But that’s exactly what happened with my Sakura Koi watercolor brush. I’d brought it with me on a swimming trip to a pond not far from my parents’ house in Connecticut.

I’ll paint the same floral design twice, first I’m showing you the WRONG way, and then we’ll go over the RIGHT way to use your brush and capture beautiful, lively watercolors on the page!

1. Sakura Koi Watercolors At the top of our list sits this set from Japanese brand Sakura, which comes with everything you need to start painting, save for paper.