Every artist has their own supply preferences, from favorite colors to go-to brands. Our Oil Foundations instructor, Christie, put together this list to help you choose everything you need to start oil painting. We’ll cover materials in more depth during Week 1, so if you have questions before buying your own, you’ll have plenty of time to ask!

OIL PAINT:

There are lots of brands of paint. Quality and pigment will vary from brand to brand.

The Blick Studio paints are a great versatile starter paint that will give you a paint you won't be fighting with and won’t break the bank either. You can find a starter kit with these colors plus a few or buy tubes individually. I’d recommend getting only small tubes to start. They go a long way!

Minimum Recommended Colors:

• Alizerin Crimson

• Cadmium Yellow Medium

• Ultramarine Blue

• Burnt Umber

• Titanium White

Additional Recommended Colors:

These are great to have in addition to the basics and will make your life easier.

• Cadmium Red Medium

• Yellow Ochre

• Sap Green

• Cobalt

• Burnt Sienna

• Payne’s Grey

BRUSHES & KNIVES:

Brushes:

• I recommend having at least 4-5 brushes of different sizes and shapes to start. Blick and Michaels both have affordable starter packs that will work well.  Example: Blick Flat Brush Set

• If you would prefer to choose your brushes individually, I personally like working with synthetic brushes from brands like Princeton or Utrecht. I use a few different sizes of flat brushes ranging (⅜ in, ⅝ in, ¾ in) and a couple of round brushes (⅛ in, 5/16 in).

Palette knife:

• Small size, spade shaped, any brand.

PALETTE:

There are a variety of options here and what you like will again come down to personal preference.

• I highly recommend grey-toned palette paper.

• If you want a reusable option, you can get a glass or acrylic palette. However with that I’d also recommend getting a paint scraper from a hardware store.

• A Masterson Stay Wet Box is a fabulous base for transporting and storing any palette of choice, will help your paints dry slower and offers easy, mess free transportation.

OTHER MATERIALS:

• Canvas multipack (8”x10” or 9”x12”) - either stretched canvases or canvas panels

• Silicoil Brush Cleaning Tank

• Gamsol

• Paper towels (soft smooth ones are best, such as Viva or the blue automotive ones, but any will work)

There are higher end versions of everything on this list but when starting out a new skill sometimes it can be nice to start with a middle of the road product that will provide a good experience. We hope this list helps. If you have any additional questions about supplies for our oil questions please send us an email.

Many links provided are to Blick Art Supplies which has a brick and mortar store in Sugarhouse. (1025 East 2100 South) Other art suppliers and stores will have similar/same products.

We do not receive commissions based on products purchased from these links.