Sarah Thibodeaux's Supply Kit for Advanced Portrait Painting

MATERIALS LIST

PORTRAIT PAINTING IN OILS

Canvas

prepared canvas, no smaller than 11x14, no greater than 18x24 (or gessoed board, such as those sold byAmpersand)

For Advanced Portrait Painting, consider using a smooth surface, such as linen or smooth panel (links above).

Palette

Wood palette is recommended but other palettes are fine, as long as they are not white.Surface should be medium tone (not too warm or cool)

Paint

Oil paint in the following colors(I recommend artist grade, not student grade­­ such as Windsor and Newton’s Winton line­­ because it has more pigment and less filler. Gamblin, Windsor & Newton, Rembrandt, Holbein, Williamsburg—all good brands). Advanced painters may consider using paint with more pigment--also those made in small batches may be good to try.

  • Ivory Black

  • Transparent Oxide Red or Burnt Sienna

  • Ultramarine Blue

  • Viridian

  • Alizarin Crimson or Permanent Alizarin

  • Cadmium Red Light

  • Cadmium Yellow Light

  • Permalba White or Titanium white

Acrylic paint (for toning the canvas)

Raw Umber

Charcoal

Vine charcoal (for drawing)


Brushes

My favorite brush maker is Rosemary & Company from the UK.https://www.rosemaryandco.com/I recommend Series 279. Mongoose Long Flats in a range of sizes­­choose 4­-6 brushes from #4 on up to #12If you can’t find those, choose a few Filbert bristle brushes in sizes #4, #6, #8 but also make sure to have onesable flat in size #8 or #10. Try to get natural not synthetic hairs.You may also need a small sable for signing your paintings.I recommend that the sable have long hairs rather than short.

(Note: if you need brushes locally in New Orleans, New Orleans Art Supply, 3041 N. Rampart, carries If youneed brushes, they don’t carry Rosemary brushes. Consider instead the Royal Langnickel SableTek brushes,which have synthetic hairs, but are close to Rosemary’s series 279 feel.)

Turps

Turpenoid or other odorless paint thinner (bring this in a glass jar—salsa jars are good). Must be odorless.

Rags

Paper Towels

Smock

Optional but recommended (old men’s shirt works great!)

Brush cleaner

Old Masters Brush cleaner (works great to get paint out of brushes)


Local art supply stores:

New Orleans Art Supply, 3041 N. Rampart St. New Orleans LA 70117 (504) 949­1525 ​www.noartsupply.com(very close to Studio Thibodeaux).

David Art Center, 3020 N Arnoult Rd, Metairie, LA, (504) 888­3630, www.davidartcenter.com