My Favorite Supplies

Welcome!

Over the past several years of painting with gouache, I’ve tried a wide range of materials. Along the way, I’ve developed a collection of favourites that consistently give me great results and let me focus on getting the most out of my creative time.

In Get Gouachey, I often switch up supplies so everyone can follow along with what they have on hand, but this page highlights the tools I personally reach for again and again. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your kit, here’s everything I love the most.

Each tutorial on my site lists the specific colors, brushes, and paper I use, so you're never left guessing. But if you want to peek inside my supply drawer, this page gathers all my top picks in one place.

My Everyday Brushes

This one is the easiest, I’ve been using the same basic brushes for a few years now- only the earliest Get Gouachey tutorials have a few different ones.

I use Kingart Original Gold Series, and my favorites are:

  • 1/2” angled shader

  • size 8 filbert

  • size 4 round

  • size 2 liner

I find this selection of shapes and sizes covers 98% of my painting needs.

TIP: When you’re looking for brushes, choose ones designed for acrylic paints- they make it easier to manage the water content of the paint and are a little firmer and easier to control.

Kingart have very kindly bundled my favourite brushes together to make shopping easier. You can find them here. You can also use my affiliate code to save an extra 10%: RUTHWILSHAW10

Best Gouache Paints for Beginners (and My Favourites)

If If you’re just starting out, the Winsor & Newton 6-Piece Mixing Set is my top recommendation. It has great pigment, is easy to mix, and excellent quality. The colours included in the set mix a wide range of secondary and tertiary colours; perfect for trying out a range of tutorial styles.

Once you’re ready to expand your palette, here are my most-loved colors:

Winsor & Newton:

  • Cobalt turquoise light

  • Prussian blue

  • Opera rose

  • Brilliant purple

  • Winsor green

M. Graham:

  • Payne’s gray (a favorite alternative to black)

  • Burnt sienna

  • Yellow ochre

Looking for a budget-friendly option?

  • Arteza and Himi jelly gouache offer a great color range and are lovely to paint with. I used the Arteza set for my first year, and you can absolutely make beautiful art with them.

Tip: Buy the best quality you can afford. I would rather have a small set of high quality paints than lots of lesser quality paint!

Sketchbooks & Paper I Trust

I sometimes paint in sketchbooks and sometimes on loose paper. Some techniques work better on a cotton surface, and I always add this in the lesson information where relevant so you can decide what you want to use.

My favorites:

  • Etchr Cotton Sketchbooks - I love the white canvas covered sketchbooks and I normally get these in a cold-presse, size A6.

    This is the perfect size for working on small projects but allows room to work across a double-page spread if you want to paint something larger.

  • Hahnemühle Watercolour Sketchbooks - I love both the cotton and non-cotton watercolor sketchbooks from Hahnemuhle. Their non-cotton watercolour paper is one of the few surfaces I've found that can handle some of the soft blending techniques as well as a cotton surface.

  • Hahnemühle Bamboo Mixed Media Paper – This is one of my favourite loose papers to work with. It is a little smoother than a regular cold-pressed cotton, but it handles blending and layering so beautifully.

TIP: For the best results, look for cold-pressed paper, 200gsm or higher, and cotton if your budget allows. Cotton paper makes layering and blending so much easier, but it's not essential to get great results.

Extras That Make a Difference

These things are not essential but help to make my painting experience more enjoyable every time:

  • A white charcoal pencil- I use this to add outlines over painted backgrounds, add tiny white highlights or other small details, and anywhere that working with a brush might be too fussy.

  • Reusable palettes- For mixing my colours, I use a thin sheet of clear acetate- sometimes sold as report covers. These are inexpensive and easily washed, plus they lay nice and flat on your desk.

  • Two water jars- I always paint with two water jars and mostly try to split them between warm and cool colours to avoid contaminating my paints.

  • Scotch Magic Tape- If you want to tape off the edges of your paintings, this tape works like magic! I always stick it to the inside of my forearm first before applying to the paper to reduce the sticky, and I've never had any damage peeling it off the page when I'm done.

  • A fluffy mop brush- This is my secret weapon for smooth blending. You can use an artist's mop brush or any fluffy eyeshadow brush.

I hope this helps you feel more confident gathering your supplies and diving in! But remember you don’t need the perfect supplies to make beautiful work. Use what you have, add bits as you go, and most of all… enjoy the process.

Happy painting!

Ruth x