Oil Painting Supplies for Beginners

While the obvious supplies are oil paints, paintbrushes and something to paint on, there are other useful products that support the painting process.

Latex gloves are a convenient option when you want your hands to be paint-free.

You can use gloves for mixing colors, a process that can sometimes get messy.

In addition, I use gloves when washing brushes to protect my hand while rubbing the brush on it (see below).

Note:

Some gloves are lightly powdered to prevent sweating. With these gloves, I do not recommend touching the canvas in order not to leave powder on it.

Press the back of the tube in order to take out the paint. Proceed, as the tube is getting empty.

Pressing the middle of the tube pushes some paint backward, making it difficult to take out paint smoothly.

Tip:

You can insert paint back into the tube by tapping the back of the tube on the work surface.

After finishing a painting session, sometimes there is paint left on the palette.

You can store the paint in a freezer compartment in order to stop its hardening process and to reuse it later.

Oil paints remain usable for several weeks or more, depending on how well you seal them.

A plastic box, glassware, aluminum foil, disposable plastic plate wrapped in plastic wrap, or any other way, keeps the paint usable, as long as the sealing is airtight.

Oil paints do not dry (they have no water in them); they harden by exposure to air (oxidation).

Keep in mind:

Some pigments are toxic and should be wrapped properly and kept away from food!

If you are sensitive to odors from thinners, and concern about the toxicity of these materials, you can use dish soap and water.

Wash the brushes several times, until no paint is coming out of them (put some dish soap on your gloved hand, and rub the paintbrush on it, wash, repeat).

Then, dry gently with a towel and store with the bristles up, to keep their shape.

Good to know:

If paint remains on the brush, it hardens and renders the brush useless.

For more info on paintbrushes, visit my guide for oil painting brush types.

Paper towels are great for cleaning paintbrushes and palette knives while painting, or to open and close oil paint tubes in a clean way.

Another option is to use a cloth.

In addition, you can use them (gently) to remove excessive paint from the canvas.

A palette is a board for organizing and mixing oil paints.

Palette for oil paints is made of wood, plastic and other hard materials. A glass palette, or a specially designed glass table, is easy to clean.

My favorite is a disposable palette made of impermeable, non-absorbent paper.

Green hack:

You can use old magazines as a disposable palette.

Disposable paper palettes come in different sizes and with different amount of pages.

Arrange and mix oil paints on a disposable paper. At the end of a painting session, tear off the disposable page, and throw it (without having to clean it).

You can use a high quality cotton canvas, or a linen canvas, which is quite expensive.

You do not have to frame your oil paintings when you want to hang them.

In that case, it is important to buy a canvas without pins that connect the fabric to the wood on the sides of the frame, but on the back of the frame (where they cannot be seen).

You can paint the sides of the canvas when hanging it without a frame.

Tip:

After a painting session, you can mix the remaining oil paints (that are left on the palette).

Use this mixture to paint the sides of your canvas.

Let the paint harden for several days, or more, before you hang it.

I do not use frames. I like to hang my painted canvases tight against the wall.

For that, I use nails.

If the width of the canvas is 40 cm or more, I use two nails.

When using two nails, I make sure they are balanced, using a spirit level.

The wooden frame of the canvas is suitable for hanging it on nails.

Pay attention that the nails do not stick out too much, so that they do not damage the canvas.

I find this the fastest and most convenient way to hang my paintings.

Supply for oil painting is NOT cheap. Unlike paper for pencil drawing, each canvas is quite expensive.

One solution is paper pads designed for oil paint. These paper sheets are NOT of high quality, and not aimed for finished paintings.

However, paper for oil paint is great for training, especially for beginners.

Another great use for them is for creating color palettes or color charts.

I start by drawing a grid with a black marker pen.

Next, I mix each pigment I have with increasing amount of white pigment (titanium).

In addition, I mix each two pigments with increasing amount of white.

Color palettes are a fast way to choose the color (and brightness value) I want to use.

Copyright law protects photographs, drawings, comics, and images that you can find on the Internet.

In order to use images to get ideas for paintings, or to draw them from observation, use royalty-free images.

Quite a few websites provide free images for use by artists or anybody else.

Some examples:

Pixabay

Unsplash

Pexels

In addition, with some knowledge in linear perspective, you can learn how to draw from imagination.

It is customary to sign on finished artworks. You can sign using a synthetic round brush, or a synthetic liner brush.

For a realistic painting, in which a signature can ruin its look, sign on the back of the canvas, using a marker pen or a technical pen.

In addition to a signature, add contact details, such as phone number, website address, or e-mail address on the back of the canvas.

Add some technical details, like canvas dimensions, and a date.

Oil painting is a particularly forgiving medium. If something in the painting does not work, it is possible to wipe it with a paper towel or a cloth. Another solution is to paint over it once the lower layer of oil paint hardens.

Unlike other mediums, oil paints are very easy to mix and therefore create a huge amount of colors and shades.

With a limited palette of 5 colors (red, blue, yellow, brown, and white), you can mix many colors and shades.

Wet on wet, or alla prima is a technique in which painting is done on top of a fresh layer of paint, and thus the layers can be mixed with one another.

Wet on dry means waiting for the bottom layer to harden, and only then painting a new layer on top of it.

Divide and conquer is the perception that in a complex painting, it is better to work on small parts of it and make the task less complicated.

Techniques or painting styles are a matter of personal preference.

From time to time (when painting), remember to move back from the canvas in order to see the big picture.

Once you have some painting materials, it is time to learn how to mix oil paints.

For painting realism, visit my tutorial on how to paint realistically.

To learn more about painting, visit my recommended YouTube painting instructors.