What are my favourite products for oil painting?
These are some products I really highly would recommend using if you are interested in oil painting. These products are now available at our retail location at The Space Above, 371 Reid St. Quesnel BC. We are located upstairs in Books and Company, I have included links if to purchase these products online if you don't live in Quesnel. I may make a commission if you decide to order through any of these links, but I have tried all these products, and use them regularly, and/or have brought them into the store because I loved them, and wanted to make them available to others.
1. M. Graham Walnut Oil Paint! I love the richness and blendability of oil paint. My favourite is the M. Graham walnut oil paint. Select this link for an assortment of available M. Graham oil paints: https://amzn.to/33DbfGA
2. M. Graham Walnut Oil Medium I like to use walnut oil instead of other mediums. I usually barely need any oil, but if you want to add glazes, or if your paint is starting to thicken or get a bit tacky after a few hours on the palette, then just add a few drops of oil. It is available in different sizes, but the most convenient are the 4 oz and 8 oz containers. If you are painting outdoors and don't want to be packing around a lot of supplies, then pour a little oil into a smaller container or take your 4 oz container with you. The 32 oz metal containers are available and if you are going through a lot of oil, might make sense for you, but I buy the 8 oz for my own use as well as for workshops. Here is a link if you can't make it into The Space Above.. https://amzn.to/34JUA3M
3. Masterson Palette Seal Box There are different sizes of palette boxes available. I like the 12 x 16 with sealing lid. It comes in oil (blue lid) or acrylic (red lid). The only difference is the colour of the lid, and the acrylic box comes with a sponge and some acrylic palette paper, which you use by soaking the sponge, then putting it under some palette paper, and it will keep your acrylic paint wet for days. If you paint in both oil and acrylic, you can use the box for either, just don't use the sponge for your oil paints, only acrylic. Here is a link for the Palette Boxes I like: https://amzn.to/3iCgivm
Use the same above link to order Palette Paper for your Palette Seal Box. Make sure you get the oil palette paper for oil painting, or the acrylic palette paper for acrylic painting. Here are a few more links for oil palette paper:
4. Jack Richeson Grey Matters Palette Paper 12 x 16 This is a grey toned paper, it is supposed to make it easier to mix the proper colour, as opposed to using a bright white paper. I like it. I have just started using this paper, and I think it really does help with my paint colour mixing, although I still use the white palette paper too.The grey costs a little more per sheet, but is worth it. https://amzn.to/2FhkPps Make sure you order the same size paper as your palette box, as it comes in different sizes
5. Canson XL Palette Paper 12 x 16 https://amzn.to/33FnHWm
White palette paper for oil painting. Fits perfectly into the Masterson Palette Box 12 x 16
6. Bienfang Palette Paper 12 x 16 There are other brands of palette paper too, another one I bring in is Bienfang Palette Paper 12 x 16 https://amzn.to/3nuNZTh I would just see which one is most affordable at the time you are ordering and available. This one seems to be a tiny bit nicer for the walnut oil paints I use, especially the more oil I use, but I haven't done any testing on that. Maybe in a future post, I will do some tests of paper and let you know what I find! Or let me know what you think of these papers, it would be interesting to see if anyone can tell the difference between brands.
7. General Pencil "The Masters" brush cleaner and preserver https://amzn.to/2GOg2vY
This brush cleaner is so good! You need to make sure most of the paint is wiped off your brushes with your paper towels, but then you just rinse with water and swirl your brushes around on this solid brush cleaner, wait a few seconds, then rinse the residue off with water. You may need to do this a few times depending on how dirty your brushes are, but I have saved so many brushes that previously I would have just had to throw out because I forgot to wash them before the paint dried on them. If you are planning on doing a lot of painting, get the 24 oz tub as it is the best deal for your money. Although this brush cleaner is useful for oil, acrylic and watercolour paints, it makes sense to have a separate tub or container for acrylic and watercolour from oil. If you transfer oil or oil paint onto your watercolour or acrylic brushes by accident, you may not be able to use them even if you wash them really well, as they might repel water.
Do you have any favourite products that you think I should add to this list? Let me know, and I might try some of them out. Thanks, and have a wonderfully creative day!
Katja