Ron self-portrait

Painting Materials List

I taught painting for about a dozen years. Here's what I advised my students to buy for supplies. Your mileage may vary.

Oils or Acrylics?

Paint

Suggested minimum palette (alternates listed on the same line)
  • Titanium White (large tube)
  • Ivory Black/Mars Black/Black Iron Oxide
  • Burnt Sienna
  • Burnt Umber
  • Ultramarine Blue
  • Napthol Red Light
  • Pthalocyanine Green (aka Pthalo or Thalo Green)/Viridian
  • Cadmium Yellow Med or Light/Hansa Yellow/Aso Yellow
  • Yellow Ochre/Iron Oxide Yellow
Useful additions
  • Pthalo Blue/Prussian Blue
  • Cadmium Red Light
  • Alizarin Crimson

For the Oil Painter:

  • Turpentine/Mineral Spirits
  • Closed container for storage of solvent
  • Painting rags
  • Oil Painting Medium (unless you have a favorite, I recommend Winsor Newton's Liquin)

For the Acrylic Painter:

  • Container for water
  • Acrylic painting medium

Ground

Obviously, you'll need something to paint on. This becomes a matter of personal preference. Some of your choices are as follows:
  • Primed paper (acrylics)
  • Primed hardboard (oils or acrylics)
  • Primed canvas (oils or acrylics)

Brushes

An assortment of brushes is useful - the following should be considered essential
  • No. 12 white hog bristle
  • No. 6 white hog bristle
  • No. 2 white hog bristle
  • Large (2-3 inch) house painter's brush (for priming)
Generally speaking, unless one is a watercolorist, one can paint one's whole life without owing a single sable brush of any kind. Save your money. It is not considered a luxury to have more than one brush in any given size.

Additional tools (for both acrylics and oils)

The following will be needed regardless of which medium you choose:
  • Acrylic gesso
  • Palette (to mix on) - old dinner plates work well for oils and acrylics; the traditional wood palette works okay for oils; styrofoam plates or clean meat trays (large) also work well.
  • Painting rags
  • Paper towels
  • Sturdy box to lug stuff in (fishing box works well)
  • Bar of soap (to clean brushes)
  • If working on paper, plan to have a board for backing and a portfolio for storage

Other

In the first few sessions we often do some quick drawings as a warmup exercise. Grab a cheap 18 x 24 newsprint pad and a couple of sticks of charcoal.

You will find there is lots of other stuff you can buy and use, but generally the above list will serve you well.

The question:

Q:   Should I paint in oils or acrylics?

A:   Good question, and I have a lousy answer. A weasely, evasive answer.

It depends.

If you are a first time student, and have no paints yet, I would recommend working in acrylics. They dry faster, which makes contending with your paintings at the end of each class session easier; they can be cleaned up with water; because they dry faster, one can overpaint much more quickly.

That being said, if you already own oils, or have access to a set of them (yes, I know buying a whole new set of paints is expensive), or you have worked with oils in the past and prefer them, or you just really, reaallly want to paint in oils, then by all means....work in oils.