Wax crayons have long been a favorite of mine. These beeswax crayons from Stockmar, used widely by Steiner schools, have a lovely smooth consistency and rich, saturated colour. They aren’t cheap but I think they represent great value – they are fabulously sturdy and great for wax resist projects. These little tree doodles were done with the square crayons on scraps of paper – the thin strips of paper seemed to lend themselves to rows of trees!

The leaves and trunks are painted with Koh-I-Noor water colours from the Czech Republic in the Brilliant Set – these are intense, dye based paints that behave a little differently to regular watercolours but are great fun to paint with if you love really deep, inky colours. You can get them in a traditional paintbox format or in a handy circular stack. I like the white/cream plastic surround on the paintbox or stack – some come with a black surround that makes identifying the deep colours hard to do! If you’re wanting to buy these make sure you choose the “Brilliant” set. Enjoy!