Class Supply List

I’d like to begin by talking a bit about the safety concerns associated with painting indoors.

There is nothing harmful about working with oil paints and pigments unless they are introduced into the blood stream. This can only be done through open wounds or through ingesting the paint. This is not a concern if we simply cover knicks or scratches we might have on our hands, and we are careful not to touch our faces while painting, or put a paintbrush handle in our moths, for example.

The material commonly associated with oil painting that can be harmful while in enclosed spaces are solvents. Solvents can be a helpful way to alter and control the consistency of our paint, but it is not actually necessary that we work with them. If you have a studio space that is equipped for solvent use, or if you are able to paint in a large or well ventilated space, then I would recommend a simple combination of Gamsol and linseed oil as a painting medium. If you are working in a smaller space or in a corner of a room at home, I would recommend simply using walnut oil as a medium. It can be used to loosen the paint similar to the way we might use Gamsol, and is perfectly safe in an enclosed space. Just to be clear, oil painting in an enclosed space is perfectly safe if you are NOT using solvents.

To be sure I haven’t left any wet paint lying around indoors I will often simply use a large drop cloth.

The following is a paired down list of essential colors to have at the beginning of the course. This will make up our foundational primary palette and will be our palette for the first few exercises. 40ml tubes of:

• Cadmium Yellow Light or Cadmium Yellow Medium or Permanent Yellow or equivalent primary yellow (not too close to orange)

• Alizarin Crimson or Permanent Crimson or equivalent

• Ultramarine Blue

• One large tube of Titanium White

If you’d like to keep things simple this can act as your palette for the duration of the term, however I will discuss ways to expand this palette after the first 3 paintings.

Optional expanded primary palette colors #1:

• Cadmium Yellow Medium or Deep or equivalent warm yellow (Orange feeling)

• Cadmium Red or Vermillion Red or equivalent warm red (leans toward yellow)

• Cerulean or Cobalt blue or equivalent yellow leaning blue

Optional expanded primary palette colors #2

• Yellow Ochre or Yellow Ochre Deep

• Earth tone red such as Indian Red , Venetian Red, or Red Ochre

• A cold black such as Ivory Black, Blue Black (Winsor Newton), or Cold Black (Williamsburg)

You will also need the following materials:

• 1 wooden or disposable palette( I like the neutral grey you can get at the art store but freezer paper also works well)

• 1 12 by 18 pad of Arches oil paper (or prepared surfaces of a comparable size that you would like to work on.)

• 1 roll of masking tape and 1 board to attach paper or painting material to

• Paper towels or painting rags (I love the blue shop towels you get at the hardware store)

• 1 small sealable container for painting medium

• painting medium: this can be either walnut oil or a 50/50 combination of linseed oil and Gamsol

• at least 1 good quality drop-handled palette knife

• A variety of brushes: at least 2 #8 or larger, and at least 2 smaller than an 8. At least 1 of each of the 3 major shapes: the flat, the filbert and the round. This will be covered in detail in class, if these are your first brushes a mixed pack can be great.

• 1 plastic viewfinder called a Viewcatcher

• Drawing materials: just a good pancil and eraser for drawing on your canvas, and possibly a sketchbook or some paper for sketching before you paint (optional)

•Easel: It will be much easier to see what we are working on if its not flat on a table. I highly recommend either an inexpensive table easel that can be found at any art store, or a portable easel or folding easel if you have one. The sort of easel you would use for painting outdoors can be great and folded up when not in use.