# New to oil painting. PLEASE HELP!



## Joshua Atkinson

Hello! I am new here and I am just needing a little advise. I have done some painting with acrylic but I want to get into the style of Bob ross with his wet on wet technique. His paint sets are very expensive for me. Can someone please point me in the right direction as far as which brand of oil paint is the best for a budget? Also natural bristle brushes? Just need a 1 inch and 2 inch flat brush, a fan brush, a blender, and good pallete knife. Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## yarnart

Because you are a beginner on this technique, your first few works best to done with the cheapest set of paints and tools, because have a good chance, they mostly will be wasted... 
Later on, you will find your way built on your first experiences.


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## M Winther

Nowadays, cheap oil paints are perfectly fine. The only thing one should spend some money on is brushes. However, Ross did not seem to use regular brushes. He used a kind of broad brush for painting walls. You don't need green paint. It is easily mixed from yellow and blue. And violet is mixed from blue plus red. Buy non-odour solvent. Buy cheap cotton canvas or panels. Cotton is better than linen anyways. It is not necessary to varnish the paintings; so you don't need varnish. Oil painting is a cheap hobby, because the paint tubes last so long, much longer than acrylic paints. Remember to always dilute the paint with solvent plus linseed oil. The result is more beautiful and more archival, and the paints last longer.


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## sangree

Bob Ross is okay but, you might check out William Alexander who was Bob Ross's mentor. As for brushes, they should be medium grade or better. If you live near a Michael's store, you will find that they usually run a discount of 40% for one item per week. This is one way to get some good buys. I use oderless mineral spirits for some thinning and brush clean up. I also have some hints you might try at my home page. Hope this helps.


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## pastelartprints

You can use Michael Harding Artists’ Oil Colour as a beginner . These colors are reasonably priced, no driers added, buttery texture, also here is limited selection of colours, some separation in the tube. check here how I have blended these colors.
http://bit.ly/2v4llP7


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## Chrisd

Hi there my father bought a painting back in the 90s by a frank McCarthy it's believed to be an oil painting on canvas framed and signed by McCarthy dated 1988 any info would be great thanks


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## [email protected]

Hi there, if you are new to oil painting, don't over think the brushes and equipment, keep it simple. I have some free content in my art school that might be helpful - look for - 'basic basics', happy painting,

https://www.suzyfrenchart-lessons.com/


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## Natalia Karpman

I think it also depends on the size of your paintings and how much paint you might actually need  Because there are some brands that have like 35 ml tubes and you can get a whole set of colors (like 10-12 different tubes) for as much as 20 euro (or I don't know what your currency is ) 
I guess if you're following Bob Ross you might want to get big tubes so you don't have to constantly buy more and more. As for me, I use brand called Pebeo, they're really nice quality, very soft touch, I am totally happy with those (you can check out the result here. I also tried Van Gogh oil paints, which are also fine. But if you are a beginner, you might also be totally fine with whatever you can afford, don't break your head over it. Try different ones! you'll find the one you prefer


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## Durbar765

Having trouble so I decided to post here:
Hi,
I haven't painted in years and even then I was not very adept in paints and supplies. Though, in 2011 I was considering starting again and blindly went on a spending spree purchasing quality products from Pearl Paint(see...Long ago  )
and they have been stored in a box ever since. For about 4 years they were kept in a cool space but the cardboard box was moved to a warmer garage where they have stayed until now, which I have not even attempted to open. 



There's like 30 tubes of Pebeo Oil paints.


There's a small glass jar of Linseed oil


There's a bottle of Gesso


Some kind of oil Medium that is white and opaque, like yellowy cream(from my memory, I don't know what it is)





Based on what I recall from the contents My questions are as follows:


Ultimately will I need to just toss the entire box from now saving me the attempt and time to look through it?


Are these potentially harmful to my health at this point?


Are the paints salvageable? Will they be hard as a rock?



Should I throw specific or particular items out?


Any additional thoughts.


Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks In Advance


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## M Winther

Durbar765 said:


> Having trouble so I decided to post here:
> Hi,
> I haven't painted in years and even then I was not very adept in paints and supplies. Though, in 2011 I was considering starting again and blindly went on a spending spree purchasing quality products from Pearl Paint(see...Long ago  )
> and they have been stored in a box ever since. For about 4 years they were kept in a cool space but the cardboard box was moved to a warmer garage where they have stayed until now, which I have not even attempted to open.
> 
> There's like 30 tubes of Pebeo Oil paints.
> 
> There's a small glass jar of Linseed oil
> 
> There's a bottle of Gesso
> 
> 
> Some kind of oil Medium that is white and opaque, like yellowy cream(from my memory, I don't know what it is)
> 
> Based on what I recall from the contents My questions are as follows:
> 
> Ultimately will I need to just toss the entire box from now saving me the attempt and time to look through it?
> 
> Are these potentially harmful to my health at this point?
> 
> Are the paints salvageable? Will they be hard as a rock?
> 
> Should I throw specific or particular items out?
> 
> Any additional thoughts.
> 
> Looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks In Advance


All of your materials are perfectly fine to use. Nor are they harmful to your health. (But the gesso, if it's acrylic, might be too old to use, if the acrylic has become separated from the pigment. That's why one needs to shake acrylic gesso jars sometimes, in which case they last forever.)


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## Kuverte

Too many questions: just paint. Try, do errors, correct, learn... Painting is a process.


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