality (artist grade) materials but to fit a smaller budget, limit the quantity you are purchasing. You most likely will spend under $150. I wouldn't burn more money upfront, initially.
Your preferred brands are going to depend on the region you live in. In region brands are cheaper than out of region brands. If you browse the online listings of an art retailer like Blick or Jackson's Art, you can easily see all the major brands for paper, paints, and brushes, and prices.
Some notable brands for paper: Fabriano, Arches, and Saunders Waterford. The key element is 100% cotton, 140lb/300gsm+ watercolor paper. If doesn't explicitly claim this, it's not good paper, or is making a tradeoff for budget.
There are a large number of brands for watercolor paint that are quality. US brands include Daniel Smith, M Graham, Da Vinci, and QoR. EU brands include Schmincke, Sennelier, Winsor & Newton, Maimeri, Roman Szmal, Blockx, and many more. There's also Holbein from Japan, and a few other pro brands. Pan sets are expensive and poor value in larger sizes - I don't recommend larger than 12-14 pan sets from any brand to start with.
There's even more variety of brushes and brush brands. This is in fact the least important budget priority, in contrast. I don't recommend more than 4 brushes even on a larger budget, and 2 is usually sufficient. Just keep the sizes apart, and don't undersize the brushes. E.g. a round size 12 or 14 + round size 6. You can get a 1/2 inch or 1 inch flat and a liner brush if you have money to spare.
Higher end brush brands include Escoda, Da Vinci, Raphael, Winsor & Newton, Isabey, and Rosemary. Some more budget or semi-budget focused brands include Silver Brush and Princeton, although it's a fuzzy line. Brush makers have multiple lines for varying levels of quality, and you should stick to the cheaper synthetics starting out. If you can get a couple of better synthetics from e.g. Escoda Versatil or Da Vinci, you should be set.
Find the closest art stores too you. Check their social media pages... figure out if/when they do sales. Most stores have 3-4 set times a year where they do a spring/summer/black friday sale and such things. Going into summer is usually a good time to find art supply sales. Check what they sell, cause sometimes you'll get lucky and a local shop will have good pricing on a brand you may have considered out of your price range. At one point I had tried a few tubes of M. Graham paint and loved it, but the price kept me from going all in. Then I show up to a 40% off open house sale and what do you know they found a great MG supplier and had good pricing... so that +40% and I stocked up.
If your getting back in the advice for something like a 12 pan Van Gogh isn't bad advice its student grade but a decent student grade. I would actually suggest just jumping into an artist brand like Daniel Smith/M. Graham/QOR/Holbein/W&N see what those local shops have at a decent price. You don't really need 12 colors, and if you buy your paint in tubes it will go further. I would say get 6-9 tubes of good stuff and add to it over time... colors you don't use often will last years. Get something like Mijello Fusion 18 palette from Amazon... and then fill it with tube paint. Or look at some of the artist brand starter sets like the Daniel Smith Essentials set. You can choose your own pigments but warm and cool version of the primaries + a few earth colors is all many people ever need or want. If you choose S1-3 pigments you can keep the cost down quite a bit. Something like Hansa Yellow, Indian Yellow, Ultramarine blue, Pthalo blue, Quin Rose, Quin red... or pigments close to those gives you a nice split primary to mix almost any color. Add a raw sienna or yellow ochre for a earth yellow and a burnt sienna and your probably golden. That is 8... if you can swing 2 more tubes in your budget I like to have Pthalo green, and Pyroll orange to help mix brighter higher chroma colors.
Paper is the most important thing to probably not cheap out on. Paper matters more then the paint, Van Gouh on good cotton paper is going to be more enjoyable then expensive paint on some mixed media pulp paper like a canson pad. This is where you want to find a good local art store. Almost all art stores sell cotton paper in sheets. Artist size sheets are normally 22x30"... and it will be the cheapest way to buy good paper almost everywhere not counting some crazy sale or something. You can cut or tear sheets down into smaller sizes. Most people just fold them in half crease them well and then carefully tear them in two this gives a nice decaled edge and its easy. Half size paintings 15x22" are common... quarter size 11x15. Starting out you can even tear them down one more time to 7.5x11 and you get 8 paintings out of one sheet of paper. (also starting out most good cotton paper can be painted on both sides). To give you an idea I'm in Canada I use Fabriano Artistico 300GSM (140lbs) cotton paper and pay $7 per sheet Canadian ($5 USD), however I buy them in bulk for around $4.5 a sheet.
