[Lunatique]

I know we've done this type of thread a few times in the past, but this time I wrote it specifically for a tight budget.

A friend of mine wanted to borrow my painting supplies since I'm away from california for a while, but he'd have hard time getting them out of heavy boxes, so I wrote this to help him build a basic set of his own for under $100. I thought this might help out some of you that are considering trying out the traditional method of painting for a low budget.

BTW, when I write about this stuff, I'm usually thinking in terms of oil paints. For other mediums(acrylics, watercolor, gouche..etc), there are similar but different idiosyncracies.

My email to him:

"I don't mind, except that there's no way in hell you'll be able to find them. They are within one of the 60+ boxes, totally spread out(some brushes here, paints in another box, blending mediums in another box..etc)burried under God-knows-what, and mis-labled(when I moved back, I didn't have time to pack properly). So, to get to them, you'd have to spend at least a whole day in that garage and move around all the heavy boxes(quite a few requires at least two people, as I've purchased more stuff in Kentucky)rip out/re-tape all the packing tapes, remove the contents/repack the contents...etc.

Man, just describing the process scares me. I fucking hate moving now.

On the other hand, you can easily get all the essential stuff under $100, be it acrylics, oils, or watercolor(including brushes and paintings surface). If you want my advice(not that you need it, since you've had your classes at Berkeley regarding the basics), I'd say get the following, and you can paint virtually anything with this setup:

*hard brushes(1 large flat, 1 medium flat, 1 small flat)

*soft brushes(1 medium fanbrush, 1 medium round, 1 small sable)

*paints(your choice of medium. I'm going to use names that I often use, but different companies/mediums have different names for them. Just find the equivalent). I've attached a color chart with my markings on it for you to ID the colors and match equivalent colors visually:

The basics: thalo blue, thalo green, cadmium yellow light, cadmium red medium.

supporting colors: titanium white--do NOT get any other white; they are useless, mars black--do NOT get ivory black; it's useless(I SHOULD be advocating that you blend your own black out of colors, as it gives you a more lively and saturated black, but I don't think you care about getting all professional and shit).

For convenience, but you can mix these: alizarin crimson, raw umber, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, ultramarine blue, sap green.



Remember, you don't NEED all these(in fact, you can stop at the primaries and add the Titanium white), but for a fairly convenient setup, this is really good. In fact, many elite painters will consider that many colors too much. Also, you don't NEED super elite pro quality shit. The only difference is that the super expensive stuff has stronger tinting strength. The student grade stuff is more than adequate. BUT, if you want to feel all special and shit, feel free to get the top of the line elite stuff, but remember, you'll be spending more than $100 if you do that.

As far as surfaces go, you can gesso a friggin' card board box and paint on it, so use whatever(oh yeah, you probably need gesso too if you are going to paint opaque). I personally just use any cheap canvas board. I used to gesso my own wood, but it got REALLY heavy.

In case you wanted to know, I personally use Winsor Newton Artisan water-mixable oil paints. You just add water, and that's it. It behaves EXACTLY like traditional oils(even smells the same), except you don't use paint-thinner. If you want more details, check here: http://www.winsornewton.com/Main/Sitesections/EncycloSctn/ProductInfo/ARTSNpage.html

Have fun!!

Rob
BTW, do you use a chat program? I'm on ICQ sometimes."

Now, since my friend is NOT serious about art, the setup I described for his might be a bit basic. So, for those of you that are more serious, here's some additional stuff I'd throw in. BUT, this will break the $100 budget:

First of all, I would say get good quality brushes if you are serious. Crappy brushes are kinda frustrating if you are serious about painting. The fanbrush I mentioned is really optional as well. I listed it because I know that my friend likes that smooth pretty look. I would also throw a palette knife in there, for both mixing and painting.

Painting mediums: use dryers if you hate waiting for paint to dry. Try not to use too much of it because your paintings might crack a lot sooner than it should. Use linseed oil if you don't like painting with the toothpaste consistency. But remember, the more oil you use, the longer it takes to dry. Try not to go ape-shit with lots of turpentine either. It can unbind your paint's binder and give you flaky results.

