Plein Air Painting Materials and Equipment

PAINT

I 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 Orange

• Cadmium red medium

• Alizarin Crimson

• French Ultramarine

• Cerulean Blue

• Permanent Sap Green

• Pthalo Green

• Burnt Umber

• Yellow Ochre

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

• Carbon Black

• Cadmium Orange

• Cerulean Blue

• Permanent Sap Green

• Yellow Ochre

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

MEDIUMS

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 from discount shops online. If you prefer to purchase better quality, Artsup in Kingswood is a great art store with an excellent range.

Think about bringing 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.

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 3 Painting boards, each 9 x 5 “)

• 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 makes a great portable palette for oil painting - bought at Officeworks (see images below)

• Paints

• Retarder medium

• Water

• Jar to clean brushes

• Paper towel/rags

• Coloured/graphite pencil

• Bulldog Clips

• Apron

• Baby wipes

• Plastic bag

• Hat

• Folding chair

• Small folding table

• Sunscreen

• Stanley knife/pencil sharpener

• Spray bottle

PAINT

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:

• 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 range of sizes of plywood boards 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. - 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

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

• 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

• Palette - A plastic clear document holder makes a great portable palette for oil painting - bought at Officeworks (see images below)

• Paints

• Odourless Solvent and a spare jar

• Jar to clean brushes

• Paper towel/rags

• Coloured/graphite pencil

• Bulldog Clips

• Apron

• Baby wipes

• Plastic bag

• Hat

• Folding chair

• Small folding table

• Sunscreen

• Stanley knife/pencil sharpener

Art kits, including acrylic or oil paints, may be hired for $140 for the duration of the retreat. They need to be booked no later than 2 weeks before the retreat and there are a limited number.

Kit contains: oil or acrylic paints, brushes, palette knives, a palette, solvent, jar, paper towel/rags, coloured/graphite pencil, clips, apron, baby wipes, viewfinder

A limited number of easels may also be borrowed for use at the retreat.

Contact Corinne to organise.