Oil Supplies

Downloadable Version

Canvas or Panel

Brushes

Other Supplies

Oil Paints

Medium & Solvent

Oil Palette Map

SUPPLIES

When making supply choices, save your pennies by purchasing economical brushes and canvases, but try not to scrimp when it comes to purchasing your paints – professional quality colors will give you real power in your color punch!

If you’re just learning and not ready to invest fully, student grade brands are fine, but splurge at least on a few of your favorite colors. I recommend Ultramarine Blue Deep, your Transparent Oxide Yellow by Rembrandt, Cadmium Yellow Light, Titanium White, and Ice Blue by Richeson.

You can find all my favorite brands for paints and many of my supplies on my Nancy's Favorite Things Page here.

Canadian Students

For Canadian Students, here are some good resources for supplies: Deserres - shop here

For Canadian Students who also wish to purchase Richeson Shiva colors Ice Blue and Brilliant Yellow, you can shop here

CANVAS OR PANEL

Most of the demonstrations in your lessons will be on square format ampersand gessoboard panels, sizes 12X12 or 16X16 and 12X16, and larger sizes mostly in square formats as the class progresses, at times we will use 20X20 and 24X30.

I use a variety of surfaces to paint on, from regular stretched cotton canvas, to ampersand gessoboard panel, to New Traditions Art Panels (the C13 linen, these are great, but pricey!). If you use cotton canvas, be absolutely sure to treat it with two thin layers of acrylic white gesso, let dry about four hours between coats. Don’t let the label fool you, cotton stretch canvas almost always needs more gesso!

Occasionally, I will pre-treat the surface of my canvas or panel with an acrylic color by Golden: Neutral Gray N7 or N8, Titan Green Pale, Titan Violet Pale or Titan Violet Pale, all by Golden acrylics. This is optional.

A great hardboard panel that comes with pretreated umber and gray colors is the Jack Richeson premium toned gessoboard panels. You can find them here.

BRUSHES

My fav – the ¾ inch flat Royal Soft Grip SG 700 - buy several of these, they’re cheap! Make them last longer by conditioning them with a few drops of baby oil each day after cleaning. Buy here...

One Royal Sabletek by Langnickel L95010 Number 14 Bright. Buy here...

Small craft brushes (optional) in your favorite brand - any 2 or 2/0 size round or bright craft brush for tiny details. Brands I use include Creative Mark - Berlin 1018R Number 2 Round and Creative Mark Berlin 1018B Number 2 Bright. . Buy here...

No 12 or No 8 Eclipse long filbert (optional) Buy here...

OTHER SUPPLIES

Standing or tabletop easel – any brand will do!

A Kemper wipeout tool. Buy here...

Viva Paper Towels (I am not paid to endorse these, but they really should name a wing of the Viva Corporate Headquarters Building in my honor!)

Palette Knife

Paper Palette (I love Richeson Gray Matters Paper Palette, Buy here...)

OPAQUE COLORS

Titanium White

Cadmium Red Light

Cadmium Yellow Light

Ice Blue (Richeson Shiva Series)

Brilliant Yellow Light (Richeson Shiva)

TRANSPARENT COLORS

Transparent Orange (Gamblin)

Permanent Rose

Viridian

Payne’s Gray

Alizarin Crimson

Cobalt Blue Light

Sap Green

Ultramarine Blue Deep (Rembrandt)

Transparent Oxide Yellow (Rembrandt)

Transparent Oxide Red (Rembrandt)

Indian Yellow (Winsor & Newton)

Dioxazine Winsor Violet

Magenta (Winsor & Newton)

OPTIONAL FUN COLORS

Caribbean Blue (Old Holland)

Quinacridone Violet (Gamblin)

Transparent Red Medium (Rembrandt)

What does Medium* do?

It makes your paint glide, and makes it juicy.

What does Solvent* do?

Solvent strips paint, erases paint, and cleans paint off your brushes.

*Be sure to always use containers with lids that are leakproof for your medium
and solvent when painting.

MEDIUM

You can find low odor fast drying Archival Lean Medium by Chroma, my favorite, at Dick Blick. A nice substitute that dries more slowly is a combination of Refined Linseed Oil (half) mixed with Turpenoid (half). You only need about an inch of medium in a small container when painting. I recommend the little glass jars that pimentos come in, or a small 2-inch diameter hard plastic container. Your medium lasts longer if you don’t touch your brush to the bottom of the medium container when you use it. You can pour your medium right back into the medium bottle when you’re done each day, and seal it safely with Saran wrap over the top before screwing the cap back on.

SOLVENT

Good solvent choices available in the United States include Gamsol, Turpenoid, and Mona Lisa. You can find most brands at your local art or craft store, or online. A great container for solvent is an empty 1-pint Talenti gelato container with a kitchen scrubby in the bottom to serve as a screen. NEVER use odorless mineral spirits from the hardware store, it is dangerous when used indoors.