WHAT THE ARTIST USES

Materials

» I stay mostly with Winsor & Newton for quality and consistency. In the past I used W&N Liquin to speed drying time, but now I use only Odourless Solvent and find that it is touch dry the next day if not painted thickly. Cadmium red is an exception as it takes days to dry, plus it is thin so for solid red I undercoat with acrylic first. For white I use W&N Griffin Alkyd Titanium White. Alkyd paints dry quickly and most colors I mix contain some white so are quicker to dry thanks to the alkyd content. I find paint straight out of the tube easier to blend with other colors.

Colors

» A typical selection of colors on my palette includes Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red Hue (quite often depending on the subject, Alizarin Crimson), Windsor Green (Phthalo, which is a very powerful color, so use sparingly), Ultramarine Blue or Cobalt Blue (sometimes, especially when painting the sea or bright blues, Cerulean Blue*), Burnt Sienna, the vital Raw Umber for de-brightening colors and for mixing with Indigo to make Black. Occasional other colors are Flesh Tint, Rose Permanent*, Naples Yellow and Winsor Lemon*. If you require pure CMYK these* three colors are essential to achieve pure, clear brightness.

Brushes

» For textures of grass, trees, earth and the like I use ye olde pig’s bristle brushes. For most other work I find Neef Filbert Stiff Synthetic the very best to work with, though unfortunately their shape depreciates after many uses; and Mont Matre Taklon Detailers for fine work.

Tape

» For required straight edges, such as the surrounds of Manet’s painting, I mask with removable sticky tape. For other edges, I use ordinary 80 gsm copy paper either straight edged or cut into a shape. I have a piece of copy paper cut into a sort multi-shaped French curve to place on the canvas and brush out from to give a clean edge when needed.