Getting started with oil painting

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwjgiO2nu7PRAhVTzGMKHb2QCjQQFggNMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FPaint-Basics-Robert-Phillip-Jones-ebook%2Fdp%2FB00B5JYU7O&usg=AFQjCNGAT4DLSGbI4dzWfhQfLGXnlxr6fw&sig2=s0lVDmxYX4lK3Hsm5YX7lA Jamie here is a link to a book written by Robert Jones one of the contributors to the forum here . I have a kindle copy and I'm sure you would find it more than useful. No I'm not on commission though I might suggest it to him. Anyhow just to bring it to your notice .

I'll cut you in Sylvia if this post leads to huge orders.... Jamie, I think my e-book would help you, and at the price it's going for it's not going to make me rich to say so! In brief though, and in the hope I'm not jeopardizing a sale, I would say usually that you'd do better to avoid getting a starter set - they usually contain the cheaper colours, plus black, which probably aren't what you need. I would suggest you start with Daler Rowney's Georgian range of colours to start with - a big tube of Titanium White, because you need more of that than anything else, plus an "earth" red (basically a red-brown, like Burnt Sienna or Light Red), a crimson, like Permanent Rose, an earth yellow - Yellow Ochre, or Raw Sienna; a brighter yellow - Lemon, or Cadmium (the latter being more opaque, and the "Hue" colour will be fine to start with), maybe a green - although you can mix your own - a blue like French Ultramarine, and maybe Cobalt Blue (Hue). From those, you can mix orange, green, violet, so you don't need to buy those as separate colours unless you really want to; and you can make a very lively black, not the dead black you can buy in tubes, from mixing Burnt Sienna with the Ultramarine (you can also make a big range of greys that way just by adding white), or by mixing a green with the crimson (Viridian, for example, or Pthalo Green - although do be careful with any Pthalo colour or Prussian Blue, they're EXTREMELY strong and can take over your whole painting in seconds). Many people would add Burnt or Raw Umber, as well, for an easy brown - ie, one you can mix with other colours, to darken yellow, perhaps, or just when you want a brown in a hurry but don't want all the fag of mixing it (though it's quite easy - Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine again, a bit heavier on the Burnt Sienna). If you go for the Daler Rowney Georgian colours, or Winton by Winsor and Newton, these paints are all reasonably priced. Get yourself a handful of good brushes - any art shop will have a selection, or Rosemary & Co by mail order will sort you out: you need a few flats, in hog hair, a round or two, and a long, thin pointed brush called a rigger or script liner - this can be synthetic, you don't need to worry about expensive sables. Your mediums could be low-odour thinners, plus artists' quality linseed oil (assuming in all of this that you're using regular oil paints, not those you mix with water - they have their own mediums; the medium is just the liquid which helps the paint flow - don't add it to every single thing, you don't need to). Canvas boards - real canvas, glued to stout boards - are fine to start with, and actually rather better for oil paintings than stretched canvas; or there's oil painting paper. And an easel - if you're good with carpentry you could make something of your own - I'm not! You only need a quite basic sketching easel, in wood or metal - not some huge piece of furniture. And plenty of rags to clean up afterwards - plus a palette: these can be very elaborate (and expensive) or very basic and cheap; the cheap ones work just as well as a piece of costly mahogany. I've been painting in oil for many years, and will always be willing to advise if you send me a private message or email me - you'll find my email (several accounts) on my blog at http://www.wightpaint.blogspot.co.uk, or website at http://www.isleofwightlandscapes.net If you want to paint in water soluble oils, which I have used though don't particularly care for, I can still advise but you might find it useful to Google another user of this site, Murray Ince (can't lay hands on a link at the moment) who tutors in them for the SAA and runs courses in the UK and abroad.

I think Robert has covered all the advice you need as regards kit. My advice, once you've got the basic gear, is to get stuck in and have a go. After years of watercolour I found oils to be much more forgiving and versatile, although that might also be a comment on my watercolour proficiency! There's no substitute for 'time on the brush'.

Robert ,,,, do you use a drying oil ??,and if so which one would you recommend ,,also is there any advantage to drying paints .like griffin I,ve been thinking about using ,,, would you think they will be better for knife painting ,,take care .

Alan - I use stand oil, cut with turpentine these days, and rarely anything else. If I don't use that, I'll use refined linseed oil. Griffin alkyds would work with the knife, and dry more quickly - depending of course on how thickly you apply them. The only thing to be wary of is using them over conventional oils, for obvious reasons. Don't know that they'd be any better with a knife than conventional oil - lead whites work well with the painting knife, if you can get hold of them: a dollop of Cremnitz White, with its well-known "stringy" quality, will help you achieve all sorts of impasto effects.