Palette

I use a wooden palette made by New Wave. It is their Expressionist Confident Wood Palette (held in left hand). It has been treated so is very easy to clean. It is a great size giving me space to mix colours and lightweight to hold.

At the end of a painting session I clean all the paint off the palette as I like starting fresh each painting session and also having as much palette space as possible for mixing.

Oil Paint

I use traditional oil paint and while I try and work with a limited palette, the number of colours I use has grown over time. The colours listed below are those I currently use but this list does change as I myself change and develop.

The colours currently on my palette include:

Titanium white no 2 (LO) (Michael Harding)
Cadmium Yellow Lemon (Michael Harding)
Cadmium Yellow (Michael Harding)j
Yellow Ochre (Michael Harding)
Cadmium Orange (Michael Harding)
Terra Rosa (Winsor & Newton)
Cadmium Red (Michael Harding)
Permanent Alizarin Crimson (Winsor & Newton)
Burnt Sienna (Michael Harding)
Raw Umber (Michael Harding)
Transparent Oxide Red (Michael Harding)
Transparent Oxide Brown (Michael Harding)
Ultramarine Blue (Michael Harding)
Cerulean Blue (Winsor & Newton)
Viridian (Michael Harding)

Some additional colours I occasionally use, particularly if I am painting flowers are:

Cadmium Yellow Deep (Rembrandt)
Magenta (Michael Harding)
Permanent Rose (Winsor & Newton)
Green Gold (Winsor & Newton)

Solvent

I use a low odour solvent when I paint. I use a small amount of clean solvent during the painting; some with the initial wash but then very little as I build up the painting.

I have an additional jar of the same solvent for cleaning my brushes close by while I work. After a studio session, I will leave the jar of solvent to settle - clear solvent will rise to the top and can be used again and the oil paint pigment will sink to the bottom. I tip off the clear solvent into a clean jar and leave the oil paint sediment behind.

I am currently using Gamsol by Gamblin but I have also used Sansodor by Winsor & Newton and would recommend them both.

Brushes

I choose all my brushes from Rosemary & Co. I typically use a filbert style but have a few short flat brushes and prefer synthetic brushes. I have brushes from the Ivory, Shiraz, Evergreen and Eclipse brush ranges. I prefer long handled brushes and have them in a range of sizes.

Some particular favourites are the Eclipse Domed Filberts and for the later stages of a painting, Eclipse Extra Long Combers.

Palette knife

I use an RGM palette knife for mixing paint and scraping off paint from my palette or board.

Viewfinder

When working from life I use a viewfinder to help me ‘see’ the composition and painting which I find incredibly useful.

Brush cleaning

At the end of a painting session I have a 3 step process for cleaning my brushes

I wipe as much paint off each brush as I can using kitchen roll
I rinse the brushes in a small amount of Murphy’s Oil Soap which takes the remaining paint off
I was the brushes with olive oil soap and water, usually scrubbing them in the palm of my hand until they are clean

The brushes are then left to dry before the next painting session.

Note: I buy the majority of my materials from Jackson’s Art and so have included links to the relevant products on their website. This is not sponsorship and I don’t benefit from recommending them but I have found them to be great for all my painting needs.

Which colours and painting materials do you use?