SUGGESTED MATERIALS AND GEAR FOR MY WORKSHOPS

General Attendees are required to bring all the gear they find necessary to paint, including easel, umbrella, chair, paper towels, trash bags, brushes, paints, solvents, mediums, canvases, sketchpad, etc.

NOTE I use the materials I do to get my paintings to look like they do. However, this can likely be accomplished with any number of other, similar materials. So use what you have or what you like. I am not overly strict about materials.

For brushes, I suggest a stiffer brushes like DaVinci Maestro2 Bristles or Rosemary Egberts, and less stiff (or middle-stiffness) brushes like Rosemary Master Series or Rosemary Long Eclipse Combers. Any other brands or types of brush are fine so long as they generally fulfill these two stiffness requirements. Also for brushes, I do suggest at least a few small, delicate brushes, like Rosemary Master Series 279 in sizes 0-3, or Rosemary Master Series Liners sizes 3/0-2. It’s difficult if not impossible to paint delicate things (like tree branches) without a delicate brush. Again, any brand is fine. Also, while I have all sizes of certain brushes you do not need to have every size if you’re just getting started. Buying just the odd (or even) sizes is a good way to have a range of brush sizes without buying every single one; and the larger sizes (anything over 1.5 inches or so) can be skipped entirely, unless you plan to work large in your studio.

For surface, a reasonably smooth surface is ideal, preferably portrait grade canvas of some kind (the brand is not important), or a gessoed panel with no more than a slight to moderate texture. Thin washes and initial applications of thin paint are important in my work and these just do not look right on cheap acrylic canvas from the local arts and craft store, or canvas with too pronounced of a weave. I strongly recommend an oil-based primer/ground (see surface materials above). Oil primed surfaces tend to be less absorbant which keeps those thin layers from sinking in too much and allows them to retain their depth. However, canvas smoothness is more important than the ground, so any reasonably smooth linen (of any brand) is sufficient. For canvas sizes I recommend no smaller than 9x12 and no larger than 16x20; nothing too small, it’s actually better to have a little room to spread out on the canvas, even if just a little.

For paint the only thing I truly recommend is to make sure to have a fully transparent warm dark, like Transparent Oxide Brown or Red. The various Raw and Burnt earth colors just do not produce truly rich and transparent darks. Don’t worry about the optional colors that are not always on my palette. Also, I swapped out my cadmium colors with modern replacements, but there is nothing wrong with cadmiums so use them if you have them. My palette is really just an extension of the two-of-each primary idea, with the addition of a fully transparent earth tone mentioned above and a few shortcut colors to make my mixing easier and more efficient. Any similar combination of pigments is fine. While I note the brand next to each color this frequently changes, and only a few colors are truly brand-dependent for me: the two oxide colors and titanium white. Otherwise the most important thing about paint is to make sure you are comfortable using and wasting large amounts of it. If that means using Student Grade paints then use them.

For medium, I use a variation on the Meyer medium, generally substituting Gamsol and Galkyd for Turpentine and Damar Varnish respectively. The real beauty of this medium is its ability to “set up” on the canvas and allow for layering. I use it to keep darks thin, for long luscious strokes of paint, and for drips and splatters.

For solvent…In the studio I clean my brushes almost exclusively with walnut oil and use very little solvent of any kind. Outside I use Gamsol to clean my brushes and I use a small bit of Turpentine briefly at the outset to do the initial washes, splatters and drips. If you’re going to try Turpentine make sure it’s art store quality…you’ll know by the price, and it goes by “Pure Gum Spirits” or “Rectified” or “Triple Rectified”, etc. DO NOT use the hardware store stuff. Solvent, although helpful, is not strictly necessary for my process and I appreciate folks may not want to use any of it because of toxicity concerns.