Anyone here into oil painting?

[Rumpltzer]

I don't know anything at all about oil painting. My friend lives overseas and is getting into it. She'll be visiting soon and wants to buy the paints, brushes, and supplies that a beginner would need (she thinks it'll be less expensive in the States).

Is buying this stuff online a good idea? Is there a Newegg or Amazon of oil painting supplies?

If buying locally is better, anyone know of a good place to buy in Los Angeles?

 

[Lola]

hoenstly, i would go to a local craft store (i dunno if you have a Micheals Crafts by you) and get some stuff there first to "test" the waters.
Oil paints get expensive, even just starting out, so start small, nice medium sized canvas, etc.
I would not take the time to get all the stuff on line at first though.
Try googling it for ideas about begining oil painting.

PS, most craft stores will have good beginner books as well!
Good luck, and dont forget to post some pics of your works!
I dunno if any of these stores are close...

 

[UglyCasanova]

Oil painting can be difficult and EXPENSIVE. If you are serious about getting into it, take a class to learn the basics on how to do it. I love the medium, but I never played with it enough to get any good at it. It is not something I would just go out to the store, buy some sh!t, and say I'm gonna oil paint though. Definitely recommend a class in painting, but before that a class in color theory.

 

[MrBond]

I went to RexArt online and bought my oil paints and canvas board there. They have oils called Max2 that you can clean up with regular soap and water, so they're great for beginners. They're fairly affordable too - I bought 6 tubes and various sizes of canvas for under $40-50, I don't remember for sure now, its been a while.

 

[mryellow2]

Definitely look at some books before purchasing.

I haven't ordered any supplies online but I remember when I took art classes that most of our supplies were ordered from dickblick catalogs(www.dickblick.com).

You'll need a few brushes to start out. I recommend a medium round, filbert and flat. Also some thinner for mixing and cleaning. You'll also probably want a bottle of liquin (helps drying and can be used to thin as well). Looks like dickblick has some sort of sale on winsor oils. Around $30 for a set of 8 colors and a bottle of liquin.

I generally prefer to stretch my own canvas but a few medium premades should work fine for practice. You'll probably want a big bottle of gesso so you can white wash the canvas and paint over it.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Thanks everyone.

She's been taking classes... the kind of classes they have in fancy book stores where they offer a few courses for cheap and then get you to enroll in the more expensive/serious classes.

This is her latest painting. It's her 4th attempt.

The "bookstore class" give them the colors that they'll use that day and some basic instructions, then they go at it. Now they want her to join the real class and she wants to do it too. The bulk of the class fee is in brushes and paint (all imported from the States), so she's looking to buy some of it while she's here.

 

[Lola]

Originally posted by: Rumpltzer
Thanks everyone.

She's been taking classes... the kind of classes they have in fancy book stores where they offer a few courses for cheap and then get you to enroll in the more expensive/serious classes.

This is her latest painting. It's her 4th attempt.

The "bookstore class" give them the colors that they'll use that day and some basic instructions, then they go at it. Now they want her to join the real class and she wants to do it too. The bulk of the class fee is in brushes and paint (all imported from the States), so she's looking to buy some of it while she's here.

Thats not too bad! nice use of shadow and light! she is on her way to becoming Bob Ross!
actually, he was very good! check his stuff out too!

 

[Rumpltzer]

Originally posted by: Lola

Originally posted by: Rumpltzer
Thanks everyone.

She's been taking classes... the kind of classes they have in fancy book stores where they offer a few courses for cheap and then get you to enroll in the more expensive/serious classes.

This is her latest painting. It's her 4th attempt.

The "bookstore class" give them the colors that they'll use that day and some basic instructions, then they go at it. Now they want her to join the real class and she wants to do it too. The bulk of the class fee is in brushes and paint (all imported from the States), so she's looking to buy some of it while she's here.

Thats not too bad! nice use of shadow and light! she is on her way to becoming Bob Ross!
actually, he was very good! check his stuff out too!

Uh... yeah. Actually, I had no idea who Bob Ross was (by name) until she told me. His show airs in Taiwan, and they re-dub it in Mandarin. She watches it, and she loves it. She asked me to see if it was on here in LA.

1PM, weekdays on one of the higher-channel PBS stations.

 

[myusername]

Next we'll take the fan brush and just dab in some happy clouds.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Originally posted by: myusername
Next we'll take the fan brush and just dab in some happy clouds.