How do you clean the brushes? Just as you would wash your brushes in water after painting with watercolor or acrylic paints, you need to wash the brushes using mineral spirits or turpentine. The best way to do this is, pour the mineral spirit or turpentine into a jar and dip your brush inside to clean it.
Art Inspiration | Inspiration | Art Techniques | Encouragement | Art Supplies
By Nicole Tinkham
Image used under Creative Commons from karindalziel.
Are you thinking about starting your first oil painting? Great! We hope that you do. Do you have all of the necessary supplies? If not, we can help. Although you might have the basics (paint and brushes), you also need to think about buying the following: solvents, oil, palette knives, etc. With as many options as there are, it’s important to be knowledgeable and have the correct items before beginning. In this post, we’ll discuss everything from paints to canvases to help get you on your way to creating your first masterpiece.
The Paint
The first thing to think about when gathering supplies for an oil painting is the paint. Start out with the basic colors: blue, red, yellow, black, and white. You can always expand your paint collection with a variety of colors once you become more familiar with oil painting. Don’t let those ginormous tubes of oil paint intimidate you! These are an excellent choice when it comes to black and white paint (you will be using these the most). Stick with the smaller tubes for the rest of your colors because they will last much longer. As mentioned in our blog post about paint grades, you will find both artist and student quality oil paint. The difference between the two lies in the pigment. Student grade paints may save you money but have lower pigment content while artist grade contain the highest quality pigments. When working with oil paints, you can combine the two grades by using student grade for the base painting and artist grade for the details.
*For the various oil paint brands Keeton’s carries, visit the art department on the website.
Solvents
You will also have to think about an oil paint thinner (or solvent) to make the paint more fluid. There are several different solvents you can use such as mineral spirits and turpentine. Turpentine comes with a strong smell so you may want to consider the odorless version, Turpenoid. Some paint thinners can also act as a brush cleaner, making your life a little bit easier. You will also need a container to store solvents. This can be either a metal container or glass jar but DO NOT use paper, plastic or Styrofoam as the solvent will eat right through these materials.
Oil
If you have any experience with acrylic paints, you understand the importance of mediums. They have many purposes including speeding up dry time, creating textures, and thinning paint. However, working with acrylics is much different than oil paints (for more information on acrylic mediums, check out our blog post dedicated to GOLDEN mediums). With oil paints you’ll need a medium as well but you’ll be using – you guessed it – oil. There are many different kinds of oil available, linseed oil being the most common. The only drawback to linseed oil is it can produce a yellow hue in paler colors. Poppyseed oil is often used for lighter colors because is dries very pale.
Brushes
If there’s one thing to spend a little extra money on it would be brushes. It’s important to have quality brushes for oil painting because the paint will tear through cheap brushes. The last thing you want to worry about is continuously purchasing brush after brush. In the long run, you’ll end up saving so spend the extra money in the beginning and have a great brush that will last years to come. If you’re unsure whether or not oil painting is really for you, go ahead and get a less expensive brush. If after a few paintings you love it, it may be time to upgrade to a quality brush. When shopping for a brush, be sure to get one specifically for oil painting (the bristles will be very tough). The art experts at Keeton’s are more than happy to help you find the appropriate brush! For more information about brush care, see our Guide to Brushes blog post.
Palette Knives
While not necessary, palette knives are good to have for mixing paint. Plus, they’re inexpensive so why not? You can also use palette knives to apply paint and create textures.
Palette
Just about any palette will work for oil painting. One with a large, flat surface may make mixing colors easier but go with one that you feel comfortable using.
Canvas
Finally, you will need a primed stretched canvas to paint on. The oil paint will eat through anything that is not primed so this is important! You can purchase your canvas ready to go or you can make your own. It’s probably best to purchase one that’s ready to be painted on when first starting out. With time, you may decide to make your own.
With a good idea of the supplies needed for oil painting, you’re off to a great start. We strive to provide you with as much information as possible so while this blog explained basic supply information, you may want to know more (how to choose a brush or various painting techniques). To learn more, visit our art specialists in the retail store or leave a comment in the box below and we’ll feature it in our next post!
