Adult Acrylic Painting Class / 2008

Instructor: John Helms

Acrylic Supplies List

You may want to print out this page for reference when buying your supplies.

 ( Links to Watercolor and Oil Class Supplies List pages are at the bottom of this page. )

 

Paint:

“Liquitex Basics” brand acrylic fine art paint in tubes is what I recommend for beginners – “Liquitex Basics”’ is cheaper and more fluid than Liquitex “High Viscosity”, and “Heavy Body, ”which are thicker and cost more. Buy the “Basics” to start off with – the only exception is Orange, which is Grumbacher Academy brand.

 

  1. Sap Green ( required )
  2. Hooker’s Green ( required ) 
  3. Cadmium Yellow Light  ( required )
  4. Cadmium Yellow Medium ( required )
  5. Cadmium Orange ( Grumbacher Academy Acrylic – a better, truer orange than Basics brand ).
  6. Yellow Ochre ( required )
  7. Burnt Sienna ( required )
  8. Burnt Umber ( required )
  9. French Ultramarine Blue ( required )
  10. Cobalt Blue ( required )
  11. Cerulean Blue ( optional )
  12. Prussian Blue ( optional )
  13. Alizarin Crimson  ( optional )
  14. Cadmium Red Medium ( required )
  15. Titanium White ( required )
  16. Dioxazine Purple ( required )
  17. Thalo Yellow-Green ( required )

 

Brushes:

Do not buy a cheap set of brushes, because the hair will fall out . The only cheap brushes I recommend are the ones with long handles- Langnickel "Royal" brand clear acrylic brushes with the soft rubber grips cost only $3.00 each retail, no matter what size. Buy Numbers 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. They come in synthetic, natural, and white hair. Synthetic is camel ( tan ) colored - hog's hair is a natural color. Don't buy the white ones. If you buy the natural hogs hair, make sure they are "filberts" ( long hair that is rounded on the ends ). A lot of oil painters use these brushes, but they are also good for acrylic painting because they hold a lot of paint and are good for blocking in backgrounds. If you buy the camel colored synthetic brushes, make sure the have long hairs - not short. There is another cheap brush made by Loew-Cornell I like for making leaves, shrubs and grass - they are orange colored with long handles and natural hogs hair, long bristle brushes called "Flats" and sell for under $3.00 each. Buy numbers 8, 12 and 20.

 

  1. Small & Medium Size Palette Knife – the metal ones with wooden handles - no plastic.
  2. Numbers 4, 6, 8, and 10  Natural Bristle Brushes with Round Ends. “Royal Brand” by Langnickle are only $3.00 each. There is also an inexpensive assortment of small brushes at Michaels wrapped in black canvas in a round plastic tube. It sells for under $10 retail and is a good buy for the money for smaller detailed work.
  3. Number 4 or 5 Rigger Brush ( a long, thin brush for painting branches of trees and grass. )

 

Painting Palette:

  1. 12 x 16” Disposable Tear-off  at top Paper Palette – comes in a Pad ( Fredrix brand is yellow ).
  2. White plastic palette holder with blue lid to keep acrylic paint from drying out- made for above palette. Put Vaseline all around the seal on inside and on the top edge of the palette – this makes it easier to take it on and off.

 

Painting Surface and Related Items:

  1. 16 x 20” stretched canvas ( Michaels has regular sales on these – in the Fine Art section ).
  2. 12 x 16” Canvas Pad ( any brand, comes in a pad – tear off at top ).
  3. A desk-top easel like the wooden ones Michaels sells for $15.00.( on isle with “One-Stroke” paint supplies).
  4. “Liquitex” or “Basics” White Gesso – comes in white plastic bottles - on paint isle.
  5. Emory cloth ( black in color ) for sanding down dried layers of gesso on painting surface.
  6. 2” gesso brush or flat 3”disposable sponge brush for priming canvas with gesso.

 

Miscellaneous Items – You’ll need all of these.

  1. Kneaded Eraser - ( Gray - on graphics supplies isle at Michaels and art supply stores.)
  2. Ebony ( Gray ) Drawing Pencil. ( on graphic art isle at Michaels ).
  3. One black and one white charcoal pencil - "General" brand ( on graphic art isle at Michaels ).
  4. Thin Soft Vine Charcoal sticks-comes in small boxes. ( on graphic art isle at Michaels).
  5. Paper towels ( Viva brand are the best ) or rags-old t-shirts make good painting rags, old clothes, or apron to paint in.
  6. Art box, fishing tackle box, or toolbox with carrying handle for paints, brushes and misc. supplies.
  7. Small Size Color Wheel – usually on paint isle in art supply stores and at Michaels.
  8. Large or medium container to hold water and to clean brushes in.
  9. Small container of dishwashing liquid for cleaning out brushes –doesn’t matter what brand.
  10. Sponges – You can buy a whole bag of flat, yellow sponges at Family Dollar Stores for a dollar.

 

Recommended Art Books:

I switch between the following acrylic books by Jerry Yarnell for teaching in class- Each book has color step-by-step  instructions and several paintings to choose from. The average class painting usually takes 6 to 8 weeks ( 12-16 hours ) to complete.

 

 

 Other Recommended Art Books:

 

  1. Color and How to Use It by William F. Powell ( a Walter Foster paper-back ) This is a good introductory book on beginner color theory with step by step painting demos. / $8.95
  2. Brush With Acrylics by Terry Harrison, artist ( Search Press ) large paper-back – Various painting techniques and step by step painting demos. /  $24.95
  3. Paint With Acrylics by Jerry Yarnell, artist ( A Leisure Arts Publication ) Over-sized paper-back, with step by step painting demos. /  $7.95

 

Recommended Viewing on TV:

 

·         Jerry Yarnell, acrylic artist, on BYUTV, Channel 9403 - Dish Network Only on Saturdays at 9:30am and 3:30pm CST.

·         Every now and then Channel 10, WKNO ( PBS Network ) will have an fine-art related program on.

·         Also AMC Network.

 

 

Art Supplies and Student Discounts: Since art supplies are so expensive buy them wherever you can find them on sale. Michaels Stores have a sale on art supplies every other week, along with various craft items – the sales circular usually comes in Sunday’s Commercial Appeal every other week and has a 40% off any regularly priced item coupon in it. My students get a discount off their art supplies- 10% at Michaels, 15% at The Art Center, and 20 to 25% off at Sherri’s Discount Art if you show them your art supplies list. There is no student discount at Hobby Lobby. Other sources for buying art supplies is www.dickblick.com and

www.cheapjoes.com  - both of them will also mail you a free catalogue if you ask for it.

 

Recommended Artist Forums on the Internet: www.wetcanvas.com  This is by far the largest international forum on the internet for artists. There are many channels on many categories to choose from and in each of these channels are many, many  forums chock full with good information and good artists to learn from. Any artist on any level of experience can benefit from these forums.

 

Click here to go to Watercolor Class Supplies

 

Click here to go to Oil Class Supplies

 

Painting Class Info.

 

 

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