P is for Paints

There are many different types of paint but I’m only going to cover 3 of them here, Oil, Watercolour and Acrylic. Paints are generally manufactured in 2 qualities, Artist or Student. The Artist ranges are a much better quality but they do cost a lot more than the Student equivalent.

Oil Paints



















As the name says, they are oil based paints traditionally thinned using Refined Linseed Oil and Turpentine but you can get Oil paint thinners from Windsor and Newton.

The most commonly used good painting surfaces for oil paints include Canvas and Illustration Board. Linen canvas is best but linen/cotton mix can be used. These and Illustration Boards are widely available from art shops and they are normally ready primed, although you can prime them yourself using something like Gesso.

A good colour palette to start would be Titanium White, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, Ultramarine Blue, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber and Cobalt Blue. You will notice that no black has been mentioned, try not to use black or if you do, use it sparingly, its use produces muddy colours.

Generally when using oils you would start by doing an Underpainting using either very thinned down Burnt Umber Oil paint or alternatively Burnt Umber Acrylic as this is very quick drying.

Once you are happy with your underpainting a good guide is to then build up the colours working from dark to light, although this is down to personal preference, just have fun and experiment.

Don’t fret if you go wrong either, oils are very opaque if not thinned so mistakes can be covered quite easily.


Watercolours



















Watercolour paints are, believe it or not, water based. They can come in tubes, a paste form, or in pans, solid paint until a wet brush is applied.

Paper is probably the best painting surface, there are an abundance of papers available in differing textures and weights.

The lighter weight papers will need to be stretched to prevent buckling. To do this, soak a sheet of paper in water for a few minutes and lay it out on a drawing board. Tape around the edges with wetted brown paper sticky tape.

A good colour palette for watercolours would be Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber, Indian Red, Sepia, Cadmium Red, Crimson Lake, Prussian Green, Cerulean, French Ultramarine, Prussian Blue, Paynes Grey. Again avoid black if possible.

Watercolours have a beautiful transparency and painting is done with mainly washes of colour. Picking out details are normally done by dry brushing and a good rule of thumb is to work from light to dark.

To maintain the beautiful transparent look try to avoid using white, hence why it has not been mentioned in the colour palette.

Acrylics



















Acrylics are incredibly versatile, they are used with either water or Acrylic Medium and they have the opacity of oils but are very quick drying as they are water based. They can also be used like a wash as in watercolours but once dry you are not able to blend them again as in the way as you can with watercolours.

Acrylics can be used on a variety of surfaces, primed or unprimed, although it is better to seal wood before you paint. Canvas, illustration board and paper can all be used.

A good colour palette for acrylics would be Burnt Umber, Ultramarine Blue, Titanium White, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, Naples Yellow, Paynes Grey, Burnt Sienna, Chromium Oxide of Green and Lamp Black.

Tip for making black.

A good way to make black is to use Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue, more blue and you have a cooler black, more brown and it warms it up a little.

Why not get experimenting.