OIL PAINTS

I use oil paints mainly for portraits as they give natural skin tones. If you would like the free worksheet for my palette that I use for mixing skin tones the click the link below or go to the resources page. If you would like to find out more about using oil paints including using water mixable oil paints, why not look at my Oil Paint Playlist which may help you with your product choices. Listed below are 2 different brands Daler Georgian and Cobra. Georgian are great for beginners and Cobra are what I use for my commission work as they are archival (they are lightfast for above 100 Years).

Skin Tone Worksheet

Oil Paint Playlist

Water Mixable Paints

These are the paints that I use for the majority of the time as there is no need for chemicals which means they are safer for the environment, my family, easier to clean equipment and they dry quicker. If you want to learn more about water mixable oils why not watch my Water Mixable Oil Series

This brand is great for beginners - Daler Rowney Georgian Mixable Paints

This is the brand that I use regularly - Cobra Water Mixable Oil Paints

Traditional Oil Paints

I use these paints occasionally but now that I have found the benefits of water mixable oils, I rarely use them, however, if you would like to experiment with using traditional oils, I would recommend the following oil paints

This brand is great for beginners - Daler Rowney Georgian Oil Paints

These are the brands that I am currently using in my professional pieces Williamsburg Oil Paints or Micheal Harding Paints

Other Essentials

Solvent Free Mediums

Over the past year or so I have been testing out Solvent Free mediums and techniques and if you would like to find out more about how I use Solvent Free products and techniques in my studio then click here

If you want to speed up the drying process, there is a range of quick drying mediums that I use together and they are Gamblin Solvent Free Fluid and Gamblin Solvent Free Gel. If you want to find out more about how I use these products in my work, I would suggest you watch this clip

You will obviously need the right brushes and this will depend on the type of work that you do. As you are using oil paint, you will need a bristle brush to handle the viscosity of the paint. I paint portraits more than any other subject so I use certain brushes so you need to consider the brushes you need before buying them and if you aren’t sure, you may want to start with a synthetic set to get a feel for what brushes you use most.

Synthetic brushes -Some of the newer synthetic brushes are preferable to artists who want to avoid using animal based products, and will achieve similar results to the traditional natural hair brushes. Natural hair is softer than synthetic, but it’s worth noting that the synthetic alternatives are more durable and have more of a spring, making them more suited to working with heavy bodied oil and solvent. You will be able to find synthetic brushes that hold pigment like a hog bristle brush, are springy enough to work colour into the weave of a canvas, but soft and flexible enough to paint detail. If you want to experiment with a set before committing to a more expensive brush, this is a good set to get started with Royal & Langnickel Synthetic Brush Set. My favourite synthetic brush is the Winsor and Newton Monarch

Bristle Brushes - Bristle brushes main purpose is to block in shapes in your base layers, creating texture, working on rough surfaces. All brushes have bristles, but only brushes made from hog hair (or a synthetic alternative) are actually called bristle brushes. This set is a good starter set with a mixture of brush shapes Winsor and Newton Winton Bristle Brush Set

Sable Brushes - Sable brushes are good for blending colours into smooth gradients, working in fine detail and creating realistic effects. The hair of sable brushes are soft, and they give the artist control, accuracy, and blend colours smoothly. The disadvantage of using sable for detail in oil, is that the paint has to be fairly runny for it to work and the brushes only function properly on smoother surfaces. Sable brushes are best for small areas of delicate detail. I tend to use them for the fine details on the face. Da Vinci Sable Brush

Palette knives - These are useful for building up impasto marks and I use them regularly for mixing paints as I find them more effective Palette Knives

I normally use rip off paper palettes alongside my large plastic palette as I normally mix many different skin tones and hair colours and like to use them over several sittings so I store the paper palette and plastic palette in my large plastic sealable palette holder which is probably my best art buy of the year as it has save me all the effort of re mixing the paint. Sure my paint will stay wet for a day or two but this keeps the paint wet for much longer along with the sponges and clove oil.

Final essential item would be my easel which I have had for over 15 years and I am surprised is still standing !!

For cleaning your brushes I would recommend watching this clip to see my cleaning routine for oil brushes. In this clip you will see how I use Safflower Oil to keep my brushes clean and prolong their life.