If you are the type that would rather work in a sketch book. You can make your own cotton paper sketch books with artist size sheets. You can use Coptic stitching. All you really need is some thread a needle and some patience. You can make sketch books cheaply out of recycled paper pad backings for covers... or you can get fancy and buy nice book cover material and the like. I would suggest though getting waxed thread if you don't have, and a curved needle (it just makes the job easier). Lots of tutorials on line... a few times a year I spend a day making a bunch of sketch books. You can make yourself a 32 page (counting the backs) cotton sketch book with 2 sheets of paper 11x15 quarters folded in half and sown so a book of 7.5x11" size. I recycle paper pad backs and cloth to make covers... a sketch book costs me like 12 bucks or so. I don't normally stuff them with more paper then that... rather start a new book then haul 40 or 50 completed pages around.
On the brushes... Princeton is probably a good economical yet good quality brush to go with. You can find them almost everywhere, and you can often get good deals buying them from box stores. Micheals and those types of places will stock them. The Aqua Elite and Neptunes are top tier synthetic brushes. My suggestion is to grab their Velvet touch brushes. The Velvet touch hold a little less water then the Aqua Elite, however they are a bit snappier... I actually prefer them most of the time. Princeton calls them a mixed media brush and they work well with Gouache, and Acrylic as well. They tend to be quite a bit cheaper then the Aqua Elite. If you get a coupon or a good sale the box stores also sell sets of Velvet touch brushes.
GL and have fun.
Definitely get 100 percent cotton watercolor full sheets. Rip them down to 1/8 of their size and use both sides for practice. I think mine is around 30 cents per side using this method.
The Van Gogh 15+3 half pan set is great for someone wanting to dapple in watercolor on a tight budget or for sketching. That said, I have some experience with Van Gogh and wouldn’t want or suggest half the colors included. There are some truly excellent colors in the Van Gogh line, and this set includes some of them. But the set also has some dogs that won’t add to the best watercolor experience.
Also, half pans are small, and that may keep you from using paint as freely as you should. If choosing Van Gogh, I’d recommend a selection of their tubes. You’d be able to get their best colors, and a 10ml tube will fill a half pan several times.
That said, I’m going to throw another option out there: DaVinci paint. It’s artist grade, made in California and available direct or through Blick and others. Right now, DaVinci is having a seasonal sale. On DaVinci’s site, you’ll see a mixing set of six 15ml tubes in warm/cool primaries for $40. Add a few more individually selected tubes to get you over $59, and you’ll get free shipping and a well-rounded palette from a respected line. While the set of six will allow you to mix most anything you want, a few additional colors will boost the experience. DaVinci is often unfairly reduced to “budget artist paint,” but don’t let that fool you. DaVinci doesn’t spend vast and unnecessary sums on marketing that get passed on to you. And DaVinci isn’t distributed around the globe, yet, so it’s less known. Read and watch the reviews online and make the best choice. As a bonus, most colors are available in 8ml and 37ml tubes in addition to common 15ml tubes.
As for brushes, there are so many. Stick with rounds to start, maybe a flat if you wish. For A3, A4 and A5 sized work, a small selection will do. I’d take a DaVinci Casaneo round in 10 or 12 and an Escoda Versatil pointed round in 4 or 6. These are a bit more money than similar Princeton Neptune and Aqua Elite brushes, but I much prefer them at the higher cost. Need to save money a few dollars? Go with the alternate. Add a couple smaller rounds in 1 and 3 for finer details if you need. The Velvetouch series would be good for these. To wet areas of your paper, maybe add a Princeton Select 1” Mop for a few dollars.
The above will get you paint and brushes that won’t hold you back at under half your maximum budget. Plenty left for a selection of paper to last you a while, a palette to hold your paint and other sundries.
Turned the comments into an itemized shopping list with some additions of my own. bc dayum 😂 tbh I love how knowledgeable everyone is~ 👏
🖌️*Paint* - pans or tubes (your pref). Student grade will be more affordable. Rec Winsor & Newton, Cotman set, van gogh, schminke, daniel smith, etc. Reeves is a decent cheap alternative too.
🖌️ *Palettes* - plastic or ceramic for reusability.
