Materials

Good artist materials are a worthy investment that will make a huge difference in the quality of your completed work. Do not fiddle too long with student grade supplies in any medium. They will be more difficult to use and will make you develop bad habits as an artist.

Take the time to read through this page in its’ entirety and know that when you buy professional supplies for the first time, you don’t need to overthink it. With a little experience you’ll figure out what works best for you.

*Scroll to the bottom for a simple starter supply list for oils & Acrlyics*

*Oils*

Oils have a much greater range of transparency/opacity than acrylics and therefore a larger recommended starting list. It would be best to start out with two sets of the three primaries, one transparent & one opaque + white brown & black

Recommended Brands:

RGH Artist Oil Paints (good quality paint that will save you a lot of money but must be ordered online)
Old Holland (highest quality big name paint brand. You’ll find it at the Rochester fine art supply store.)
Williamsburg
Michael Harding
Rembrandt

Example starter list:

Cadmium red (opaque)

Cadmium yellow (opaque)

Cerulean blue (opaque)

Alizarin Crimson (transparent)

Cobalt Yellow (transparent)

Ultramarine blue (Transparent)

Burnt umber, Carbon Black, Titanium white

Extended List:

Cadmium red, Transparent Iron Oxide Red, Quinacridone Magenta, Ultramarine Rose, Ruby Lak, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, Raw Sienna, Naples Yellow, Cobalt Yellow, Mars Yellow, Cerulean Blue, Phthalo Blue, Cobalt Blue, Prussian Blue, Manganese Blue ,Cobalt Violet, Manganese Violet, Ultramarine Violet, Caribbean Blue/ Phthalo Turquoise, Viridian Green, Grass Green, Chrome Oxide Green, Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Red Umber, Van Dyke Brown, Burnt Animal Bone Black, Carbon Black, Titanium white, Cremnitz white

Mediums in oils:

All you’ll need in order to oil paint is good quality linseed oil and turpentine. Some individuals are highly sensitive to turpentine and prefer odorless mineral spirits.

Other necessary tools:

A painter’s palette or palette paper

Jam Jars/ small mason jars for different mediums

Brush sleeve

For Mischtechnik only:

White Shiva Casein Or white Egg Tempera

Surfaces:

In oils, surfaces take on another dimension of variety in comparison to acrylics. For the purposes of starting out/ doing simple studies, working on acrylic primed store bought surfaces will do just fine.

If you want to do something more archival and professional, get linen rather than cotton, and go for higher quality panels such as the ampersand gessobord and utilize an oil based gesso.

DIY bulk painting surfaces:

Go to Home Depot, grab a 4x8’ piece of masonite hardboard, cut that into as many panels as you can dream of with a box cutter or table saw. Next apply a layer of acrylic matte medium to each one front and back (to seal it from moisture). Finally apply acrylic or oil based gesso to one side of each panel.

*Acrylics*

With just one of each primary color you can mix a limitless variety of hues in between. As a starting kit you’ll need one of each primary + Black, white & brown. Beyond that you can refer to my extended list or simply follow your intuition.

Recommended paint brand:

Golden Acrylics (Fluid, Open or Heavy Body)

Example starter paint list:

naphol red

Hansa Yellow medium

Ultramarine blue

burnt umber

mars black

titanium white

Extended List:

Titanium White, Titan Buff, Alizarin Crimson Hue, Azo Gold, Cadmium Yellow Light, Hansa Yellow Medium, Yellow Iron Oxide, Cadmium Red Light, Red Iron Oxide, Pyrrole Red Light, Quinacridone Magenta, Ultramarine Violet, Dioxazine Purple, Permanent Violet Dark, Interference Blue, Phthalo Blue, Turquoise (Phthalo), Ultramarine Blue, Primary Cyan, Jenkins Green, Mars Black, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Van Dyke Brown

Acrylic Mediums:

Acrylics Gloss Medium from golden or liquitex

Surfaces to paint on:

Any store bought panels or stretched canvases should do, keep in mind that you get what you pay for.

Buy a tub of good quality acrylic gesso and apply a few thin layers to your surfaces to increase its’ starting quality.

Other necessary tools:

Spray bottle

Sta-wet Pallet

small palette knife

brush sleeve

*Brushes - some general guidelines*

There are many different types of brushes and brands for a variety of different purposes. In general, rosemary&co is the best bang for your buck by far.

Synthetic brushes:

For acrylic & Oil paining
For transparent oil glazing
Less expensive
Great for hatching white casein or egg tempera when doing the mischtechnik

Natural hair brushes:

For oil painting only
Stiff bristles (hog hair) create more textured brushstrokes
Soft bristles (mongoose hair/ sable)create less texture but hold a lot more paint than synthetic brushes
More expensive than synthetics

FX brushes: