Materials for oils and Acrylics

Materials needed for Oil Painting

• Palette
• Palette knife
• Small, medium and large artists' bristle brushes from art supply stores
• A two inch wide brush from the hardware store
• A one inch round brush from the hardware store
• Two tin cans, one large for cleaning brushes and one small for medium
• Artists' linseed oil and pure turpentine. Turpenoid in place of turpentine is better and is non toxic.
• Paper towels
• Easel or equal facility such as the wall * 1
• Charcoal and soft lead pencils
• Soft eraser 
• Maul stick * 2
• Canvas or panel * 3
• At least four colors. Large tube of white and smaller tubes of yellow, red and blue. * 4 Get more if you like. Purple and burnt sienna are good to have on board also.

*1 Painting in oils with canvas resting on the wall under a 40 watt daylight fluorescent tube together with LED lighting is ideal if painting at night. I don't use incandescent lamps as they produce glare and I cannot see the true color of my work. A simple wooden ledge screwed to the wall is all I use to support my canvas. LED daylight lights equal to 100 watts work very well and are better than fluorescent lamps. I use Sylvania.

*2 Maul sticks are used for the fine detailed work to keep your hand steady. They need not be elaborate. All you need is a pole such as a half inch tent pole with the rubber end on it. Perfect. Or you can make one from a 36 inch long half inch diameter hardwood dowel and put a rubber end on it.

*3 Stretched canvas is the generally accepted material for a painting if it is to be sold through agents or the galleries. However hardboard, or Masonite as it is called in the lumber trade, is also very suitable and better withstands bumping, wear and tear. Hardboard should be treated with at least three coats of non gloss paint or artists' Gesso and allowed to dry thoroughly before starting your picture. I have done many paintings using hardboard and gesso and sometimes just paint as a preparation for the surface.

If you use the back or rough side of Masonite the finished painting will look like high grade canvas. Hardboard or Masonite can be used behind canvas for larger paintings. The stretcher frame under the canvas on larger paintings tends to telegraph through to the painting surface. Using a panel between the stretcher frame and the canvas will solve the problem. Remove the canvas, install the panel using carpenter’s glue, then re-install the canvas.

* 4 The primary colors which are yellow, red and blue are all you need to paint a picture. Due to the impurities of the pigment in paint you will also need white. Mix them and see the colors, any color from these four. Using a smaller number of colors makes your work easier because it is easier to blend all your colors in harmony as you do the painting.

The same materials are needed if you paint in acrylics except use water instead of oil and turpentine or

Turpenoid. I use Turpenoid.....none toxic.