PAINTS & PALETTE:
If you are going to be serious about watercolor, you need to have good paints(pigments). If you are only going to paint once in awhile and will be unable to keep your paints from drying out between painting sessions, then you should get pan (semi-moist) watercolors.
Note that your paints will still be usable even if they are dry - just spritz a little distilled water over the surface about five minutes before you want to use the paints - the water will soften up the surface enough for you to pick up color with your brush. Letting your paints dry in the palette causes more wear on your brushes, as you have to scrub the surface of the paint to pick up color. But the paint is still perfectly usable.
You will need some kind of palette to keep your paint in and use for mixing colors. If you are an artist that likes to have only freshly squeezed paint, your palette could be as simple as a white china or plastic picnic plate. If you like putting the whole tube in a palette well, and covering it between painting sessions, I recommend the white plastic palettes with lids. The lids keep the paint clean and also from drying out between painting sessions, especially if you put a wet piece of thin sponge in the mixing well before you put the lid on. Squeeze out enough paint to nearly fill each well if you are using oftenly. If you are not going to paint daily, you may only want to squeeze out a quarter of a tube. Don't be skimpy. Nothing is more frustrating than running out of paint half way through a wash!