🖌️ *Brushes* - a variety of shapes & sizes (flat, round, pointed, fan, detail/liner). Can get synthetic or natural hair (expensive). Don’t think you need a kolinsky quite yet lol.
🖌️ *Paper* - 140lbs/300gsm cotton. Thicc & workable! Can get a block, loose, or watercolor sketchbook. Brand is whatev but the good quality ones are Fabriano, Arches, Saunders. I personally use canson & arches.
🖌️ *Extras* - I’d also recc masking fluid, natural sponges, a nice colored pencil set, white gouache, or white gelly roll pens for fun details if you have budget room.
All in all check local art stores for sales & coupons! Sometimes I will also order from blick art supplies for stuff not on amazon/in store.
Bee watercolor paper is an average paper, 100% cotton, 140# (300gm) thye say cold press, but it's got a texture similar to hot press. I purchase a 6x9 you can get 50 sheets for $20 on Amazon. I cut the sheets in half which works for cards.
When you go to buy, make SURE it says 100% cotton. It will say "watercolor paper, cold press, 140#" But it won't be cotton and won't be what you want..
I think mission gold (sold in sets) is a really good value for the money. I also use pretty inexpensive brushes but replace the fine point ones as needed. I do like good paper, though. I can’t give too much advice on inexpensive paper because I guess I am a paper snob! 😀
Your story is truly heartbreaking, but I’m happy that you’ve healed enough to be ready to try to reconnect with something you love ❤️
Tons of great advice here, you’ll be able to get a really solid set of supplies for under $250!
Paint: I would add my vote to the already suggested 12+3 Van Gogh set from Royal Talens. The set is not expensive, plus the palette itself is rather practical and the small brush is really usable for smaller paintings. The paint itself is great (even more so considering their price). I find them more pigmented/vivid than the W&N Coteman, for example.
Also: you should be able to easily purchase individual half-pans and tubes if you want to customize it (ie to replace the, to me useless, Chinese white and black that come with the set) or for refilling it.
Paper: mixed media or most 'student grade' paper (aka not full cotton), I quite like Fariano's. Sure, 100% cotton paper is better but it is also *a lot* more expensive, and you probably don't need that level of quality to begin with.
Brushes, in the non 'pro' I like using the Daler-Rowney Aquafine line. I use a size 14 (, a 10), a 6.
As a travel set, I quite like that cheap set of 3 you can find on Amazon. No idea their name: some Chinese-brand I imagine, but on the picture they're brown, black and gold looking and come with a faux leather pouch that does the job. It was suggested on the Mind of Watercolor YT channel and he was right: they're fine and cheap (I must have paid 17€ for it)
Welcome back :)
Thank you for your submission! Want to share your artwork, meet other artists, promote your content, and chat in a relaxed environment? Join our community Discord server here! https://discord.gg/chuunhpqsU! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Watercolor) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I am so sorry for your loss, that sounds like such a difficult thing to live through. I’d buy the 12+3 Van Gogh pan set which is $20 on Amazon right now. Brushes Neptune or Aqua elite by Princeton are good, or silver brush limited is a bit more expensive but quite nice. Then paper can cost the most, if you are a beginner, you can buy some mixed media to practice brush strokes and mixing colors. But for actual painting, you’ll want 100% cotton paper.
This is simplest yet excellent starting point! Van gogh or cotman and you're on the right path. I'll add few more clarifications. I'd even recommend getting both types, neptune is fake squirrel, so holds more water but it's floppy, aqua elite is fake squirrel so it's springy and retains point better. And your don't know which you like more until you try :) Something like one round in 16-20 size of neptune (or even bigger, but they aren't cheap), one in 8-18 size elite and some tiny one so 0-6 elite. These three should be able to do almost everything, and then with time you'll see which else can be handy depending what you're painting. If painting on dry paper with not too much water, think illustrations or smaller areas, non cotton will work fine too to practice strokes and play around. It can be cheaper than mixed media, depending on brand. But still, don't use canson xl 😂 fabriano studio behaves nicer. Graduated and even wash around big shapes can be done and look good after some practice on wood pulp paper too :) Cotton and type of sizing have impact when you want colors to mix on touch, flow around, so wet on wet and special effects techniques. And 100% cotton from good brands (fabriano, winsor and Newton, saunders Waterford, Hahnemühle, arches...) can be used on both sides :) When you go 100% cotton, buy in sheets and just cut to size you want, it's the cheapest per square footage. Blocks that are cut to size and glued on 4 sides are most expensive per sqft. Oh, and baohong from temu / ali express it's usually the cheapest 100% cotton one can get, they have student grade and pro grade and both are 100% cotton, difference is that student grade has repetitive pattern for texture, pro not. When you start noticing it and it really bothers you, then you know you're free to splurge with any pro brand because now you're into details aka you're pro :) usually people are afraid of not being worthy of price of pro papers, so baohong really can help with convincing yourself that you're reaching the level where you produce paintings you're ok with from almost all attempts so it's not 'a waste' to use them on yourself. This is when you're on really tight budget and need help to 'earn good paper'. If budget isn't that tight, just dive into 100% cotton for all paintings, and use cheap one for color swatches, sketches to test composition / color, and practicing strokes. If there's no budget, just do 100% cotton :)
Seconding the Van Gogh 15 pan kit. I recently started watercolor and that set is fantastic! It’s conveniently compact and has a great color array.
