Who doesn’t love painting? Everyone surely does! But, if you are planning to get started, you need a handful of things. Oil painting is more interesting. Have you recently come across one? Maybe somewhere on someone’s wall. You need to know it’s more than the colours and canvas. Now, you must be wondering how to start your journey. Well, there’s nothing to worry about. Now you can go for oil painting with a little amount of investment.
Stick with us as we’ll put a detailed insight into things you need as a beginner for your oil painting. If possible, keep a note close to you.
Oil Paint
To start the journey, you need oil paint. In fact, you’ll come across a variety of brands that sell oil paints. However, it’s best to go for artist-quality paints. You will have a deeper insight into the paint quality and understand the key difference in colours. Painting supplies generally start with student-quality paints. Some versatile starter colours for oil painting include
- Yellow Ochre
- Viridian Green
- Titanium White
- Ivory Black
- Cardinal Red
If you are starting, we recommend going for the starter kit that most painting supplies companies offer. A smaller tube of phthalo blue is effective. However, remember, it’s a powerful colour. A couple of greens may come in handy when working on designs.
Make sure you purchase oil paint and not water-soluble oil paint. Water-soluble oil paint is undoubtedly effective, but we are not focusing on that area.
Paint Brushes
You don’t need too many brushes as a beginner. Getting a small set of high-quality brushes from any painting supplies company is enough. As you start the oil painting works, we recommend purchasing an oil paint brush that comes with hog bristles (when purchasing a brush, the package specifies if it suits oil painting.) As you start your painting journey, you will quickly understand which brush gravitates towards and what effects you should hope for from the one you use.
- One fan brush of medium size
- A large flat brush for covering the canvas
- A few filbert brushes from small to medium size
- A few flat brushes small to medium size
- One round brush of medium size
Palette Knives
Palette knives not only help mix the paints on your palette but also for making aesthetic textured strokes of paint on the canvas. The palette knives can develop effects that may not be available when using a paintbrush. Make sure to order firm but flexible from your painting supplies.
Canvas
While you have many options to paint on, the canvas is the most suitable surface for oil painting. When starting, the canvas board is economical. These are canvas stretches over cardboard. However, you can’t archive it as they bend unless you frame it. However, they come at a cheap price. The other option that you can go for includes stretched canvas panels.
Easel
Easel is not that compulsory if you plan to paint. In fact, it allows you to move around the painting. However, it’s a good idea to have one as a basic start. If painting on a flat surface, your posture may get broken; therefore, your painting will be hampered. Painting supplies offer many types of easels. However, each has its pros and cons.
Palette
You need to have a colour palette to hold and mix colours. In the market, you will come across a range of palettes. The latest is disposable palettes. These come very cheaply, and cleaning the palette is more than easy. In fact, a palette is just a place to mix your colours. As a starter, we recommend going for large pieces as you won’t face the issue of colour mix-ups. Additionally, colours spread out.
Final Wrap
Painting helps you improve your livelihood. It expands thought process, retrospection abilities and clarifies the mind. Individuals can express their feelings and emotions through their paintings. Sometimes, there are so many words to tell but visualizing it through the paint is something worth experiencing.
Not only does a painting allow you to explore the ideas and concepts of a painter, it equally helps others develop their thoughts. Painting is visually soothing and can help the mind and body relax. If you are someone planning to start the journey, don’t wait and try your hand now.
