Setting up your Studio

Oil painting, like a lot of other popular hobbies, has an associated cost. The bottom line is that this is not a cheap hobby to have, much less enjoy. However, also like most other hobbies, beginners can become overwhelmed very quickly the moment they walk into their local art supply store. This small tutorial was written in hopes that it will provide aspiring artists with a "shopping list" of items deemed most critical to the painter.

Why am I writing this piece? A few years back, a friend of mine named Derek decided that I sufficiently inspired him enough that he should delve into oil painting himself. I offered to go with him to pick out his initial load of supplies, but he insisted that he had "read all of the books" and had gained enough knowledge from me that he felt comfortable going it alone. Fine, I said - have at it. He hopped into his Chevy S-10 pickup truck and disappeared for a few hours.

That afternoon, I received a knock on my door. Derek was standing there, empty-handed. I said "hey, I thought you were going to buy art supplies?". He said, "I did, come look in the back of the truck." As I approached his truck, Derek was peeling back the improvised tarp he had thrown over the bed of the truck. As I glanced over his cargo, my mouth dropped. I damn near had a coronary.

That boy had enough art supplies in the back of his truck to start his own art store, no, an art school, no, I take that back - an art revolution!. He must have had 30 or 40 pre-stretched canvases, 2 gigantic easels, a french easel for location painting, no less than 3 or 4 dozen brushes, and probably 100 or so tubes of paint. Now you know why I wrote this... :-)

Easels:

Don't freak out when you walk into the art supply store and see the $2500 price tag on a studio grade easel - you don't need anything remotely this large! Depending on your budget, check into small table-top easels and paintboxes. If you insist on having a free-standing easel, check into a display easel or french-easel. See the easel section of this tutorial for more detailed information and images.

Palette:

Your choices here are simple: wooden, acrylic, paper, or improvisation! If money isn't an object, try more than one to get a feel for the differences. If, however, money is an issue, try some of the inexpensive disposable paper palettes. They will serve you well as you begin to explore painting. You can always upgrade later. Some of the most famous artists in history never even used traditional palettes! See the palette tutorial for more info.

Brushes/Knives:

If there is one aisle in the art supply store that will utterly baffle you as a beginner, it's this one. There are more makes, models, sizes, and shapes of brushes than you even want to know. First, there are brushes specially designed for certain mediums, such as watercolor, acrylic, and oil. Then, for each medium, there are brush styles, or shapes, such as filberts, flats, brights, and fan brushes. There are a plethora of specialty brushes, such as blenders, script liners, and shaders. All of these brushes can be purchased with synthetic bristles, hog hair bristles, mongoose hair, sable, and so on. For each of these, there are different sizes, generally numbered to reduce confusion (yeah, right). The bottom line here is that choosing your first set of brushes is probably the most harrowing thing you can do in an art supply store.

There are many schools of thought around what brush selections are good for beginners. I use the list of brushes recommended by William Palluth in his excellent book, Painting in Oils, available here at WetCanvas through an arrangement with Amazon.Com.

• no. 8 flat bristle brush, for laying in large masses of color
• no. 4 flat bristle brush, for smaller areas
• no. 2 flat bristle brush, for details
• no. 20 bright sable brush, for blending and softening edges
• no. 8 bright sable brush for working on buildings and details
• no. 3 round sable brush for details (and your signature!)
• no. 1 round sable brush for fine details (twigs, etc.)
• no. 5 long filbert brush, for doing grass and weeds
• one inch painting knife for doing rocks, tree bark, etc.
• a standard palette knife for mixing colors and cleaning the palette

Paints:

Over time, you will standardize on your "preferred palette" - meaning that you will derive your own combinations of favorite hues and brands. However, trying to pick out your first set of paints can be a bit of a bear. Do you buy Winsor & Newton or Grumbacher? How good are paints made by Liquitex? What colors? There is Midnight Black, Mars Black, and Ivory Black - which one should I buy? These are the types of questions you will find yourself asking in the paint aisle of the art supply store - that is, unless you keep reading... :-)

Keep in mind that you don't need to buy every shade of a certain color. Inevitably, all colors in the spectrum can be mixed right on the palette, using a very limited number of basic colors to start. However, mastery of this takes time and practice. Here is a good basic palette to start you out:

• Titanium white (lots of it - get the big tubes)
• Sap Green
• Cerulean Blue
• Cobalt Blue
• Alizarin Crimson
• Cadmium Red Light
• Cadmium Yellow or Cadmium Yellow Light
• Yellow Ochre
• Raw Sienna
• Burnt Sienna
• Raw Umber
• Burnt Umber
• Ivory Black

If money isn't an issue, or once you feel comfortable using the colors listed above, consider also picking up these colors, as you will find they augment the aforementioned palette:

• Ultramarine Blue
• Cadmium Yellow Deep
• Naples Yellow
• Viridian Green

There are probably more schools of thought as to color selection than any other in the world of art. Some artists only use the primary colors (red, yellow, blue), mixing all secondary and tertiary colors from these. Other artists use TWO palettes: one on which to mix paint, the other for holding big gobs of the dozens of colors regularly in use. It's up to you - experiment.

One note here. There are three paint qualities to choose from: student grade, medium grade, and studio (professional) grade. If you are just starting out, try to stick with the less expensive student or medium grade paints. They don't have quite the permanence or lightfastness as studio grade paints, but they will serve you well (and save you money) as you learn. Ask your local art supply store clerk for more info.

Painting Surfaces (Canvas, masonite, etc.)

Technically speaking, you can oil paint on just about any surface available, provided it has been prepared properly. I have seen folks put oil paint on some of the strangest things (but that's another article). Typically, here are your choices:

• Primed, Pre-stretched Canvas: the undisputed choice for beginners who can afford them. These canvases are pre-stretched, and already mounted on a frame. They have also been "primed" with an acrylic or oil-based primer, such as gesso. They are convenient, fairly affordable, and easy to work with.
• Unprimed, Raw Canvas: If you buy a section of canvas, unmounted and unprimed, immediately get in your car and drive back to the art store and get your money back. As a beginner, the last thing you want to have to worry about is stretching and priming your own canvases. Its a lot of work, and until you become religious about painting, its simply not worth the hassle.
• Masonite: These are interesting supports indeed. They are smooth, and lack the "tooth" or texture of canvas, but can produce some interesting results. My advice to beginners - stick to primed canvas until you reach the exploration part of your painting endeavors... :-)
• Canvas Board: If cost if an issue, you can pick up pre-primed, pre-stretched canvas that is mounted on thick cardboard or plywood, as opposed to mounted on a frame. They are a lot more affordable, but not permanent - keep that in mind. These are great for experimenting.

Mediums and Solvents:

Oil paints consist of pigment and oil. There are a number of additional products that provide special characteristics to oil paints, such as enhanced gloss, thickness, transparency, and even accelerated drying time. Here is a brief run down on the more popular items:

• Turpentine: This stuff is obtained by distilling the sap from pine trees. It is commonly used for thinning the consistency of the paint (usually right on the palette). It's also used to clean brushes, palettes, and other equipment. People often refer to this stuff as simply, paint thinner. If the odor of turpentine bothers you, try to find Turpenoid, a brand of odorless turpentine substitute.
• Linseed Oil: This is also called stand oil, and is probably the most commonly used oil painting medium. When it dries, it forms a thick "skin", making it great for defying the aging process. Hence, mixing it with oil paint will protect it - however, after drying, it does tend to "yellow" slightly. It is also used to "thicken" the consistency of the oil paint. However, when mixing linseed oil with paint, be sure to add a small amount of turpentine (or turpenoid) to prevent the canvas from becoming warped after it has dried. If you are just starting out, you can avoid using linseed oil at all, and just use paint straight from the tube - unless you know what you are doing, just avoid it - that's my advice... :-)
• Mineral Spirits: A lot of folks use this stuff as paint thinner over turpentine, due to its lack of odor.
• Cobalt Drier: The deadliest of all mediums. This stuff is used to enhance the drying time of oil paint. However, if you add too much to your paint, it can damage it, producing cuts, warping, and loss of color. My advice is to avoid using cobalt drier at all costs, until you feel comfortable (and have experimented with it on a scratch canvas).

Accessories:

Consider picking up the following items as part of your intro kit:

• a small set of palette cups (for your mediums and solvents)
• plastic drop cloths (usually less than a dollar each)
• a painter's apron - trust me....
• plenty of paper towels for cleaning your brushes and palette.
  

Now head off to the art store and happy painting! :-)