What you need to get started
Oil painting requires more equipment than drawing but less than most beginners assume. A limited palette of 6–8 colours, three brushes, a canvas, and some solvent is enough to paint anything.
Paints: a limited starter palette
The only 6 colours you need
- Titanium White: The most used colour on your palette. You'll mix it into almost everything. Buy the largest tube you can find.
- Ivory Black: For darks and neutralising colours. Dries slowly, so add a little linseed oil or use a fast-dryer medium.
- Yellow Ochre: A warm earth yellow, the most useful yellow for beginners; more controllable than Cadmium Yellow, which is very strong.
- Burnt Sienna: A warm, transparent brown. Essential for skin tones, wood, earth. One of the most versatile pigments in the box.
- Ultramarine Blue: A rich, slightly warm blue. Mixes into excellent greens with yellow, and near-blacks with Burnt Sienna.
- Cadmium Red Medium (or Alizarin Crimson): Cadmium Red is opaque and warm; Alizarin Crimson is transparent and cool. Alizarin is more versatile for beginners.
Student-grade paints (Winton by Winsor & Newton, Galeria) are appropriate for learning. Artist-grade paints have higher pigment load and more consistent behaviour. Move to them when you're committed.
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Brushes: three is enough
£15–25 for three good brushesA flat (size 6 or 8) for blocking in large areas. A round (size 4) for mid-sized work. A small round or filbert (size 2) for detail. Hog bristle brushes for oil painting: they hold more paint and push it around better than synthetic brushes. Cheap brushes shed hairs into your paint. Spend £5–8 per brush.
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Canvas or canvas board
£3–8 per canvas board; £8–20 for a stretched canvasStretched canvas is traditional. Canvas board (canvas glued to card) is cheaper and easier for beginners. Start with A4 or A3 size: small enough to finish in one or two sessions, large enough to work freely. Prime (gesso) the surface if using raw canvas.
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Linseed oil and odourless mineral spirits
£5–10 for bothLinseed oil: added to paint to make it flow more smoothly and increase transparency. Mineral spirits (odourless): for thinning paint in early layers and cleaning brushes. Keep in small dipping jars with lids. The smell of regular white spirit/turpentine is powerful, so use odourless mineral spirits at home.
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