My materials
If you are curious about the materials that I use and very much recommend, here is a list to my favourites.
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Brushes
I love Escoda brushes, mainly their travel range, as they are super convenient to travel with, because they fold on themselves and really protect the tip.
This particular kit, I find very handy. The round brush is nice and chunky, so you can do really big washes or pre-wet the paper. In spite of its very big size, the tip always remains very sharp and can do quite a bit of fine detail.
The dagger is perfect for versatility: it is almost like having a rigger because of its very sharp tip but also can use it as a normal round brush.
The flat brush is perfect for shading and straight strokes.
They come with a handy little pouch to keep them together and protected.
ESCODA : SYNTHETIC WATERCOLOUR TRAVEL BRUSH : SERIES 1272 : BLACK SET OF 3
Paper
I have tried a lot of watercolour papers so far, but Canson Heritage seems to be the one I get on with the most and it is the one I certainly use for all of my commissions.
I have found it really hard to paint on non-cotton paper so this was the perfect option for me: 100% cotton, cold pressed and gummed on all sides so the paper remains nice and straight when finished.
CANSON : HERITAGE : WATERCOLOUR PAPER BLOCK : 300GSM : 23X31CM : 20 SHEETS : COLD PRESSED
Watercolour paints
WINSOR & NEWTON : PROFESSIONAL WATERCOLOUR : 14ML : IVORY BLACK
WINSOR & NEWTON : PROFESSIONAL WATERCOLOUR : 14ML : WINSOR RED DEEP
DANIEL SMITH : WATERCOLOUR PAINT : 15ML : NEW QUINACRIDONE GOLD : SERIES 2
DANIEL SMITH : WATERCOLOUR PAINT : 15ML : FRENCH ULTRAMARINE : SERIES 2
Ana originally studied Industrial Engineering and Product Design and ended up working designing products and processes for the Medical Device industry for more than 10 years, but she always had an enormous interest in creative and manual skills such as sewing, knitting, woodworking, photograph, and baking.
Over the pandemic, Ana picked up some brushes and decided to walk around the streets of South London to sketch buildings along the way, inspired by Urban Sketchers.
In 2021, she decided to pause her career in engineering to concentrate on illustration and become a full-time artist.
Since then, Ana has produced a series of more than 150 illustrations from buildings around London and even the rest of the UK, focusing on those which are the most meaningful to their communities.
Her work focuses on researching and illustrating the buildings and small businesses that are part of the fabric that forms a community, both old and new, as a snapshot in time.
