Supply Lists - Oil, Pastel, Drawing
|
|
SUPPLY LISTS FOR PASTEL, OIL OR DRAWING
Supply Lists are provided in the spirit of information and suggestion. You will be able to discern the basic supplies, and are encouraged to bring your own kit if you prefer. In a pinch, an artist can make art with a stick of burned wood and a handy cave wall. That having been said, here's what the artist really uses...
SUPPLY LIST - PASTEL
Pastel Sticks:
I use a variety of hard, soft and sometimes medium pastels.
My current favorites are:
Hard Pastels: NuPastels by Prismacolor, try to buy the full 96 set
Medium Soft Pastels: Every few years I respond to a good sale and buy a full set of Rembrants. I use them mostly for painting things that need to be recognizable, like portraits or commissioned paintings of known landmarks. They don’t bring me joy but they do a good, relatively controlled job.
Soft Pastels: Unisons for a firmer soft, Great American Artworks for a buttery soft, Terry Ludwigs for darks, greens and rich warm colors. I suggest you get with fellow students to share these soft sticks in order to save money and have as many colors as possible.
Paper:
Wallis Sanded Pastel Paper, Professional grade, in white. I color the Wallis with Createx Pure Pigment waterbased paint or with transparent airbrush color.
Miscellaneous Stuff to collect:
Foil pieces that catch pastel dust, to go under the....
Backing board – anything hard but light, like 1/8 inch masonite
Masking tape (not low tack, not blue stuff
Glossy paper to put between finished paintings. NO FIXATIVE!
Vine charcoal and both white and black charcoal pencils
Thumbnailing sketch book, 2B pencil
Hand wipes in a ziplock bag
_____________________________________________________________________
SUPPLY LIST - OIL
Big hints: Religiously store your oil palette (with paint) and tubes of oil paint in the freezer when you are not painting, and they will virtually never dry out. Takes them a few minutes to soften, but they don’t freeze. And always leave your oil brushes clean and well “gooped” (clean with thinner and Goop (an inexpensive handcleaner that is lanolin/glycerin based) or vegetable oil – I don't expose my oil brushes to water). Never leave brushes in the thinner longer than you are painting.
Paints:
I primarily use The Art Store (TAS) oil paints, a university grade paint made by Dick Blick and not only a great buy, but a fine paint as well. Some of the transparent colors I love don’t come in this brand, so I also use Gamblin oil paints, chosen for their rich pigmentation, less toxic formula and relatively cheap (for artist’s quality) price. I have also recently fallen in love with 3 Holbein colors. Gamblin and Holbein colors are indicated with an "H" or a "G" after the name, all others are Blick's TAS.
My basic palette is 15 colors plus Titanium White plus a quick dry white named Griffin Alkyd Titinium White by Winsor Newton. Buy the white in large tubes, and the ratio of regular white to quick dry white will be about 2:1.
Transparent Colors
Indian Yellow-H
Transparent Rose Violet-H
Transparent Orange-G
Pthalo Turquoise-G
Alizarin Crimson
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue Hue
Opaque Colors
Cadmium Yellow Hue
Lemon Yellow
Cadmium Red Hue
Cadmium Orange Hue
Burnt Sienna
Ivory Black
Indigo-H
Titinium Buff
I buy the large tubes when available, for the compelling economy of it. I store them cap down to prevent the oil from accumulating at the top.
Painting medium, plus small plastic container, widemouth with lid to hold it (not the metal medium cups):
Archival Lean Painting Medium by Chroma – fluid and quick drying.
Solvent, plus a (sealing) brush washer can:
Gamblin Gamsol or EcoHouse Citrus Thinner – neither one poisonous. Reusable over and over, so the investment is well worth it. The Art Colony, where I teach, allows no turpentine or even odorless mineral spirits to be used. "Odorless" does not mean "fumeless".
Brushes, plus a bamboo placemat to roll them up in:
Isabey Special Hog Bristle or similar quality, Flats only, sizes 4 and up. Good quality, hardworking, affordable.
Or, better than Isabey but pricier, Daniel Smith Platinum series Hog Bristle, flats, same sizes.
Also, a liner or rigger brush for calligraphy strokes and signing your name – any cheapo brand, synthetic. Same (low) quality, a synthetic fan brush.
Painting Surfaces:
For professional work, I use deep, wrapped edge canvases that do not require framing. Dick Blick makes several grades of these, ranging from 3/4 inch deep to 3 inches deep. For field studies, I use Paninni or Pintura Canvas Panels, in sizes 11X14 or smaller. To work out design ideas or color questions, I use pads of tear off “real” canvas – not canvas paper.
Goop Handcleaner for cleaning hands and brushes. Leave in brushes after cleaning to condition them. Also takes paint off clothes. Buy at hardware stores.
Masterson Palette Seal Palette with lid. Line with a 12X16 piece of glass, painted on the bottom side (side away from the paint) with primer grey spray paint.) Daniel Smith carbon steel painting knives or similar, in the pointy-end trowel shapes, large to small.Viva paper towels, apron or painting shirt, plastic grocery bags, thumbnailing sketch book, 2B pencil.
SUPPLY LIST - DRAWING
Quality, heavy drawing paper in a white or creme color, such as 9X12 bristol vellum. If ordering online, find Stonehenge paper.
Canson Mi-Tientes drawing paper, Felt grey or similar toned paper.
Set of charcoal pencils, preferably the 4 piece set by General (3 blacks and 1 white pencil.) Whichever set you bring, be sure you have a white charcoal pencil. In addition to these charcoal pencils, it's very nice to have at least one Primo charcoal pencil for very dark darks, and one of the Primo white charcoal pencils for a richer white. In place of or in addition to the Primo pencils, a black and a white Prismacolor NuPastel stick would be lovely.
Graphite pencils, 2B, 4B and 6B.
Kneaded eraser
Single edge razor blade and small pencil sharpener.
Blending tortillions (wrapped paper sticks) and blending stomps (felt sticks)
Portable drawing board, at least 11X14 (can be a simple piece of masonite)
Vine charcoal, any hardness, preferably in a thin size.
Can of workable spray fixative
Good quality masking tape, 1/2 to 1 inch wide.
Package of handwipes.
For more advanced drawing, add
Conte Pencils in black, sanguine and white
Technical pen size .25 and technical pen ink
Speedball drawing pen set and ink
Felt tip drawing pens in black or sepia
Optional small set of pastel pencils, not more than a set of 36, recommended brand NuPastel by Prismacolor.
|