The 18 Must-Read Tips to Masterfully Use Your Oil Paint Supplies
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Stephanie Weaver Fine Art Artist
The Ultimate Guide To Oil Painting Supplies
Regular price
Discover the paint supplies you need and how to use them for how you paint or envision yourself painting!
Stephanie Weaver has the answers to all of your questions in The Ultimate Guide to Oil Painting Supplies. This comprehensive guide includes information on the 4 key criteria for the best brand of oil paint, the 11 basic palette colors every painter should have on hand, and how to properly care for your brushes. The guide also features a quiz to help you determine which type of brush is best for your painting experience level, as well as a cheat sheet on mediums and their uses. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned artist, The Ultimate Guide to Oil Painting Supplies is exactly what every oil painter needs on their shelf.
In The Ultimate Guide To Oil Painting Supplies you’ll learn:
- Stages of Your Journey – Key
- Oil Paints: Best Brands and Essential Colors
- Paintbrush & Palette Knife: For Beginners and Advanced
- Mediums: Medium Cheat Sheet
- Brush Care: How to clean, does and don’ts.
- Palette: What to consider before you buy.
- Canvas or Panel: Perks of All The Types.
- Easel: What Works and What to Avoid.
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“The information in this book has helped me go from not knowing what to buy to being able to know not only what to buy but why I’m buying it!” Katheryn L.
Canvas
Canvas comes in all shapes and sizes. I have written a whole blog post and you can read it here.
You can start with small canvases and eventually upgrade to a bigger canvas. Once you start small, you will know your style, your preferences, strengths, and weakness. A couple of trials and errors will definitely give you the boost to try out paintings on a larger canvas.
Other Accessories
Here are some other accessories which you may find useful in an oil painting:
Paper towels / cloth
This is great for wiping any excess paint from your brushes and general cleaning. Always keep a roll of paper towels or a cloth near you.
A charcoal pencil
This is used when you want to transfer a drawing or sketch to the canvas. This is better than a charcoal stick as the block can break very easily but the pencils can be sharpened for finer detail and there is a much lower chance of breakage.
Comfortable old clothes or Aprons
Make sure you change yourself to something old or at least wear an apron before starting out painting in oil. The paints can easily stain your clothes and it’s very difficult to remove them. Keep an apron exclusively for your work.
Gloves
Wearing gloves is a personal choice. Some artists choose to wear gloves while painting. Wearing gloves will help you keep away from pigments being absorbed through the skin, especially if you have any skin condition like eczema. This will also make the cleanup much faster.
Moreover, the whole idea of wearing gloves is, it should feel like a second skin or else it will be uncomfortable to work on.
Winsor and Newton have got a barrier cream for artists’ safety.
Again it’s a personal choice, I have worked with oils and I find it a little difficult to paint with gloves. I need to feel my paintbrush against my skin and blend the paints on my canvas using my fingers. Yes, it is a total mess afterward. But that’s alright with me. I use gloves only when I want to clean up my paintbrushes.
Final Point- How do you store the excess paints on your palette?
Alright! Now that you have completed your painting for the day, what do you do with the remaining paint in your palette?. Freeze. it! yes. you heard that right. Keep it in the freezer. You could wrap it up with plastic wrap by covering the palette tight, firmly pressing, and excluding all air. Make sure to remove the plastic immediately as you take out the palette the next day for your painting. Because if you keep it for long, the thawed paints will stick onto the plastic, and it can be quite messy, and eventually you might waste a lot of paint.
Now if you don’t have enough space in the freezer, you could cover your palette with a foil( do not press the foil onto the paint), and keep it somewhere safe. This will keep your paint ready to work the next day. If you have a small box where you could store your palette, then keep your palette in the box.
Lastly, if the above points do not solve your issue, choose a palette with a lid, in that case, all you need to do is close the box and keep it in the freezer. No hassle of covering with plastic wrap or foil, whatsoever.
Checkout Masterson Sta-Wet Palette Seal, an airtight container for storing a wet palette.
Thats all for now and please do share your experience and I would love to hear them. Happy painting!
