I bought a set of watercolor paints from Michaels a couple of days ago - I think it was around $15 for 18 tubes. They weren't the most expensive set or the best quality paints, by any means, but they work. I used to paint years ago, before marriage and children (a LONG time ago!), and since I've just gotten into rubber stamping, I thought I would start painting again, too - a little bit, anyway - I still have children at home, after all - time doesn't exactly weigh heavily on my hands, you might say. Ha, ha!
Anyway, you really need to be careful with the amount of liquid you have on your brush with watercolor paint, especially if you aren't using heavy watercolor paper to paint on. Thin your paint out with water, then dab it on a paper towel before painting, or you will saturate your paper and cause it to wrinkle badly. You will probably want to thin it considerably before painting - those round plastic paint holders with the smaller individual paint "cups" work really well to hold your paint - you can get them at Michaels, too - I think they are a dollar or so.
I like to use the watercolor crayons - I bought a non-SU set at a store awhile back. I just wet my paintbrush, then get the tip of the crayon wet, and transfer the color that way. I know it's not the conventional technique, but I like it and it works for me.
I would have to say I prefer using the crayons over watercolor paints just because there is less prep time involved in painting and it's easier to get a consistent color and look. But you can certainly get good results with paints as well.
With paints you can change the shades by mixing paint - the downside to that, of course, is that it's harder to duplicate if you didn't mix enough the first time or if you want to make another card exactly the same.
I don't know that this answers your original question, but I hope it helps!
Watercoloring tips?
