Lidfors, Barbara – “Painting Stories”

Please bring whatever painting supplies you already have to the first class. If you need more paint, it is most satisfying and economical in the long run to buy good quality paint brands. Grumbacher, Winsor-Newton, Rembrandt and Gamblin are good brands of oil paint. Golden, Utrecht and Liquitex are trusted brands of acrylic. You may also want to work with acrylics first and then with oils on top.

MATERIAL SUPPLY LIST:

• MOST IMPORTANTLY: Spend some time before the first class gathering ideas for your paintings! – Think to bring drawings, your own photographs, mementos, or other objects which refer to people, places, topics or areas of interest, which are significant to you. We will use what you bring to create painted compositions which tell a story. Bring more ideas than you think you will use – so that you will have a choice of which one to begin with.
• A working sketch book with pencil, strong erasers, and a ruler
  • OPTIONAL – A water-soluble pastel pencil to use when drawing compositions onto canvas. Pitt Paste brand is good, for example, as it creates less smudge than a graphite pencil. You will also need a special color pencil sharpener or pocketknife.
• 2 canvases or painting panels of different sizes – 18×24” is a good medium size. You can then go bigger or smaller for the second canvas – depending upon your painting style.
• Paint palette or disposable palette paper – A Masterson Sta-Wet Palette Seal works well to transport oil paint. A piece of glass cut to fit inside will provide a clean mixing surface and is easy to transport.  OR, a sponge insert in the Masterson retards the drying of acrylic paint.
• Brushes – filberts or brights in # 2, #4, #6, # 8, #10 and #12 – you will use them all!  Signet by Robert Simmons is good for oil painting brushes.  The Silver Brush Company Bristlon line, is also good and is useable with both oil and acrylic paint. Art supply stores can advise.
  • HELPFUL: two inexpensive “chip brushes” from a hardware store – 1” and 2” to block in areas on your canvas as you begin painting
  • Metal palette knife – for mixing and painting.
• Containers
  • For oils – a glass jar with a tight fitting lid for Gamsol or oderless turpentine
  • For acrylics – a spray bottle and large container for water
• Paper towels or cut-up cotton rags
• An oil painting medium in a small bottle for better paint flow – or straight Linseed Oil. Optional is an alkyd oil painting medium such as Liquin or Galkyd to speed up drying.

OIL PAINT and/or ACRYLIC PAINT

For beginners, there are many good-quality introductory sets of paint tubes available.

Avoid cheap brands and “Hues,” as the colors are not pure and don’t mix well together.

For more experienced painters, I suggest trying what I presently work with. It is a double color palette with warm and cool versions of each primary and secondary color. Theoretically you can mix all other colors with these colors and take advantage of the advancing qualities of warm colors and the receding qualities of cool colors. But any combination of primaries and secondary colors will do to start with. Bring what you have!

• • Warm Oil Paints
    • Cadmium Ýellow Medium
    • Permanent Orange
    • Cadmium Red Light
    • Cobalt Violet or Manganese Violet
    • Ultramarine Blue
    • Cadmium Green, Sap Green, or Cobalt Green
  • Cool Oil Paints
    • Cadmium Yellow Light or Lemon Yellow
    • Cadmium or AZO Orange
    • Alizarin Crimson
    • Dioxazine Purple
    • Phthalo Blue, Cerulean Blue and/or Indigo
    • Phthalo Green or Viridian
  • Titanium white

ACRYLIC PAINT – These are basic colors.  Bring what you have or buy an introductory set.

• Primaries – Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Red Deep, Cadmium Yellow
• Secondaries –   Cadmium Orange. Dioxazine Purple. Viridian Green
• White and Black – (large tubes)