Painting Supplies

In this case we will be talking about artists' painting supplies rather than painting supplies for house or industrial painters. The careful choice of painting supplies impact upon the creative process and the end result of the artist, whether student or professional. The student will require some assistance in choosing painting supplies...perhaps from a teacher, or from persons in an art supply shop. In either case, the painting supplies should be carefully chosen.

Every area of painting supplies will differ dependent upon the medium in which the artist paints. Choices might include oil paints, tempera, watercolor or acrylic. Some artists choose to work with more than one medium, so painting supplies must be purchased accordingly.

With the choice of painting medium made, the artist must turn to other painting supplies, including brushes. The brushes chosen among painting supplies will vary and may include bristle brushes (primarily for use with oil paints) hair brushes or in some cases synthetic
materials. Among painting supplies, brushes are very important, as they determine to a major extent the types of strokes and effects the artist can achieve. It would be difficult to get a soft, flowing effect with watercolor if the painting supplies included only bristle brushes.

If the artist is working with oil paints, painting supplies will include turpentine or an equivalent product as solvent, both to thin paints and to clean brushes. The artist working with watercolor paints will not require turpentine among the painting supplies, He might, however, want india ink and pens if using pen and ink to accent watercolor art.

The paint supplies for artists working with acrylic paints need not include turpentine, but might include a type of thinner to make the paint flow smoothly. Among paint supplies there are a number of materials which can be added to both oil and acrylic paints to provide a little or a lot of texture. For multi media painting, painting supplies might include glitter or small objects to create multiple effects in the painting.

Among the choices of painting supplies as a medium on which to paint are stretched canvas, canvas on board, various papers and even wood. Watercolor artists may have several weights and textures of paper among their painting supplies. Those working with oils or acrylics have more choices in painting supplies in terms of the surface on which they work. The careful choice of painting supplies is important to effective artistic results.

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