Blue Mountains Plein Air Painting Retreat Information

PAINT

If you already have paints, then please ensure you have a split primary palette, meaning a cool and warm of each primary colour and black and white.

If you are buying new, recommend Atelier Interactive acrylic 80 ml tubes in the following colours. They are widely available, even at Officeworks and Spotlight - and their prices are often cheaper than art shops.

• Titanium White

• Carbon Black

• Cadmium Yellow Light / Arylamide Yellow Light

• Cadmium red medium

• Alizarin Crimson

• French Ultramarine

• Cerulean Blue / Pthalo Blue

• Permanent Sap Green

• Magenta

• Burnt Umber

• Yellow Ochre / Burnt Sienna

If you prefer to buy a set (as in below), then supplement with the following: 

• Black

• Magenta

• Cerulean / Pthalo Blue

• Permanent Sap Green

• Yellow Ochre / Burnt Sienna

Set contains: Titanium White, Burnt Umber, Arylamide Yellow Light, Cobalt Blue Hue, Napthol Red Light, Crimson

MEDIUMS - optional

Retarder medium slows drying and is especially useful outdoors

Impasto thickens paint - if you want to work with textured paint

SUPPORTS

You can purchase packs of ply or canvas boards or stretched canvases in a range of sizes, for example, 4 of 12” x 16”, 3 of 10” x 12” etc. I found the shape of the landscape invited long rectangular formats, and if you have several of the same sizes, you could potentially butt them up next to each other if you wish to. Good quality paper is also fine.

BRUSHES

I recommend buying 5-8 hog's bristle brushes and more synthetic ones in different sizes and shapes. The styles of brush seen most commonly are:

• Round: sometimes a pointed tip, long closely arranged bristles for detail.

• Flat: for spreading paint quickly and evenly over a surface. They have longer hairs than Brights.

• Bright: shorter than flats. Flat brushes with short stiff bristles, good for driving paint into the weave of a canvas in thinner paint applications, as well as thicker painting styles like impasto work.

• Filbert: flat brushes with domed ends. They allow good coverage and the ability to perform some detail work - most useful shape.

• Fan: for blending broad areas of paint.

• Angle: like the filbert, these are versatile and can be applied in both general painting application as well as some detail work.

• Mop: a larger format brush with a rounded edge for broad soft paint application, washes as well as for getting thinner glazes over existing drying layers of paint without damaging lower layers to protect the paintbrush

EQUIPMENT

• Sketchbook - A4 or larger

• 7 - 10 Canvases/Boards/or Canvas Paper ( I will supply 2)

• Easel (if you don’t have one, let Corinne know to bring an extra one)

• Brushes - bring a range of sizes and types

• Palette knives - 2 to 3

• Palette - A plastic clear document holder or clip board makes a great portable palette

• Paints

• Retarder medium - optional

• Water

• Jar to clean brushes

• Paper towel/rags

• Coloured/graphite pencil

• Bulldog Clips

• Apron

• Baby wipes

• Plastic bag

• Hat

• Optional small folding table and chair

• Sunscreen

• Stanley knife/pencil sharpener

• Spray bottle

• Any other art materials you want to work with - I encourage experimentation!

PAINT

If you already have paints, then please ensure you have a split primary palette, meaning a cool and warm of each primary colour and black and white. Titanium white is very slow drying, so zinc white is preferable.

If you need to buy paints, then I recommend the following readily available sets of ART SPECTRUM 40 ml tubes (Windsor & Newton or Georgian are good substitutes):

• Sets of 6 colours including: Spectrum Yellow, Spectrum Red, Spectrum Blue, Spectrum Viridian, Yellow Ochre, Titanium White

• Sets of 9 colours including: Lemon Yellow, Spectrum Red, Spectrum Violet, Spectrum Blue, Spectrum Viridian, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Zinc White

If you would like to supplement either set add:

• Black

• Ultramarine Blue

• Sap Green or Australian Leaf Green

MEDIUMS

The most versatile medium is Liquin. Not necessary to buy unless you want to try it.

SOLVENT

Bring Odourless Solvent and bring a spare jar to store dirty solvent for reuse

SUPPORTS

Bring a few sheets of canvas paper and a range of sizes of plywood or canvas boards or stretched canvases, for example, 3 of 12” x 16”, 2 of 10” x 12” etc. I found the shape of the landscape invited long rectangular formats, and if you have several of the same sizes, you could potentially butt them up next to each other if you wish to.

BRUSHES

BRING 7 - 10 hog's bristle brushes and a few synthetic ones in different sizes and shapes. The styles of brush seen most commonly are:

• Round: sometimes a pointed tip, long closely arranged bristles for detail.

