Here you will find helpful links and explanations to my favorite art supplies along with suggestions on how to best prepare your surface before you paint…
Image: Michele Mattei
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I love oil paint because it feels organic, flexible, and translucent like skin. Do yourself a favor and buy more expensive brands like Rembrandt. The cheaper brands use less pigment and not only you are not getting a better deal, you are never going to get the brilliance you can achieve with superior material. You’ll actually use less of the expensive pigment, because it ‘stretches’ or covers extra surface in a more brilliant manner. For example, you can apply an entire tube of cheap yellow and still not get the effect you would with just a bit of the concentrated superior pigment.
Oil Paint
I recommend Rembrandt or Utrecht brands; my important colors include: naples yellow light, cadmium yellow light & medium, yellow ocher, burnt sienna, raw sienna, van dyck brown, alizarin crimson, cadmium red light & medium, turquoise blue, prussian blue, ultramarine deep, payne’s gray, green earth, viridian green, titanium white (more opaque than zinc white), & ivory black (cooler than mars black).
Contrary to the oil paint, you do not need expensive brushes - get synthetic brushes, flat, long, size 6 & 8 (a couple of each), as well as one larger soft glazing brush. Brushes should feel springy to the touch and not shed when you run your fingers through them.
To properly preserve your brushes use soap and a rough cleaning brush to remove all stubborn access paint
Medium: I love poppyseed oil - it won’t yellow as much as linseed oil and has great medium drying speed. It gives just a bit of luster to your colors (you only need a few drops in your mixtures).
Odorless thinner is best if you are sensitive to smells.
You’ll need 2 palette knives to mix your colors on the palette and clean it after.
A palette (any large plexi or disposable gray paper palette) will do.
A double palette cup for your turpentine and oil medium is necessary.
Consider alternative to oil (in case of allergies to turpentine): water soluble oil.
To liven dulled dark areas and protect your art from dust and grime you have an option to varnish (click here to learn about spray-on UV protective varnish option) 6 months after your painting is complete and is fully dry.
Drawing
Charcoal set (these are amazing charcoal sticks in the form of a pencil that are all lead but won’t dirty your hands and can be sharpened like a pencil).
Pencil lengthener.
White charcoal is used for highlights.
Vine charcoal is great for underdrawing for your oil paintings.
Strathmore 500 Series blue/gray or pottery green charcoal paper has a great ‘tooth’ and provides a nice mid-tone background.
Kraft paper pad(excellent for life drawing and pastel work)
Newsprint paper pad for lifedrawing
Arches heavy weight watercolor paper.
Pastel Canson paper.
A kneaded eraser is helpful for gently lifting your extra charcoal residue without erasing your drawing.
I love this antique sharpener: champion. This is truly a life saver, creating a sharp long tip quickly and easily, without breaking your fine charcoal.
I recommend soft pastels: Rembrandt or Sennelier (the more colors in your box the better your artwork). Pastels are a very flexible material and can range to look from a finished painting to a quick drawing sketch. This medium is great for portability and has no smell, toxicity, or drying time. It is best not to spray it with fixative because it will dull your colors. Instead frame it with the glass and put a mat or a spacer in between so that the glass doesn’t touch and disturb the surface of your work. Never frame pastel with plastic - it will lift your particles off the paper!
Prismacolor nupastel set.
My favorite anatomy book is by Eliot Goldfinger.
Image: Michele Mattei
Why gesso your surfaces?
The quality of your painting is determined by the quality of your surface. Commercially sold primed canvases are not sufficient enough to paint on directly. There are multiple reasons to add additional gesso layers: to protect the surface from the oil getting through to the other side, causing damage to the fabric and eventually rotting your work; to create a smoother surface for the paint to go on more effectively (you’ll actually economize using less paint this way and the painting will look better); to create a middle tone in the final gesso layer which makes it easier to see your values (the light and dark will read better on a toned ground); finally it saves you from struggling with white canvas showing through making your work look otherwise unfinished. The general rule is to apply thinner layers before thicker ones, so don’t rush and don’t skip diluting the initial layer with water if you are using acrylic gesso. In the old days, you’d actually have to grind animal bones to create your gesso - so don’t think that this is extra work. I recommend that you enjoy the process. I use this time to meditate on what’s to come on my canvas, as if creating a space for my subjects to eventually occupy. I prefer ‘gessoing days’ and doing a bulk of the canvases at the same time, especially if I am in between ideas, but still want to paint. Your hand pressure and brush strokes transmit your energy, and thus your art begins before the image is ever conceived. I don’t mind creating a light ‘wood-like grain’ surface of my gesso strokes, it adds to the sculptural texture of my art. Others might prefer it much smoother. It’s ultimately up to you and your aesthetic choice.
Priming materials:
professional acrylic gesso
gesso brush (3 inches)
paint can opener
soap for the brushes
great solution to clean brushes (dilute in a jar half water/half murphy’s oil and let the brushes sit for 1-2 hours in this solution; rinse off thouroughly)
Gessoing tips:
First layer: use a large container to dilute gesso with a bit of water (about 4-6 tablespoons) to make it ‘sour-cream’ consistency. Apply one thin layer on your canvas with a large house brush (make sure the hair from the brush is not left on the surface). Use one direction horizontal strokes. Don’t go back and forth into wet areas. Allow to dry for at least 5 hours.
Second layer: repeat the first step, but apply gesso more generously. Allow to dry for a few hours. Sand gently using medium grain sandpaper to lightly smooth the surface without leaving visible traces.
Tinted underpainting: mix in a separate container - white gesso tinted with a little bit of black gesso (about 1-3 teaspoons, add one spoon at a time while mixing thoroughly for uniform color) to achieve a nice middle tone gray. Apply this final coat to your canvas in the same horizontal motion with a large brush. Make sure to paint the sides of your canvas. Avoid leaving a thick paint bump on the front edges of your canvas. If this occurs - smooth it off immediately by brushing it gently off your canvas. Let this layer dry completely, sand and you are ready to paint!
Gold Leaf technique
Artist Zafiris Gour offers a brief demonstration on modernized gold leaf methods adopted from the original Greek icon painting technique.
Gold leaf selections
Adhesive mediums
Gold sizing (fast drying material)
Spray for top coat sealing