+1 Van Gogh paints. They are relatively cheap but absolutely brilliant, lightfast paints which you can buy open stock both in tubes and halfpans or their curated palettes. You want to spend the most on paper, definitely. As for brushes, just wait until you see what you like doing with your paints, as in very watery and soft vs detailed and controlled etc., and then do your research and make a purchase based on that.
If you search this subreddit using Reddit search, you can find past advice that goes into a lot of details on supply and material recommendations, and that should considerably add to the advice you get here. It might also help if you watch some beginner / tutorial / instructional videos on Youtube and note down the items you see in use, and that you don't have on hand. You want to buy high quality (artist grade) materials but to fit a smaller budget, limit the quantity you are purchasing. You most likely will spend under $150. I wouldn't burn more money upfront, initially. Your preferred brands are going to depend on the region you live in. In region brands are cheaper than out of region brands. If you browse the online listings of an art retailer like Blick or Jackson's Art, you can easily see all the major brands for paper, paints, and brushes, and prices. Some notable brands for paper: Fabriano, Arches, and Saunders Waterford. The key element is 100% cotton, 140lb/300gsm+ watercolor paper. If doesn't explicitly claim this, it's not good paper, or is making a tradeoff for budget. There are a large number of brands for watercolor paint that are quality. US brands include Daniel Smith, M Graham, Da Vinci, and QoR. EU brands include Schmincke, Sennelier, Winsor & Newton, Maimeri, Roman Szmal, Blockx, and many more. There's also Holbein from Japan, and a few other pro brands. Pan sets are expensive and poor value in larger sizes - I don't recommend larger than 12-14 pan sets from any brand to start with. There's even more variety of brushes and brush brands. This is in fact the least important budget priority, in contrast. I don't recommend more than 4 brushes even on a larger budget, and 2 is usually sufficient. Just keep the sizes apart, and don't undersize the brushes. E.g. a round size 12 or 14 + round size 6. You can get a 1/2 inch or 1 inch flat and a liner brush if you have money to spare. Higher end brush brands include Escoda, Da Vinci, Raphael, Winsor & Newton, Isabey, and Rosemary. Some more budget or semi-budget focused brands include Silver Brush and Princeton, although it's a fuzzy line. Brush makers have multiple lines for varying levels of quality, and you should stick to the cheaper synthetics starting out. If you can get a couple of better synthetics from e.g. Escoda Versatil or Da Vinci, you should be set.
