One of my favorite things to paint is clouds. I struggled with them so much when I first started painting, so here is the class I wish I had when I was first starting out.
List of Materials
- Oil Paints – Buy the best you can. This is where you want to spend your money, because artist-grade paints have more concentrated pigments, so you can mix the colors without making mud. I like Windsor & Newton and Gamblin. (See below for some alternatives.)
- Titanium White – W&N Titanium White
- Ultramarine Blue – W&N Ultramarine Blue Green Shade
- Yellow Ochre Pale – W&N YOP
- Burnt Sienna – W&N Burnt Sienna
- Cadmium Yellow (Optional, but will be needed if you want to make brighter greens and yellows. It is the most expensive color, though.) – Gamblin Cadmium Yellow Medium
- Gamsol (This is to thin the paint and clean brushes. You can also use turpentine, paint thinner, etc.) – Gamsol 14 oz bottle
- Container for Gamsol/solvent (You can also use a glass jar with a screw-on lid) – Leak-Proof Solvent Container
- Canvas panel (Buy the size of your choice. I would suggest 5×7 or 8×10.) – Canvas panels on Amazon
- Palette – I use a wood palette, but you can order a glass one (white or gray), a paper palette (again, white or gray), or use a paper plate, a piece of cardboard, or even a piece of glass in a cheap/old frame.
- Paper towels
- Ziplock bag
- Soap to clean brushes & hands – I use Murphy’s Oil soap to clean my brushes and baby oil to clean my hands. You can also use an olive-oil-based soap or any soap that will clean off oil and grease.
- Easel – You don’t have to buy an easel, but could purchase an inexpensive tabletop easel. If you want to get a little fancier, you can buy a pochade box that has an easel and palette built-in. Really, though, you can paint flat or just prop your canvas up on some books or a cardboard box. Don’t let the lack of an easel stop you from joining us!
- Brushes – The specific ones I’ll be using are the No. 4 Eclipse Filbert (you can get it HERE, too) and the No. 1 Ivory Long Flat (you can get it HERE, too) both from Rosemary & Co. They have confirmed that they are still shipping out customer orders. If you don’t purchase those brushes, the key is to have one flat synthetic brush that is about 1/4″ wide and one natural bristle brush (hog’s bristle is fine) that is 1/4-1/2″ wide. The confusing thing about brushes is that the numbers, like No. 4 and No. 1 are not standard. Brushes can have the same number and be completely different sizes! So, go off of an estimated width of 1/4- 1/2″. We just don’t need huge brushes, since we’re working small.
- Oil Paints – Buy the best you can. This is where you want to spend your money, because artist-grade paints have more concentrated pigments, so you can mix the colors without making mud. I like Windsor & Newton and Gamblin. (See below for some alternatives.)
- Titanium White – W&N Titanium White
- Ultramarine Blue – W&N Ultramarine Blue Green Shade
- Yellow Ochre Pale – W&N YOP
- Burnt Sienna – W&N Burnt Sienna
- Cadmium Yellow (Optional, but will be needed if you want to make brighter greens and yellows. It is the most expensive color, though.) – Gamblin Cadmium Yellow Medium
- Gamsol (This is to thin the paint and clean brushes. You can also use turpentine, paint thinner, etc.) – Gamsol 14 oz bottle
- Container for Gamsol/solvent (You can also use a glass jar with a screw-on lid) – Leak-Proof Solvent Container
- Canvas panel (Buy the size of your choice. I would suggest 5×7 or 8×10.) – Canvas panels on Amazon
- Palette – I use a wood palette, but you can order a glass one (white or gray), a paper palette (again, white or gray), or use a paper plate, a piece of cardboard, or even a piece of glass in a cheap/old frame.
- Paper towels
- Ziplock bag
- Soap to clean brushes & hands – I use Murphy’s Oil soap to clean my brushes and baby oil to clean my hands. You can also use an olive-oil-based soap or any soap that will clean off oil and grease.
- Easel – You don’t have to buy an easel, but could purchase an inexpensive tabletop easel. If you want to get a little fancier, you can buy a pochade box that has an easel and palette built-in. Really, though, you can paint flat or just prop your canvas up on some books or a cardboard box. Don’t let the lack of an easel stop you from joining us!
- Brushes – The specific ones I’ll be using are the No. 4 Eclipse Filbert (you can get it HERE, too) and the No. 1 Ivory Long Flat (you can get it HERE, too) both from Rosemary & Co. They have confirmed that they are still shipping out customer orders. If you don’t purchase those brushes, the key is to have one flat synthetic brush that is about 1/4″ wide and one natural bristle brush (hog’s bristle is fine) that is 1/4-1/2″ wide. The confusing thing about brushes is that the numbers, like No. 4 and No. 1 are not standard. Brushes can have the same number and be completely different sizes! So, go off of an estimated width of 1/4- 1/2″. We just don’t need huge brushes, since we’re working small.
