Watercolour Equipment Suppliers

For Frequently Asked Questions regarding Art Equipment see the FAQ page! Here:   https://www.northernbeacheswatercolour.com.au/faq-equipment
AND for paint and brushes, check out my Paint shop first.  here:  https://www.northernbeacheswatercolour.com.au/paint-shop 
Jenny has over 30 years of experience purchasing and using Watercolour materials both on the Northern Beaches and further afield.   
Here are some of our favourite suppliers, some local suppliers and some products we love....
 

Art Smart - 50 Ethel Street, Seaforth.  ph. 9949 7477.
Website: https://artsmartartstore.com/ 
Location: on top of their Ethel Street gallery, access by driving up the steep driveway at the side.
My Students will recieve a 10% discount on mention of my class.   Owners, Sarah and Dave, will help you with anything you desire, and get in anything you need.  They carry all the good brands. So helpful and friendly.  Can't remember the colours you need? Sarah knows. Want a certain brush, or Want to try something different,  Sarah and her staff can show you so much fun stuff, it's like a candy store!  this independent art store has the most competitive prices on the northern beaches and you are welcome to ring them to check stock prior to a visit.  They can also post your art materials right to your door, you can order online or over the phone.  You can buy our paper, paints, brushes, palettes and more here.
The Art Shop Mona Vale - 12/20 Bungan Street, Mona Vale, NSW 2103 - ph 9979 6559
https://theartshopmonavale.com.au/
(Students will receive a 10% discount on mention of my class.) Mairi is extremely helpful and can order whatever you want. They have a large selection and carry all the good brands.   Plenty to explore in this store.
You can buy our paper, paints, brushes, palettes and more here. They carry plenty of Rosemary & Co brushes which I adore. They can organise delivery to your premises, so you don't have to go to the shop.  A wonderful store.
LarryPost.com.au - 6/51 Chard Road, Brookvale, 2100   8668 4247
https://www.larrypost.com.au/ 
An Online art materials business mainly focussing on travel art and sketching, however they have a huge amount of product of interest to us, including the lovely Nevskaya Palitra brand from White Nights.  This is not a retail outlet store, but a business outlet.  You can visit, but not browse.  Browse the products online first, then go down to see the items in person or to pickup your order.  They carry lovely artist quality equipment particularly Nevskaya Palitra brushes, the lovely Neef staywet 2 palette, Arches paper, gorgeous Rosemary & Co brushes, ink pens, ink, travel sketch materials. Owner Jenny will help you with whatever you need, and even try to get things in for you.  inks, pens, travel diaries, brushes. She's a wealth of info (like travel sketching? or Pen and wash? THIS is the place to come.)  LarryPost is a GREAT place to order some of your equipment online.
Eckersley's - Not /Not my favourite store due to it's 'big Company' nature, high prices, inaccurate sales and inadequate watercolour knowledge, but here is the address anyway for convenience 1/648 Pittwater Rd, Brookvale, NSW 2100  ph 8058 9491.(the most expensive option)
The Art Scene - 912 Victoria Road, West Ryde. Entrance is on Mulvihill street behind.
https://www.artscene.com.au/
Love Art Scene.   They are the wonderful people behind the "Mitchell/Art Scene School of Arts" which host great watercolour getaways in Bathurst biennially except during covid.  Both online and in store, a huge and great art shop in West Ryde.  You will find everything you need instore, and in their online store.  wonderful staff, Mel, Slade and the other ladies will endeavour to find anything you want.  They also have the Art Basics brand which is made there, and is a great, cheap option for lots of things.   It's GIANT.  It makes a fun day trip to the store.
They'll post, of course, if you want to order online.

OTHER ONLINE - try -
The Art shop - https://theartshop.com.au/
Senior Art - https://seniorart.com.au/
Jacksons Art - VIA MY paint shop - the best prices on W&N paint around. You'll save hundreds. 
and have your equipment delivered to your door!   
 
I know there are lots of other places, but until I experience them personally, I can't recommend.
 