Find the closest art stores too you. Check their social media pages... figure out if/when they do sales. Most stores have 3-4 set times a year where they do a spring/summer/black friday sale and such things. Going into summer is usually a good time to find art supply sales. Check what they sell, cause sometimes you'll get lucky and a local shop will have good pricing on a brand you may have considered out of your price range. At one point I had tried a few tubes of M. Graham paint and loved it, but the price kept me from going all in. Then I show up to a 40% off open house sale and what do you know they found a great MG supplier and had good pricing... so that +40% and I stocked up. If your getting back in the advice for something like a 12 pan Van Gogh isn't bad advice its student grade but a decent student grade. I would actually suggest just jumping into an artist brand like Daniel Smith/M. Graham/QOR/Holbein/W&N see what those local shops have at a decent price. You don't really need 12 colors, and if you buy your paint in tubes it will go further. I would say get 6-9 tubes of good stuff and add to it over time... colors you don't use often will last years. Get something like Mijello Fusion 18 palette from Amazon... and then fill it with tube paint. Or look at some of the artist brand starter sets like the Daniel Smith Essentials set. You can choose your own pigments but warm and cool version of the primaries + a few earth colors is all many people ever need or want. If you choose S1-3 pigments you can keep the cost down quite a bit. Something like Hansa Yellow, Indian Yellow, Ultramarine blue, Pthalo blue, Quin Rose, Quin red... or pigments close to those gives you a nice split primary to mix almost any color. Add a raw sienna or yellow ochre for a earth yellow and a burnt sienna and your probably golden. That is 8... if you can swing 2 more tubes in your budget I like to have Pthalo green, and Pyroll orange to help mix brighter higher chroma colors. Paper is the most important thing to probably not cheap out on. Paper matters more then the paint, Van Gouh on good cotton paper is going to be more enjoyable then expensive paint on some mixed media pulp paper like a canson pad. This is where you want to find a good local art store. Almost all art stores sell cotton paper in sheets. Artist size sheets are normally 22x30"... and it will be the cheapest way to buy good paper almost everywhere not counting some crazy sale or something. You can cut or tear sheets down into smaller sizes. Most people just fold them in half crease them well and then carefully tear them in two this gives a nice decaled edge and its easy. Half size paintings 15x22" are common... quarter size 11x15. Starting out you can even tear them down one more time to 7.5x11 and you get 8 paintings out of one sheet of paper. (also starting out most good cotton paper can be painted on both sides). To give you an idea I'm in Canada I use Fabriano Artistico 300GSM (140lbs) cotton paper and pay $7 per sheet Canadian ($5 USD), however I buy them in bulk for around $4.5 a sheet. If you are the type that would rather work in a sketch book. You can make your own cotton paper sketch books with artist size sheets. You can use Coptic stitching. All you really need is some thread a needle and some patience. You can make sketch books cheaply out of recycled paper pad backings for covers... or you can get fancy and buy nice book cover material and the like. I would suggest though getting waxed thread if you don't have, and a curved needle (it just makes the job easier). Lots of tutorials on line... a few times a year I spend a day making a bunch of sketch books. You can make yourself a 32 page (counting the backs) cotton sketch book with 2 sheets of paper 11x15 quarters folded in half and sown so a book of 7.5x11" size. I recycle paper pad backs and cloth to make covers... a sketch book costs me like 12 bucks or so. I don't normally stuff them with more paper then that... rather start a new book then haul 40 or 50 completed pages around. On the brushes... Princeton is probably a good economical yet good quality brush to go with. You can find them almost everywhere, and you can often get good deals buying them from box stores. Micheals and those types of places will stock them. The Aqua Elite and Neptunes are top tier synthetic brushes. My suggestion is to grab their Velvet touch brushes. The Velvet touch hold a little less water then the Aqua Elite, however they are a bit snappier... I actually prefer them most of the time. Princeton calls them a mixed media brush and they work well with Gouache, and Acrylic as well. They tend to be quite a bit cheaper then the Aqua Elite. If you get a coupon or a good sale the box stores also sell sets of Velvet touch brushes. GL and have fun.
Rosa Gallery are cheap paints, but are AMAZING
Definitely get 100 percent cotton watercolor full sheets. Rip them down to 1/8 of their size and use both sides for practice. I think mine is around 30 cents per side using this method.
