🎨 First Impressions: Winsor & Newton Aqua Drop in Magenta

One of my favorite things about being an artist is discovering materials I’ve never worked with before. Thanks to completing the June SketchBox School project, I received a bottle of Winsor & Newton Aqua Drop in Magenta, and this was my first experience using liquid watercolor.

Going into the review, I expected it to behave much like the pan and tube watercolors I’ve been using for years. Instead, I quickly realized I was working with something entirely different. The consistency is much more like an ink, flowing effortlessly from the dropper with intense, vibrant color and incredible transparency.

Rather than trying to force it into my usual watercolor techniques, I spent the session simply experimenting. I tested flat washes, watched it bloom across wet paper, doodled loose florals, and tried it on different surfaces just to see how it behaved. Sometimes the best way to learn a new medium is to let yourself play.

My biggest takeaway is that this isn’t a replacement for traditional watercolor. It’s its own medium with its own strengths. I can already imagine using it for botanical illustrations, expressive line work, mixed media, or with a dip pen for beautifully saturated ink drawings. It’s definitely a product I’ll be revisiting as I gain more experience with liquid watercolor.

One of the reasons I enjoy SketchBox so much is that it encourages me to step outside my comfort zone and experiment with supplies I might never have picked up on my own. Even when I don’t master a material on the first try, every experiment teaches me something new.

Have you ever worked with liquid watercolor? I’d love to hear your favorite techniques and any tips you have for someone just getting started!

🎨 @getSketchBox introduced me to this beautiful medium through SketchBox School, and I’m looking forward to exploring it even more in future projects.