Get your supplies ready before you start painting. Good supplies don't make a good artist, but they sure make painting easier and more fun.
Select your paint, the colors, the surface you will paint on, the brushes you will use and items for cleanup.
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Winsor (a chemist) partnered with Newton, (an artist) to produce high quality paints that are chemically sound and beautiful, as well.
They are easy to use right out of the tube. They do not require the addition of any other mediums or thinners.
The paints are thinned with water, instead of solvents like turpentine or mineral spirits.
After painting, it is easy to clean up with only water.
They have the highest pigment load of all the student paints.
Student paints contain less pigment than the artists' paints, so they are less expensive.
They certainly are good for student learning and practice.
Oil paint pigments are combined with linseed oil. They take a long time to dry and they dry at various speeds, depending on the colors and the weather.
Alkyd colors all dry at the same rate with a
lovely soft sheen. They dry completely over night or within 24 hours maximum.
They
look like and handle just like oil paints. Alkyd paints may be used for underpainting or for an entire
painting.
Griffin Alkyds by Winsor & Newton have been my "oil painting supplies" since the 1980s, instead of the traditional slow drying oil paints.
You may want to start with a set of Gamblin Fastmatte Alkyd Oil Colors.
Gamblin is an American paint company noted for their environmentally friendly products.
Their set of fast drying alkyd paint includes seven selected colors, plus white.
A good place to start choosing colors is with the three primary colors; red, yellow and blue.
A warm and cool version of the three primary colors will give you mixing capabilities for any color you want in your paintings.
You will also need to add a large tube of white to your oil painting art supplies.
Titanium White is the recommended white for mixing and general painting.
A paper palette is very handy. When you are finished painting, just roll it up and dispose it.
Paper Palette
Paintings done with either canvas or hardboard panels will last for years. You can hand them down to your children and grandchildren.
Stretched canvas has a wonderful give and feel when you are painting on it.
Canvases come primed with gesso and ready for painting.
Gallery-wrap canvases are popular.
You paint the edges of the canvas that wrap around the stretcher bars. Then the painting may be displayed without a frame.
Hardboard panels don't take up as much space in storage.
Ampersand Gessobord panels have been archivally prepared and are ready to paint on.
Their smooth surface is suitable for fine details and glazing.
Yet they are sturdy enough for palette knife work and heavy paint applications.
Canvas panels are inexpensive and good for practice and student work.
The panels may warp after a period of time.
Paper may be used for sketches and student work.
Use a heavy paper like watercolor paper and prime with gesso to keep the paint from soaking into the paper.
Oil painting supplies should include the traditional hog hair brushes.
They are sturdy enough to move the oil paint around.
They are good for expressive paintings where you want the brush strokes to show.
Soft synthetic brushes or animal hair brushes are good for smoother paintings like portraits.
Their soft brush strokes don't leave ridges that show and they make blending easy.
You normally would have to thin the paint to use with soft brushes.
You may need a solvent to thin your paints for painting. Also, use it to clean your brushes between colors and when you finish painting for the day.
You may use a brush cleaner after painting to clean and preserve your brushes.
Turpentine is the traditional solvent used for oil painting. However modern artist use odorless turpentine or mineral spirits.
Gamsol odorless mineral spirits is considered safest for in the studio.
Gamsol odorless mineral spirits for in the studio.
Keep your solvent in a covered container when not in use.
Clean and preserve your brushes with Master's Brush Cleaner.
Good light and ventilation in your painting area
These oil painting supplies have produced a lot of good paintings for artists over the years.