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Below are the supplies recommended for the course. You are welcome to use what you have. I do highly recommend that you have gel medium, retarder, the Masterson Premier Sta-Wet Palette and something to mix on like a disposable paper palette pad or freezer paper.
BLICK ART SHOPPING LIST
I have created a shopping cart at Blick Art Materials that has all the supplies. You can delete what you don’t want. To go to Blick, click on the Blick Art Materials logo to the left or click here. If you do buy through Blick I will receive a small commission for purchases made through this link which I would so appreciate. Your price will not be impacted.
ACRYLIC PAINTS
You don’t have to have the exact colors and are welcome to use what you have. I like Golden brand acrylics but any brand is fine. You want regular, heavy body acrylics not liquid or “open”. Also, professional paints have more pigment than student grade allowing for richer colors. Below are the main colors on my palette.
Alizarin Crimson Hue
Cadmium Red Medium
Cerulean Blue Chromium
Hansa Yellow Medium Opaque or Cadmium Yellow Medium
Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
Titanium White
Ultramarine Blue
The colors below are optional. I also like to keep them on my palette and will use them in demos.
Cadmium Orange
Dioxazine Purple
Quinacridone Magenta
Zinc White
MEDIUM/RETARDER
I like the Golden mediums and retarder. The medium has the same consistency as the heavy body paint and it comes in packaging just like their jars of paint. The retarder is a thick liquid.
Regular Gloss Gel Medium – Golden also has another product that is much
thinner. You want the heavy body acrylic medium.
Retarder – This is a thick liquid. I recommend Golden’s retarder because most of
the other retarders on the market are too thin.
BRUSHES/KNIFE
Synthetic Brushes – you are welcome to use what you have. I like brights – #2, #4, #6 are good sizes. If you like to paint big then you might want to add a #8. I prefer the long handle brushes especially if you want to paint looser. I like the Silver Brush Bristlon All Media Brushes. The size of brushes can differ between brands so a #6 in one brand may be smaller than a #6 in another. To the left is a photo of my brushes with a tape measure for comparison.
Palette/painting knife – I prefer a metal knife because it’s more flexible than a plastic one and easier to use especially if you want to try painting with it.
PALETTES
Large Disposable Paper Palette Pad (without hole – 12 x 16 or larger)
Sta-Wet Premier Palette –Buy the red top palette – it has the sponge and special paper you will need. I keep all my paint in this palette box and mix on the disposable paper palette. My acrylic paint stays wet for a couple of weeks.
OTHER
Willow or vine charcoal (soft)
Paper towels
Six small canvases or panels (6” x 6”; 8″ x 8″ or 5″ x 7″) and one medium canvas or panel (11″ x 14″, 12″ x 12″ or 12″ x 16). You want the proportion of at least one small and large canvas/panel to be the same so for example both squares. We’ll paint a small then go larger with the painting. I use Ampersand Value panels in the smooth finish or Ampersand Gessobord but you are welcome to use what you like. I don’t however recommend the canvas panels. You can paint on Masonite or birch panels but I do recommend that you gesso them first. I’ll demonstrate this in Module 1.
Cardstock – that will go through your printer for the mixing exercises. I use 65 lb white card stock.
Disposable gloves – I end up finger painting to smear edges so I like to wear gloves. You don’t want them too loose because they will just get in the way
ViewCatcher– I’m a big fan of a viewfinder especially for landscapes. I use it to get the proportion of my canvas then select my composition.
OPTIONAL
Red Value Filter – this really helps you to see values and that’s so important in a landscape painting.