• Flat: for spreading paint quickly and evenly over a surface. They have longer hairs than Brights.

• Bright: shorter than flats. Flat brushes with short stiff bristles, good for driving paint into the weave of a canvas in thinner paint applications, as well as thicker painting styles like impasto work.

• Filbert: flat brushes with domed ends. They allow good coverage and the ability to perform some detail work - I find this the most versatile brush.

• Fan: for blending broad areas of paint.

• Angle: like the filbert, these are versatile and can be applied in both general painting application as well as some detail work.

• Mop: a larger format brush with a rounded edge for broad soft paint application, washes as well as for getting thinner glazes over existing drying layers of paint without damaging lower layers to protect the paintbrush

EQUIPMENT

• Sketchbook - A4 or larger

• Few sheets of canvas paper

• 7 - 10 Canvases or Boards ( I will supply 2)

• Easel (if you don’t have one, let Corinne know you may be able to borrow one)

• Brushes - bring a range of sizes and types

• Palette knives - 2

• Palette - A plastic clear document holder or clip board makes a great portable palette

• Paints

• Odourless solvent and a sealable jar with lid to store dirty solvent and another container for cleaning brushes in

• Paper towel/rags

• Coloured/graphite pencil

• Bulldog Clips

• Apron

• Baby wipes

• Plastic bag for keeping dirty rags

• Hat

• Optional small folding table and chair

• Sunscreen

• Stanley knife/pencil sharpener

• Any other art materials you may like to use - I love seeing artists experimenting and playing with materials

PAINT

If you already have paints and equipment, then please ensure you bring equivalents of the following.

Bare minimum:

• Spectrum Yellow - Art Spectrum brand (AS)

• Cadmium Red - Shminke brand (Sh)

• Ultramarine Blue (AS or Sh) (Warm Blue)

• Prussian Blue (AS or Sh) (Cool Blue)

Useful  extras:

• Cerulean Blue (AS) (Cool Blue)

• Burnt Umber (Sh)

• Lemon Yellow (AS or Sh) (Cool Yellow)

Other good brands - Rembrandt, Old Holland, Windsor and Newton, ( W&N have a cheaper student range of ‘Cottman’ watercolours as well as an artist-quality range.)

PAPER

100% Cotton paper -  several single sheets or a pad of paper ( 10 sheets minimum) of the size you want - A4 or A3 depending on how quickly you work. We will also be doing some exercises for which you will need paper.

Good options: Arches 185 gsm or 300 gsm or Saunders Waterford 200 gsm

( Heavier weight paper is better, but 185 gsm is fine for small works up to A3)

Note - good 100% cotton paper is fairly expensive. You might be tempted to get wood pulp paper because it is cheaper. It is much harder to paint on. ( If it doesn’t say 100% cotton, it is most likely wood pulp.)

BRUSHES

3 sizes

• Small - about size 3 round

• Medium - size 8 - 10 round

• Large -  size 12 round or 3/4 “ inch flat brush

Mostly, students get synthetic brushes as they are more affordable.

• HB pencil

• Kneadable eraser  ( putty rubber )

• A palette of white plastic  ( or cheap white plastic bowls ) to mix in.

• Spray bottle

• Mediums if you prefer

• Easel (if you don’t have one, let Corinne know to bring an extra one)

• Water

• Jars to clean brushes (2)

• Paper towel/rags

• Bulldog Clips

• Apron

• Baby wipes

• Plastic bag for rubbish

• Hat

• Optional small folding table and chair

• Sunscreen

• Stanley knife/pencil sharpener

• Any other art materials you want to work in

Art Kits — including acrylic or oil paints — may be hired for $140 for the duration of the retreat.
Bookings must be made no later than two weeks before the retreat, and numbers are limited.

Each kit includes:
oil or acrylic paints, brushes, palette knives, palette, solvent, jar, paper towel or rags, coloured and graphite pencils, clips, apron, baby wipes, and a viewfinder.

A limited number of easels are also available to borrow for use during the retreat.

Please contact Corinne to organise hire or reserve an easel.

What to bring if you have hired an ART KIT

• Sketchbook - A4 or larger

• 7 - 10 Canvases, Boards, few sheets canvas paper ( I will supply 2)

• Easel (unless you have requested one and it's confirmed)

• Plastic bag

• Hat

• Optional small folding table and chair

• Sunscreen

• Stanley knife/pencil sharpener

• For acrylic painters - spray bottle with water and optional retarder medium