
Before we start painting, always start by loading your palette with “Elida’s Fab Five,” and mixing your colors. This will save you a lot of time, make the painting process go more smoothly, and you’ll end up with a stronger painting.
Why do you have to mix colors anyway? If you’ve ever seen paintings that looks muddy then the artist probably mixed too many colors together. You may have also seen a painting that looks like "paint by numbers" and that's caused by using too many pre-mixed colors and not by mixing at all. By using a limited palette and learning how to mix these 5 colors, you’ll find that your colors will blend better and your painting will have a richness and beauty it may have lacked before. Let’s get started!
If you have any acrylic paints, brushes, paper plates and canvases, those will work! Investing in my “Fab Five” acrylic paints makes the mixing part easier and gives you a great foundation for future painting classes, but they aren’t required.
A great way to save money over time is to purchase value packs of canvases that you can use for future classes. The sizes I used for these pieces were 12”x12”, 11”x14”, and 20”x 20.” Decide which sizes work best for you.
Note: if you want the same acrylics I will be teaching with, Utrecht brand paints are Blicks only.
Canvases:
Paint Brushes:
I usually start with three brushes but this set comes with five. Bonus! Make sure you have:
Acrylic Paints: Utrecht Studio Acrylic Paints
These are great paints with the best value for your dollar. I also love the Utrecht Artists Colors, but they are more expensive. I use these every day and then supplement with Golden paint for that extra pop of color. These are my “Fab Five” (plus white)
Bonus Colors:
Paper Palettes:
Conte Crayons These are great to draw on the canvas easily. They can blend with water and are easy to paint over.
Stabilo pencils are great for drawing on surfaces without leaving a permanent mark.
Modeling paste This product is used as a foundation, creating texture on the abstract sea and sky painting.
Gloss gel medium This product can be mixed in with paint for a heavy-bodied acrylic or use it as a glue in collage.
Aquavar can only be bought through Georgie’s Ceramics. If you are doing a lot of collage and mixed media, I would suggest just buying a gallon from them directly. It’s inexpensive and will last for a lot of painting projects. It can also be used as a sealer.
Palette Knives Set of Three Any set of palette knives will work, but this is a great starter set to see which style you like.
Finishing Spray For matte finish, I still use the gloss first, let it dry and then spray the matte over the top.
Shur-line Handi Painter You should be able to find this or something like this at any store that carries paints. Hardware stores usually have them and Home Depot and Lowe’s carry them in a lot of different shapes and sizes. I use them for a lot of my paintings. They are inexpensive and great for blending and blocking in colors.