“ok, you’re probably gonna laugh your ass off, as well you should, but i’ve been watching bob ross a lately on pbs (it’s very soothing for background noise) and i think i wanna give painting a go. can you recommend what kind of stuff i should get, maybe not so expensive? i know supplies are really expensive and there’s no way to avoid that, but stuff that’s not really the most high-end and pricey. i guess i need an easel? palette? brushes? paint? what kind of paints? oil? i am basically the biggest painting newbie ever. canvas? gesso? i heard one rubs gesso over the canvas to protect the oil paint from touching the canvas and thus avoids deterioration? hahahah. could be way off.” ~anonymous

A friend of mine asked me what painting materials a beginner needs, which has prompted me to outline the bare essentials of painting. From my experience, this is as minimal as you can get.

Where to buy art supplies:
Art supplies can be pricey, but there are three store I have found have a lot of great sales:
Jerry’s Artist Outlet
Utrecht Art
Dick Blick Art Materials

Paints:
I personally like using Gamblin paints. When I first started graduate school I was a lot more thrifty, and I bought mostly Winsor & Newton – Winton brand. My professors would look at me with pity. One professor recommended that I let the paint sit on paper towel before using it to let the fillers seep out. So, I would recommend NOT buying Winton paints because you will struggle to get the rich colors you want. The pigments are simply more dense in professional brands. Instead of using poor-quality paint, you can use a very simple palette. Anders Zorn used a palette consisting of four colors: yellow ochre, cadmium red light, ivory black and white. His painting, “Martha Dana,” shows how beautiful a limited palette can be.

Minimal Palette (the Zorn Palette):
Yellow Ochre
Cadmium Red Light
Flake White Replacement
Payne’s Grey

Expanded Palette:
Ultramarine Blue
Quinacridone Violet
Quinacridone Red
Indian Yellow
Transparent Earth Red
Venetian Red
Burnt Umber

I like the bright synthetic colors because you can use them mixed with medium as a transparent glaze or you can create a bright tint when mixed with white. Once you have mastered the Zorn palette, you can start adding additional colors.

Brushes:
You don’t need a lot of brushes. I find myself really needing only the brushes below; sizes 14, 8, 6, and possibly a fan brush.

Medium:
I use Liquin Original to thin out the paint as well as for glazes. Towards the end of the painting, I start using a Linseed Stand Oil. This helps suspend the pigments and creates a beautiful surface effect.

Turpentine:
Turpenoid Natural (odorless) and a container to rinse brushes

Here is the top view of a brush cleaning tank.

Brush cleaner:
Any soap will do; however, I recommend Jack’s Linseed Studio Soap if you can find it.

Palette:
A glass palette works well. Many people paint the underside of the palette grey so that they can base the tones off of that. However, for a beginner, I would recommend a disposable palette. It saves time; letting you simpily remove the top page instead of scraping or rubbing paint from the surface.

Canvas:
To avoid the complications of stretching your own canvas, you can buy a primed/stretched canvas or linen (which is smoother). I only recently realized how much nicer it is to paint on linen…so much so, that I vowed never to work on canvas again. The only problem is that I still have about four canvases left that I bought on sale. I prefer Fredrick’s canvases over the Windsor & Newton brand which has a very rough surface.

Easel: You don’t need to have an easel right away if you aren’t sure how much painting you’re going to do. You can always just paint at a table, but if you do want an easel, you might want a small french easel. They fold up into a painting box that you can keep supplies in and carry somewhere with you.

I hope this is helpful to any beginners out there. Feel free to submit any questions or tips you might have!