This is a list of supplies that you should use as a guide except for beginners who need to get the materials I have listed for drawing. Drawing materials are quite simple and fairly inexpensive.
- Drawing boards & some easels supplied. If you have a plein air easel you can bring, it would be helpful because of small footprint in a full studio
- An 18″x24″ SMOOTH newsprint pad
- One 2-piece pack of Bistre Conte
- Kneaded eraser
- Soft paper towels (Viva)
For painting and most of you have already a setup you are familiar with.
- Brushes: For a guide for oil painters I use mostly bristle bright and filbert brushes.
- Canvas: I mostly use single primed oil boards. Bring an assortment from 9×12″ to 12×16″ and no larger than 16×20″ supports (stretched or panels).
Oil Paints
- Titanium white
- Lemon yellow
- Cad yellow light
- Cad orange
- Cad red light
- Alizarin crimson
- Brown madder
- Chrome oxide green
- Viridian
- Cobalt blue
- Ultamarine blue
- Ivory black
I clean my brushes in a metal container and use odorless mineral spirits for a medium. but mostly use paint right out of the tube. Bring a good sized palette, scraper and paper towels to wipe brushes and clean up with.
For Pastel artists: bring as many colors as you have. When traveling I break them up so I can carry more of a variety. I use a variety of brands, but seem to favor Unison more than others. I mostly work on Canson papers and occasionally some sand boards. Best to work on a hard surface with some papers underneath for cushion and metal clips or push pins to hold to the board. Soft paper towels to rub out surfaces or to clean up with. If one is serious about doing pastel portraits in color one needs a good variety of colors to select from, at least around 100 or more. For those with less experience in color I would recommend doing value studies with a selection of 5 warm toned value sticks from light to dark.
Do the best you can with good supplies, but remember that cheap brushes, cheap paints cheap panels and cheap pastels can keep one from doing better work.
