Congratulations on taking your first steps into the world of oil painting! As a fellow artist who is hooked on this medium, I am looking forward to bringing you a beginner guide to getting started in oil painting. If you start with the right supplies you will find it easier to unlock your artistic potential. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover everything a beginner needs to dive into oil painting, from the basic paint kit and quality options on a budget to essential mediums, canvases, cleaning tools, and more. So, let’s get into it.
The basic paint kit
Your artistic palette begins with the colors that will breathe life into your creations. Here are the essential colors you’ll need for oil painting:
- Titanium White: A must-have for mixing and lightening other colors.
- Cadmium Yellow: Warm and vibrant, perfect for sunny hues.
- Cadmium Red: Rich and bold, ideal for passionate tones.
- Alizarin Crimson: A versatile red for creating lovely purples and pinks.
- Ultramarine Blue: Deep and intense, the cornerstone of beautiful blues.
- Viridian Green: A cool green for foliage and serene landscapes.
- Burnt Umber: Earthy and versatile, excellent for grounding your paintings.
- Ivory Black: Great for tinting as it doesn’t overwhelm the other colours due to it’s semi-transparency.
Depending on where you are in the world, you may also want to get other colours. For example, here in Australia, with our earthy reds and brilliant blue skies and water you may consider burnt sienna, cerulean blue and yellow ochre. However, the basic colours listed will give you a large range of colours to start with.
High Quality Paints and Budget Options
Investing in quality paints ensures a smoother painting experience, but budget-friendly options are available too. These are generally fine to start with. The main differences are in the ratio of pigment to binder. Budget paints generally have less pigment and more binder.
- Professional Grade: Opt for renowned brands like Winsor & Newton, Old Holland, and Gamblin, known for their high pigment concentration and consistency.
- Student Grade: Brands like Daler-Rowney and Grumbacher offer more affordable options without compromising on quality, perfect for beginners.
Essential Mediums
Mediums enhance your oil painting experience, allowing you to achieve various effects:
- Linseed Oil: The most common and versatile medium, adding gloss and depth to your paint.
- Stand Oil: Slower drying than linseed oil, ideal for glazing and achieving smooth surfaces.
- Galkyd Gel: Accelerates drying time, great for layering and impasto techniques.
- Gamsol or Odorless Mineral Spirits: A solvent to clean your brushes and thin paint.
There are many other mediums, but these are the basics. From the list, my recommendation is to at least have Stand Oil (or lean medium) and Gamsol/mineral spirits. You may not need the others until you have learnt how best to use them.
Canvas
Choosing the right canvas is vital for a successful oil painting. There are also many other surfaces suitable for oil painting but the most convenient and easy to obtain are the first two listed below.
- Stretched Canvas: Convenient and ready to use, available in various sizes and qualities. You can also obtain it from many different places such as stationery suppliers, craft stores, and of course art stores.
- Canvas Panels and canvas papers: Affordable and suitable for practice and studies.
- Canvas Rolls: Versatile and cost-effective, allowing custom sizing and framing.
You don’t need to feel constrained by these basic supply lists, and by all means, go try something if you want to … experimentation will teach you a lot more than just sticking to the generally accepted ‘rules’!
Essential Tools
Your oil painting kit is not complete without some essential tools:
- Brushes: Refer to my recent blog on brushes to select the perfect ones for your needs.
- Easel: A sturdy easel provides proper support and enhances your painting experience. You can start with an inexpensive one that just provides a support to rest your painting on. Table top easels are also a good and inexpensive place to start. Once you know how you like to paint, you can start to look for the option that suits your style of working best.
- Palette knife: A palette knife is really handy for mixing your paint, and can also be used to paint with, so it’s a great and inexpensive tool to add to your kit.
- Palette: The palette is essential to enable you to mix your paint and to be able to see the colours you need for your painting. There are several types of palettes from wooden and glass to plexiglass and disposable. Initially a disposable palette would be a cheap and easy option. But, you may have something around home that you can repurpose for a palette. I have found old glass cutting boards are excellent if you place white paper underneath them.
Cleaning and Cleanup
Maintaining your supplies and workspace is essential for setting up an artistic practice that enables you to work without stress and hassles. You are able to just walk in to your space and start, which is one of the major ways to beat procrastination as an artist.
Here are a few tips:
- Mineral Spirits: Use this solvent to clean your brushes effectively.
- Jars: Recycled jars and plastic containers can hold mineral spirits and mediums.
- Rags: Use rags for wiping brushes, cleaning paint, wiping paint from the canvas and so on. I’ve found that a good source of rags in house painters suppliers, who provide bags of white rags really cheaply.
- Baby wipes: Baby wipes are really useful to clean yourself up if you get paint on you, if you get medium or solvent on you, and also for cleaning palette knives and palettes.
- Brush holders: You can get portable brush sleeves in case you need to take brushes anywhere. I also have pots or old vases to hold my brushes in the studio.
With this comprehensive guide to oil painting supplies, you are well-equipped to embark on your artistic journey. Remember that the journey of an artist is as unique as the art you create, so experiment and explore. Whether you choose the finest professional paints or opt for budget-friendly options, the awesomeness of oil painting is waiting for you. So, let your creativity flow and paint the canvas of your dreams!
Check out my blog on why I’m hooked on oil painting.
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