Materials: Oil paint, thinner in a jar with a cap, brushes, rags to wipe brushes with, canvas or board to paint on, palette and palette knife. If you have your own preferences already, that is fine with me; my preferred specific materials are:
- Paints: "Artist" quality paint (Gamblin, Winsor & Newton (Winton is the student-grade stuff, which has less pigment and more filler), Williamsburg, etc). Colors: Titanium White, Arylide Yellow, Quinacridone Rose/Red/Magenta, Phthalo Blue, Burnt Sienna.
- Canvas/board: Michael's has pretty good gallery-wrapped canvases. Working on board is fine too - the real key is that the surface must be primed (with gesso) and dry before the first session, so we can get right into it. I will try to bring some extra surfaces to paint on, also. I'm thinking for size something between 14" and 20" on the long edge.
- Brushes: A variety of sizes and textures are good. From super thin riggers to 1/2 inch square brushes... having a mix will allow you to create many different textures and marks.
- Thinner: I prefer EcoHouse Orange-based thinner. Whatever you use, put it in a glass jar with a cap that screws shut, so the fumes can be minimized. A spring or piece of metal grating formed in to a dome, placed at the bottom of the jar, will allow you to clean brushes more effectively also.
- Palette: I use a piece of plexiglass typically, but palette paper makes a perfectly acceptable (and disposable) substitute (it just generally isn't as big).
- Palette knife: anything from a cheapie plastic one to something sturdy and metal is fine.
- Rags: old clothes or towels (cotton works best) that you don't mind ruining by getting paint all over them.
You might also consider bringing a pencil, apron, and/or nitrile gloves.