Painting Supplies List
For your convenience, I've compiled a list of the recommended painting supplies that I regularly use. I hope this helps save you time and money! Each of these products links to Blick, Michaels, or Amazon, whoever has the lowest price. (Please note that this page contains affiliate links. Click here to see my affiliate link disclosure.)
Supports

Specs: cotton, 10 oz primed, variety of depths, acid free.
Note: if you are looking for something even sturdier and with a smoother surface ideal for realistic work, check out the Masterpiece Tahoe and Elite Heavyweight canvases also listed here.

Specs: cotton, 14.6 oz primed, 1.5 inches deep, archival and acid free.
Note: these canvases are about 2-3 times the price of the Blick Premier canvases. They are definitely worth the money depending on what you are working on and where your painting might end up. If you aren't sure what canvas is the best fit for what you are trying to accomplish, go to a speciality art store and talk to someone there and tell them what you want to do. Take canvases off of the shelves and compare them, see how they are constructed and how the different surfaces feel.

The Elite canvases are about twice the price of the Tahoe canvases. If you are looking for a very smooth linen canvas surface of the highest quality, go with the Masterpiece Elite Portrait Smooth Linen canvases.
Specs: linen, 18.3 oz primed, 1.5 inches deep, archival and acid free. Suitable for oils and water mixable oils.
Note that there is also an acrylic primed version of this canvas, which is suitable for both acrylic and oil paint.

Note: Masterpiece offers other acrylic primed and oil primed cotton and linen canvas panel options. The Malibu, Ventura, Poiters Artfix, and Pau Artfix panels all have a lovely smooth finish. If you would like a medium texture, try the Santa Cruz panels. Be sure to choose the correct ground (i.e. acrylic primed or oil primed) based on the medium or mediums that you intend to use.

Side note: the quality and durability of hardboard panels, like Ampersand’s, are praised as a painting support by Mark David Gottsegen, author of The Painter’s Handbook and former Chair of the ASTM. He wrote:
“Hardboard panels are made of shredded, compacted, and compressed wood fibers. The fibers are burst apart under steam pressure, and the resulting pulp is formed into sheets. Only the natural adhesive found in the wood - lignin - holds the mass together. The method of manufacture produces a dense, one-layer substitute for solid wood that does not have a pronounced grain. The panels are therefore less likely to warp and are resistant to penetration by atmospheric moisture.”

Note for those using unprimed hardwood or hardboard panels, apply sealer (Golden Gloss Medium) prior to applying gesso. Learn more here: https://ampersandart.com/full/priming-wood-panels-with-acrylic-gesso-or-oil-grounds
Note for those planning to paint with oils on top of acrylic gesso: over time oil paint becomes more brittle and less flexible than acrylic paint. If you are painting on a non-rigid support like a canvas the difference in flexibility may cause the oil paint layer to separate. This tends to be less of an issue with rigid supports such as hardboard. Golden maintains that their acrylic gesso is a perfectly fine foundation for oil painting and suggests applying at least three coats of gesso to control the penetration of oil paint.
Learn more here:
https://education.goldenpaints.com/technicalinfo_oil_over_acrylic
And here:
https://www.goldenpaints.com/technicalinfo/technicalinfo_gesso



Note: this paper has a slight texture. If you want a super smooth surface, go with the Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper.
Brushes & Mediums
If you're curious about what oil paint colors to use, I have created a chart of what I consider to be the best pigments available. You can access that chart and download it as a PDF here.
There are over 100 paints listed on that chart. You won’t need all of them. To simplify things, I’ve also created a couple of example palettes below. The first one is for anyone looking for a basic set of colors to get started with. The second lists the colors that I use to paint wildlife. I encourage you to test out different colors and different brands to get a sense of what you like.
Example Palette #1 (limited or beginner’s palette with just 8 colors)
Example Palette #2 (the 14 colors currently on my palette)


Winsor and Newton also makes a student-grade line called Winton, which is not meant for professional artists but can be fine for beginners.

Other lines to look at include:
- Blockx
- Daniel Smith
- Gamblin
- Grumbacher
- M. Graham
- Old Holland
- Rublev
- Schmincke Mussini
- Sennelier
- Williamsburg
When you're looking around, keep in mind that more expensive does not necessarily equate superior quality when it comes to artist lines of oil paints (all artist lines are meant to be professional-grade). It's more about your preferences.

Notes: safflower oil and linseed oil both slow down drying times, which can be good or a pain depending on what you are trying to accomplish. It’s generally not recommended to mix very much stand alone oil or any other medium in with oil paint. Also be sure to follow the fat-over-lean principle for best long-term results (i.e. the thinnest and least oily layer of paint should be on the bottom and the thickest and/or oiliest layer of paint should be on the top).
It’s also a good idea to get a designated oily metal trash can to dispose of rags or paper towels that are saturated with oil and oil paint. I have a good option listed below.

Notes: I've noticed that this line dries more quickly than the Artists' Oil Colours. I have found that certain water mixable colors, like raw sienna and burnt umber, dry more quickly - easily within a day - whereas the Artists' colors don't dry as quickly, which I prefer for realistic work. If you use water to dilute the water mixable colors they will dry even faster. The reason that I mostly use this line for abstract paintings is because I think their ability to turn into a watercolor type paint lends them to interesting applications.
I would not use water-mixable oil paint and traditional oil paint in the same painting because the linseed oil in water-mixable paint has been altered to become hydrophilic (allowing it to accept water), which makes it chemically incompatible with traditional oil paint.



The Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper works very well with these crayons and is also listed here. Have a good pencil sharpener on hand to keep the tips pointy.
You can also use these crayons on canvases. A rep from Caran d'Ache told me:
"Neocolor II works very well on both cotton and linen canvases. You
can easily set it if you have applied it with a brush.
If you dissolve the Neocolor II like a watercolor or gouache and paint
it onto the canvas, the best thing to do is to let it dry. Then you can
heat set it with an iron, which makes it permanent.
Remember to place a piece of scrap cloth on the painting as to not stain your iron. You also want to put something under the piece itself, so
that any your ironing board doesn't get stained. This techniques works extremely well.
However, always do a test first with a piece of scrap canvas, to insure
that you are happy with the results.
There are 2 fixatives that you can use to coat it afterwards, if you
desire. Lascaux is probably the best one of the two that are available
in the US. Again, test it on a piece of scrap to insure that you are
happy with the finish. Make sure to always do very light coats and allow
them to dry completely before adding another one. If the fist coat was
applied going right to left, do the next going up and down... Three
coats seem to be the magic number."



Note: do not use this varnish for works with unfixed mediums (i.e. charcoal, colored pencil). Instead, use spray varnish. Winsor & Newton make a professional spray can varnish that I've also listed here.

Art Studio Essentials








Note: Mabef's revolving attachment that allows you to rotate your canvas is compatible with this easel.









Notes: these are latex-free in case you have an allergy to latex. As far as safety goes, nitrile gloves are documented to be better than latex gloves at resisting paints, oils, and solvents. However, certain solvents and hazardous substances can permeate through some gloves very quickly. Depending on what materials you are using, you may want to do some research around heavy duty chemical resistant gloves and even respirators and other safety equipment in order to know how you can best protect yourself.








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