These are some suggestions of the equipment you will find useful if you come to one of my classes. They are just suggestions though and with trial and error you will discover the things that work for you. I suggest students start painting with oils, however this list can easily be adapted for acrylics if desired.
A Palette – you can either use disposable palettes or a box palette. A box Pallet basically consists of a air tight box with a disposable palette in. Traditional wooden Palettes need to be wiped clean at the end of each session and so make for slightly more work – but they do provide more room for mixing and using palette knives
Brushes – A few flat Brushes is a good place to start – https://www.rosemaryandco.com/ Short flat (or ‘brights’) hog bristle brushes sizes 2, 6 and 10 and a synthetic rigger or fine small round brush. investment as well and a couple of palette knives
Medium – to dilute the paint you will need Turpentine. I use Turps Substitute from The Range or a hardware shop. I also use a medium either Liquin Original or my own mix (1:turps 2:linseed oil 1:stand oil)
A jam jar with a lid – you will need this to take the turps home. We cant put it down the sink afterwards.
Rags or Cloths – You will need these to clean your brush. It is an important part of oil painting. Cut up some old sheets or clothes works best.
Something to paint on – A canvas, canvas board or hardboard coated with gesso. Its good to work with standard sized that fit in frames. I get my boards cut at Underwoods in Felixstowe – you can pay on the phone and then pick them up, You will need to gesso them your self. Here are some sizes I have cut:
Sizes for Supports:
6″ x 6″ – (still life)
8″ x 10″
10″ x 12″
12″ x 16″ – Big (MDF
16″ x 24″ – Big (MDF)
Easel – I would suggest a desk easel, tripod easel or a French easel ( I use a half size french easel) worth shopping around. I also have a 10×12 Pochade box for outdoor painting
Paints
I suggest starting with Winton student quality oil paints. You can add to this as you go along
- Titanium White *
- Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue
- Permanent Rose
- French Ultra Marine
- Burnt Umber*
- Burnt Sienna
- Viridian Green
* Its worth buying big tubes of these at the beginning.
Additional Colours – these are nice to have but not essential
- Naples Yellow
- Orange
- Violet Hue
- Ivory Black
Other Items that are useful:
A good size box to carry it all from the car
A View Finder
A Table Cloth
Kitchen Roll