SOME PRODUCTS & SERVICES WE LOVE:
 
Art Scene School of Arts: https://www.artscenemsa.com.au/
A biannual, week-long school of art workshops with some of the most revered artists in the world.
Taking place at Charles Sturt University in January and July, you can enjoy a valuable week of workshops with the likes of David Taylor, Chan Dissanayake or John Haycraft amongst others.  I have been here a number of times for the week.  It's wonderful, valuable, and an experience not to be missed. Hosted by the ArtScene art store.
 
Neef: https://www.neef.com.au/
Australian maker of Brushes and Palettes amongst other things.  Neef makes my favourite palettes, the lovely deep, strong and white lidded StayWet series, revered by many famous Australian Watercolourists.  You will also find Neef makes some of the best brushes in the world, amonst them my favourite flats the Robert Wade series 987 short flats, and the beautiful David Taylor Neef Kolinsky Sables series 2236.   You can buy these at the stores listed above. Check out their range.

Art Spectrum: https://artspectrum.com.au/
Australian makers of beautiful watercolour paint - strong and reliable and artist quality. Best of all they're very budget friendly compared to other brands.  (Only colours I avoid are the siennas.)  Have a look at the beautiful paint they make, as well as paper and palettes.

Rosemary and Co - https://www.rosemaryandco.com/
English makers of the gorgeous Series 33 Kolinsky sables, and a bunch of fabulous other brushes including their travel brushes and daggers. Try not to drool as you browse their website. 

Winsor & Newton - https://www.winsornewton.com/au/       
British makers but with a huge worldwide presence, probably the worlds most used watercolour paint, and certainly oldest makers.  Beautiful, pure pigment in dazzling colours and a dizzying array to choose from. Check out their catalogue of paint pigments. Then try to resist. They make the best Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna I have found.  W&N often have very good sales in Australia, so wait for a 25% off to buy yourself a HUGE tube of something.  The bigger the tube the more economical. W&N watercolours come in 3 sizes, 5ml, 14ml and the fab and gigantic  37ml. (I buy my siennas in the large size, as well as French Ultra.)
 Buy it from HERE.  

Nevskaya Palitra - https://www.nevskayapalitra.ru/katalog/
Russian makers of my favourite squirrel mop (for beginners), available at Larry Post. They also make delicious kolinsky sable brushes, and best of all are a fantastic price!!  Check out their catalogue but also Larry's for the ones available in a hurry.

Arches Paper - https://www.arches-papers.com/our-papers/arches-aquarelle-watercolour-paper/
French makers of 100% cotton watercolour paper since 1492!!!
My favourite brand of watercolour paper, being the most student friendly. Oh, yes it's quite expensive, but try to buy it when there's a sale, and in bulk of 10 sheets (if you can get through that in 2 years).
Have a look at this youtube of how it's made: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2yzJAcq6Xg

Art Smart Framing:-  https://artsmartartstore.com/
just a reminder that Art smart can take care of all your framing needs too.  They've been doing it for decades, and the boys who work to frame your masterpieces are masters themselves. 

Jacksons Art -  https://www.jacksonsart.com/en-au/  have an astonishing array of watercolour equipment not readily available in Australia.  Based in London, but with an Australian website, it is very fast, very reliable, and excellently priced to buy online.   See Jackson's on my PAINT SHOP under the equipment list tab. 

Escoda - https://www.escoda.com/ - I'm a fan of SOME of the lauded Escoda brushes.  it's a fun website to browse.  But you can buy most ESCODA BRUSHES super cheap in the PAINT SHOP. 

Cheap Joes Art Stuff: https://www.cheapjoes.com/ - an American store based in Wisconsin, USA.  Recently I bought a gorgeous easel from there....it arrived in a week!! (during Covid, so that's pretty good!)  Not super cheap for the postage, but they have a lot of things you can't get elsewhere, and postage will be remunerant to the item you buy...my easel was big, so the shipping was big.   Want to know about my easel?  It was the EnPlein Air Advance Series Pro. (fab!!!)
 

If YOU have any discoveries - great places to buy watercolour equipment, or sales on, let us know! We'll publish it!