Investing in the best oil paint supplies can transform your artwork because oil painting requires very specific equipment, meaning pros and beginners will benefit from quality kit. The most important oil painting supplies are obviously paints, brushes and canvas – but there is also a variety of other equipment, some of which could be deemed essential.
Resources like solvent for cleaning brushes, palettes for mixing your paint and palette knives for doing the mixing are all near-essentials – most artists will use these in some capacity. Other things, such as tube wringers and brush soaps are not essential but can be extremely useful for getting the most out of your other supplies and streamlining your workflow. Looking after your equipment will save you money long-term.
Below, we have created a general guide to the best oil painting supplies. Of course, it’s also important to have an easel to paint at, see our guide to the best art easels for that – wooden or metal ones are ideal.
The best oil paint supplies
The first place to start when choosing the best oil paint supplies is tubes of oil paint itself. It’s best to start with several key colours and mix them, rather than buy lots of cheaper tubes. This Winton starter set contains useful colours and isn’t padded out with lots of low-quality ones like many beginner sets are. It contains everything needed to mix a broad range of colours – though it only has a standard-sized tube of white, which may be used more than other colours.
The Winton range is more suited to those relatively new to painting, but it is good enough that artwork will last well. We explore more options, including higher quality oils, in our guide to the best oil paints.
When choosing the best supplies for oil painting, it is essential to make sure you have a suitable support (the surface you paint on) that can handle oil paint because oils damage conventional papers. While canvases and boards are traditional, oil paint paper like this Canson pad is a convenient starting point.
Paper has the advantage that it’s good value and can be cut to size, and it means that all those practice paintings won’t take up too much space. It doesn’t require any preparation either, making it easy to use. Note that paper doesn’t lend itself as well to a nicely presented final piece like a canvas, so also see our guide to the best oil paint canvases.
Brushes are essential for painting, and it’s important to select ones that are suitable for oils. Traditionally, hog hair brushes like this range by Winton are used with oils, as they’re tough enough to handle solvents and thick paint. This range is a solid starting point to explore (just pick a selection from the range).
The brushes retain their shape well and as hog brushes, they’re quite robust. They do occasionally drop bristles, especially when first used, but this tends to stop after a few uses. See our guide to the best paintbrushes for oils for more options.
A palette is an essential piece of kit for oil painting as it provides a surface to mix colour on. This paper palette provides a convenient solution as it can be held like a conventional palette, but the sheets tear off.
This makes it easy to clean up, and excess paint can be saved by sandwiching it between two sheets. The grey colour seems like an odd choice, but is actually very helpful for colour mixing, as it provides a neutral base to compare colour against. Note that the mixing space is limited so it may be too small for larger projects.
Palette knifes are the best oil paint supply for mixing paint, reducing wear on brushes and allowing us to mix up larger amounts of paint. They can also be used as tool to apply paint, for scratching thin marks
, scraping paint back, and impasto effects.
These RGM palette knives are a great starting point, as they are made out of metal that won’t interact with oils and weaken like plastic, and are generally hard wearing, so they shouldn’t snap easily. However, occasionally the stem of the knife will work loose from the handle and need re-fixing.
A tube wringer is a tool for squeezing leftover paint out of tubes, like an old-fashioned mangle. This is done when the tube is nearly empty, when it’s hard to get any more paint out. This Gill mechanical tube wringer is very strong and will definitely squeeze more out than anyone’s bare hands can manage.
A metal tube wringer is more expensive than a plastic one but it’s significantly more effective, and more durable. It’s a worthwhile buy for any serious painter, as the amount of paint you can reclaim from nearly empty tubes will soon make up for the cost.
Solvent is an essential part of an oil painters kit as it is usually needed to thin out paint and clean equipment. Gamsol is an excellent choice when it comes to oil paint solvent as it’s relatively low odour and has a lower toxicity compared to some other options, making it suitable for beginners and professional artists alike. However, it does still produce fumes, like nearly all solvents, and therefore requires good ventilation.
It is excellent for cleaning out brushes and other equipment. Though it is on the more expensive end, it can be reused to reduce wastage.
A medium is a substance mixed with paint that allows it to flow, and stand oil is one of the best oil paint supplies for this. It is often mixed with solvent, as it is very thick.
This container of stand oil will last well, as a little goes a long way. For its price range, it is good quality and will leave paintings with a glossy finish that is stable over time. It is fairly light and shouldn’t affect paint colour. One issue is that the safety cap is tricky to use and can become clogged with residue.
A brush washer is a container that can hold solvent and usually has a grate or wire coil for scrubbing the paint out of the brush. This also keeps the brush from getting dunked in sediment at the bottom.
This Silicoil option is a more gentle solution than designs that use a grate, as the coil doesn’t damage the bristles, but it’s still an effective scrubber, and is raised above any sediment. The clear jar means you can easily see how dirty the solvent is too. Like most brush washers, this design can leak, so it isn’t suitable for storing solvent, especially when travelling.
Good brush washing keeps brushes clean and pleasant to use, and will greatly extend their life. Soap is used to clean brushes that have been rinsed out with solvent, and The Master’s brush soap is a great choice for getting the last bits of oil paint out of the brush. It can even remove dried on paint as well.
It’s a little bit on the expensive side, and it can get used up quickly if you have a lot of brushes. But this soap does an excellent job and can sometimes rescue brushes that might otherwise get condemned to the bin. It’s also gentle enough to preserve natural bristles.
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