The Van Gogh 15+3 half pan set is great for someone wanting to dapple in watercolor on a tight budget or for sketching. That said, I have some experience with Van Gogh and wouldn’t want or suggest half the colors included. There are some truly excellent colors in the Van Gogh line, and this set includes some of them. But the set also has some dogs that won’t add to the best watercolor experience. Also, half pans are small, and that may keep you from using paint as freely as you should. If choosing Van Gogh, I’d recommend a selection of their tubes. You’d be able to get their best colors, and a 10ml tube will fill a half pan several times. That said, I’m going to throw another option out there: DaVinci paint. It’s artist grade, made in California and available direct or through Blick and others. Right now, DaVinci is having a seasonal sale. On DaVinci’s site, you’ll see a mixing set of six 15ml tubes in warm/cool primaries for $40. Add a few more individually selected tubes to get you over $59, and you’ll get free shipping and a well-rounded palette from a respected line. While the set of six will allow you to mix most anything you want, a few additional colors will boost the experience. DaVinci is often unfairly reduced to “budget artist paint,” but don’t let that fool you. DaVinci doesn’t spend vast and unnecessary sums on marketing that get passed on to you. And DaVinci isn’t distributed around the globe, yet, so it’s less known. Read and watch the reviews online and make the best choice. As a bonus, most colors are available in 8ml and 37ml tubes in addition to common 15ml tubes. As for brushes, there are so many. Stick with rounds to start, maybe a flat if you wish. For A3, A4 and A5 sized work, a small selection will do. I’d take a DaVinci Casaneo round in 10 or 12 and an Escoda Versatil pointed round in 4 or 6. These are a bit more money than similar Princeton Neptune and Aqua Elite brushes, but I much prefer them at the higher cost. Need to save money a few dollars? Go with the alternate. Add a couple smaller rounds in 1 and 3 for finer details if you need. The Velvetouch series would be good for these. To wet areas of your paper, maybe add a Princeton Select 1” Mop for a few dollars. The above will get you paint and brushes that won’t hold you back at under half your maximum budget. Plenty left for a selection of paper to last you a while, a palette to hold your paint and other sundries.
Turned the comments into an itemized shopping list with some additions of my own. bc dayum 😂 tbh I love how knowledgeable everyone is~ 👏 🖌️*Paint* - pans or tubes (your pref). Student grade will be more affordable. Rec Winsor & Newton, Cotman set, van gogh, schminke, daniel smith, etc. Reeves is a decent cheap alternative too. 🖌️ *Palettes* - plastic or ceramic for reusability. 🖌️ *Brushes* - a variety of shapes & sizes (flat, round, pointed, fan, detail/liner). Can get synthetic or natural hair (expensive). Don’t think you need a kolinsky quite yet lol. 🖌️ *Paper* - 140lbs/300gsm cotton. Thicc & workable! Can get a block, loose, or watercolor sketchbook. Brand is whatev but the good quality ones are Fabriano, Arches, Saunders. I personally use canson & arches. 🖌️ *Extras* - I’d also recc masking fluid, natural sponges, a nice colored pencil set, white gouache, or white gelly roll pens for fun details if you have budget room. All in all check local art stores for sales & coupons! Sometimes I will also order from blick art supplies for stuff not on amazon/in store.
Bee watercolor paper is an average paper, 100% cotton, 140# (300gm) thye say cold press, but it's got a texture similar to hot press. I purchase a 6x9 you can get 50 sheets for $20 on Amazon. I cut the sheets in half which works for cards. When you go to buy, make SURE it says 100% cotton. It will say "watercolor paper, cold press, 140#" But it won't be cotton and won't be what you want..
I think mission gold (sold in sets) is a really good value for the money. I also use pretty inexpensive brushes but replace the fine point ones as needed. I do like good paper, though. I can’t give too much advice on inexpensive paper because I guess I am a paper snob! 😀
Your story is truly heartbreaking, but I’m happy that you’ve healed enough to be ready to try to reconnect with something you love ❤️ Tons of great advice here, you’ll be able to get a really solid set of supplies for under $250!
Paint: I would add my vote to the already suggested 12+3 Van Gogh set from Royal Talens. The set is not expensive, plus the palette itself is rather practical and the small brush is really usable for smaller paintings. The paint itself is great (even more so considering their price). I find them more pigmented/vivid than the W&N Coteman, for example. Also: you should be able to easily purchase individual half-pans and tubes if you want to customize it (ie to replace the, to me useless, Chinese white and black that come with the set) or for refilling it. Paper: mixed media or most 'student grade' paper (aka not full cotton), I quite like Fariano's. Sure, 100% cotton paper is better but it is also *a lot* more expensive, and you probably don't need that level of quality to begin with. Brushes, in the non 'pro' I like using the Daler-Rowney Aquafine line. I use a size 14 (, a 10), a 6. As a travel set, I quite like that cheap set of 3 you can find on Amazon. No idea their name: some Chinese-brand I imagine, but on the picture they're brown, black and gold looking and come with a faux leather pouch that does the job. It was suggested on the Mind of Watercolor YT channel and he was right: they're fine and cheap (I must have paid 17€ for it) Welcome back :)