Oil Paint

Oil Paints are available in various qualities, ranging from student quality to professional and, even then, top-end professional oil paint. For the beginner, I recommend the Winton range from Windsor and Newton. It has excellent characteristics for a student-quality oil paint, which is great for a wide range of oil painting techniques.

The colours you will need to form a basic colour palette for our oil painting classes are:

Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue Hue, Magenta, Burnt Sienna
Scarlet Lake, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Lemon Yellow, Titanium White

Additional colours that we also use are: Alizarin Crimson, Cobalt Blue and Yellow Ochre

If you prefer to use a better quality paint, please look at either Windsor and Newton Professional or my personal favourite, Michael Harding’s Oil Paint. I love these paints, but beware, once you use them, you will never want to use any other brand of oil paint again. They have a very beautiful little Introductory Set available to whet your appetite.

A Flat Mixing Palette for Mixing Oil Paint

I use and recommend a palette called the New Wave Posh Grey by an American company, New Wave Palettes. The palette is made using tempered glass with the underside painted in a Mid-tone grey. This helps with mixing tonal values and colour ranges. It makes the tones and colours easier to see, giving you greater control over your colour and tonal mixing. It is an expensive item, but in my experience, it is worth the extra cost. My own palettes are now five-plus years old, and there is also a wooden version available, should you not like glass.

Both of these can be purchased in the UK from Jacksons Art Supplies: New Wave Posh Glass Palette in Grey (12″ x 16″)

Oil Painting Brushes

There are thousands of paint brushes on the market today, and traditionally brushes are how painters apply paint onto the painting surface. I’ve always recommended Rosemary Brushes to my students. They are superb quality paint brushes at an excellent price, and Rosemary manufactures the widest selection of paint brushes I have ever seen.

To get started, I have created a beginner’s Introductory Oil Painting Brush Set. These can be ordered directly from Rosemary Brushes either as a set or as individual brushes using the links below. The set contains:

Chris Mcloughlin’s Beginners Oil Painting Brush Set:

• Ivory Long Flat No. 9
• Ivory Filbert No. 6
• Ivory Filbert No. 3
• Ivory Pointed Round No. 2
• Mundy Mop 3/4
• Shiraz Filbert No. 5
• Diamond Shaped Palette Knife – Medium

A Painting Knife

Or Palette Knife. Like paint brushes, there are simply dozens on the market today. So to get started, I have always recommended the RGM Artists Palette Knife No.31. We also use the RGM Artists Palette Knife No. 109 and its little brother or smaller version, RGM Artists Palette Knife No. 103, but if this is your first painting knife, stick to the No.31.

A Painting Surface/Canvas

A painting surface is a prepared surface onto which we paint, the most common being a canvas, canvas board or panel. These surfaces need to be prepared for class in advance, with a coloured or neutral grey ground. Preparation here is vital, as these can take some time to dry. Most of my students prefer painting on canvas boards, as they are easy to prepare and store. Like brushes, there is a vast selection of these available, and you can purchase them at any craft or art supplies store or even on amazon. The Winsor and Newton canvas boards are great value for money. A 12″ x 16″/30cm x 40cm stretched cotton Canvas or 12″ x 16″/30cm x 40cm Canvas Board is perfect.

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Conte Crayon

It is a type of hard chalk pastel, which is much more robust in structure than willow charcoal. Very useful indeed for developing sketches and creating preparatory drawings on the painting surface/canvas. The white colour also doesn’t contaminate your oil colours when painting, unlike some pastels or most charcoals. I prefer the Conte Crayons Sticks, but many of my students like the Conte Pastel Pencils for drawing, as they find them easier to use for sketching. Either will do.

Conte Crayons Sticks Link

Conte Pastel Pencils Link

Painting Medium

An oil painting medium is used to thin or thicken the paint, depending on your technique. There are dozens of these on the market today, all with different functions from various manufacturers. For our studio-based oil painting classes, I recommend Micheal Hardings PM1, but you may wish to use an alternative such as Zest-it Clear Painting Medium (non-toxic) or the more traditional Cold Pressed Linseed Oil.

We will look at the mediums in more detail within the class.

A Medium Dipper

A small tin pot/tub or glass-type pot is used to hold and store painting medium or solvents. (Please do not use plastic unless it is specifically for painting mediums, as they can dissolve).

Artist’s Dipper with lid.

Kitchen Roll

Or Cotton Rags for Cleaning Brushes & Paint Cleaning. I prefer Blue Roll simply because I use rolls and rolls of the stuff, but an excellent disposable, absorbent kitchen towel/cloth is vital for cleaning after a painting session.

A small A5 Notebook and Pen/Pencil

For recording and taking notes during the classes. I am a great fan of the Moleskine Notebooks and Bic pens with the four colours.

Brush Cleaner

After your painting session, you will need a way to clean your oil painting brushes. There are a variety of great non-toxic brush cleaners available today. My preference is Zest-it.

(You will only need this if you plan to paint at home, as we have a brush wash in class).

Do not use white spirit or turpentine to clean your brushes. Both of these materials are corrosive and hazardous.