Tutorials

Materials for Oil Painting

When buying materials and setting up your palette, you will need this list of pigments. If it says 'HUE' that is not a pure pigment. It looks the same, but it will NOT mix or thin predictably. Sometimes they are hard to find, so if all else fails, choose something of the same color below that has a high pigment concentration. Pure pigments are also much stronger, and thus, you don’t use as much of them, so they are cheaper in the long run.

  Finding pure pigments is a challenge. You will notice that with any brand, there will be a few pure pigments, and many mixes and hues.  You will have to hunt down the pure pigments, and in the end you will wind up with a handful of different brands.

When you buy lemon yellow try to find one that DOES NOT contain Cadmium-Barium, and it should be very light-almost greenish. Also buy a tiniest tube of cadmium yellow-light (hardly used but sometimes what you need) and a tube of Titanium White

The Traditional Pigments

You will note  that each basic color comes in two's. There will be a dark red, and a bright red. Or a dark green and a light green. These have nothing to do with more added white or yellow to make them lighter. If you were to thin these pure colors out to almost nothing with a clear medium, they would STILL be a dark green and a light green.

And do NOT buy any black.

Thinners

A quart can of the cheapest Turpentine (not white spirits) from the hardware store for cleaning brushes. This stuff smells pretty strong, but if you can smell it you’ll know if your workspace is well-ventilated. There are also a number of scent-less turpentine’s and some citrus solvents. Try to find only pure turpentine and not alternative solvents, which can react with your paints.

A quart wide -mouth can with lid for brush cleaning. (small coffee can is ok, sealing paint can is better) I always make a screen step about 1/2 way down the can. This lets you clean the brush without stirring up all the sediment at the bottom of the can.

Medium

We’ll make our own. A small bottle (2.5oz or so) from the art store of purest Distilled Turpentine. Also a small bottle of Damar Varnish, and a small or medium bottle of Stand-Oil. And a small bottle of Retouch Varnish. If you already have some kind of medium, that’s ok for now. Otherwise ind an empty bottle with cap (16oz) for storing medium (an empty glass cooking-oil bottle is perfect) and a baby-food jar or cat food tin (lids too) for working medium.

Combine all these ingredients in equal parts 1/3 of each.. This is always the medium you start a new painting with (even if you have leftover working medium) and every time you start a new layer of paint (or each day you paint) you add a few additional drops of Stand Oil to your "working" medium. So always start a new painting with a working medium container that has an ample supply for the project.

Medium helps your pigments flow, but it also binds and seals the pigments in place and prevents them from oxidizing. It prevents chemical reactions from forming between layers of reactive pigments. Medium also basically "glues" all the pigments together and makes a strong flexible painting. You should use just enough to enhance the workability of your paint. If using it for glazing, make the layers as thin as possible. More about the structure of painting in the "Painting tutorials"

The reason for adding the Stand Oil to your "working medium" is for proper structure and to prevent cracking. Imagine for a moment your painting enlarged until the paint layers resemble sheets of mud on cardboard. Now imagine rolling the cardboard up with the mud on the inside and unrolling it again. You will know that the mud will  be cracked and compressed after unrolling it. Then imagine if you had rolled it with the mud on the outside. After unrolling it will have much less damage but will still be cracked. By adding the Stand oil to the outside layers paint, you are making the topmost layers more flexible, and that prevents the paint pigments cracking.  When storing rolled canvases, always roll them on a large cylinder with the painted surface facing out.

Brushes

Oil brushes are unnervingly big (because oil paint is thick) and the painting process wears them out kind of fast, so don’t buy the best ones. The cheapest ones shed bristles, but for really big brushes that’s what I use (if it’s big enough to get your fingers onto the bristles). The smallest brushes for little detail: just look for something a little stiff for a good price. I often use watercolor and ink brushes for the little ones.

Regular/medium stiff brushes. These should be somewhat stiff, light in color, synthetic or natural. They don’t need very fine tips.
            a couple of round no.8’s
            one other smaller round brush.
            one ¾” flat brush
            one 1 ¼” flat brush

Softer brushes
            one ½” to ¾” flat ‘Bright’ (chisel or narrow tip) brush. Something like a firm
                    watercolor brush or calligraphy brush.
            one ½”  Filbert in a soft material. For soft blending. Or you can sacrifice a round      
                     watercolor brush for this.

Scrubbing brushes
            an old 1 ½” house paint brush is good, or any large cheap, shaggy artists brushes

Palette knife. Buy the one that looks like you would use it for spreading frosting on a cake, not the trowel type. It should be really thin and flexible, and the shape and size (or a little smaller) of your index finger.

Dish soap is ok for washing brushes, or buy a cake (like a shaving cream cake) of General Pencil’s ‘Master brush cleaner and preserver’ This stuff is worth the cost; it will salvage brushes that accidentally dry out, and it will help your brushes last until they wear down to nubs.

Paint Palette and Canvas

Start with the disposable book of paper palettes unless you have something else. It should be at least 9x12 or bigger. Be sure to bring Saran wrap.

Canvas. Go with cheap for now. Even the canvas paper is ok. Buy bigger rather than smaller, at least 18 or 20”. If you have old canvas kicking around, we can gesso over it. Gesso'd cardboard is ok too. It’s nice to have a large drawing board to tape things to.

Other tutorials will cover making your own canvases and guilding for frames.

A standing easel or table top easel; the aluminum table easels are ok. Think about if you will stand or sit; the canvas should be at eye-level when possible. It’s usually easier to stand or have a stool. Stand-up easels which have a wide range of height adjustment (long center board) are the best. When buying an easel, shake it vigorously. Buy a sturdy one.

All of this except the easel, canvas and palette can fit into two shoeboxes.

Tons of Rags, clothes pins or clamp paper clips, disposable latex gloves, paper towels, Saran wrap, masking tape, and q-tips.

Wear old clothes or a smock. Bring a water bottle or drink but never eat while you are painting.

depending on where you shop, and if you buy a large or small easel, and whether you buy cheap or expensive brushes, materials will run $100-$200

A sturdy wooden stand-up easel should cost $80-120.     Sturdy aluminum table-top easel $20.

                                                                                  
Jess Bates
PO Box 497 Aspen CO 81612
Reproduction allowed with attribution

www.jessbates.com
jessbates (at) gmail.com