A nice and large palette(or make one yourself). There's nothing more annoying than trying to mix paint on a dainty palette.

Anyway, this is just the way I do things. Some other painter might look at this and go, "Bwahahaha. What an ass. My setup is way more efficient."

Feel free to add to this.

[ April 08, 2002: Message edited by: Lunatique ]

[Pat]

Regarding black: as a painting student my professors didn't allow us to use it all until our third year. Supposedly this was to break us of the mental habit of automatically reaching for it when we wanted to increase values. With a little creative mixing you can get along without it. Even today, when I use black it's quite a treat.

In my fourth year I had a professor do the exact opposite. He took all my colors away and gave me only black and white. He then proceeded to tell me to paint a blue painting! Curiously, if you mix oils just right, you can do exactly that.

As for gesso, as a poor student I switched to matte acrylic housepaint. It's much cheaper and worked the same. It might not be as archival, but I wasn't interested in keeping most of my work anyway. When canvas/frames became too expensive to build (I stretched my own to save $$) I started using Arches paper --which was really kinda cool. There's no play to the surface, but paint just skates around on it. I even painted on glass a few times, which was quite the experience.

My two big rules for saving money as an artist:

1) Never buy anything with the word "Art" on it ie. an "ArtBin". Chances are you can find the exact same thing elsewhere that works better and is half the price.

2) No matter how much you're tempted to, don't ever skimp on your white. Buy the best you can afford.

-Pat

[edraket]

If you want cheap I think acrylics are better. You can paint on anything.
Like Pat said.
I've been using cardboard boxes I got from the supermarket or hardboard primed with regular white wallpaint.

[eyewoo]

Hey... thanks for doing that...

I keep thinking one day I'll set myself up with oils again. I printed out your message and have it filed...

Last time I oil painted was at least 15 years ago. I was in an art store recently and saw a $35 price tag on a tube of Cadmium Red -- OUCH!

It's hard to believe that water based oil paint acts like petroleum based paint... Are the paints archival? What do you use instead of linseed oil with the water based paints?

[ April 09, 2002: Message edited by: eyewoo ]

[xXxPZxXx]

thanks a lot Lunatique! weird that I was JUST looking for a list like this. I am doing a kind of generic project at school where I do a self portrait in about 10 different mediums and most of them the school doesn't have and won't get me. Wanted to do it on the cheap.

Thanks
-PZ-

[jr]

phil, you can use linseed oil or water. the water soluble paint isn't too great because of the way it dries, remember that the water will dry before the oil does, little pockets of air will be in there, so the paint isn't as stable. anywho,, i just stick to normal oil paint and use very very little thinner.
here are some colors i use along with your list,
Brownpink from holbien
transparent oxide red from rembrandt
perm rose from wn
veridian is a pretty neat color too.
prussian blue is cool but very fugitive i heard.

[Lunatique]

eyewoo-- I havn't had any problems with the artisan line of oils. I've worked on 5 paintings with that line of paints, and they've behaved just like regular oils. I tried really hard to detect differences, but couldn't find any. There are other brands too, and I can't vouch for their quality(hey, Jr, what brand did you use?).

You can actually mix traditional painting mediums and oil paints with the Artisan--just don't tip the scale too much. Read the detailed description in the link I posted for the Artisan. It tells you how high your non-Artisan percentage can be before you break the Artisan's unique water-soluble property.

The Artisan line also has linseed oil, dryers, and other painting mediums made especially for the artisan water-soluble line.

[edraket]

I used the artisan. It just didn't work as well.
Especially with the first layer. It didn't get that same waxyness that allows you to sketch and wipe off everything.
It just felt like there was something missing.
And it doesn't have that stink that makes me feel all creative. : )

[Lunatique]

REALLY? My Artisans smell just like regular linseed oil paints. It painted just like it too.