Supplies to Make Daily Painting Easier
We can gain so much, as artists, though a daily painting practice. Our painting skills are strengthened and the joy of creativity is added to the day! We all have busy schedules, though and-as much as we'd like to include a daily painting practice to our lives-other responsibilities often get in the way. When I painted in watercolor, I could just leave out my painting supplies and paint whenever I had a few extra minutes. It isn't quite that easy, though, with oil paints(my preferred medium) so I'm listing some supplies that I've found useful to make daily oil painting a part of my life.
Disposable Gloves
Disposable gloves are probably not what you were expecting to see here, but they make it possible for me to paint for a while and actually spend more time painting than cleaning up! A box of 100 is less than $10.00 at Walmart or Amazon, which makes each painting session cost less than 20 cents. Also, since some oil pigments carry health risks keeping paint off my skin is a good idea!
A Good Smock
I know a smock is kind of a no brainer! One look at my smock, shows that I really need it! It's good to have a long sleeved smock as it keeps paint off my arms. Also, I don't want to change clothes every time I decide to paint, so slipping on my smock on protects my clothes. My smock is quite long, so it keeps paint off my pants also.
Painting Knives
If you get used to painting with a knife, you can clean up very quickly from each painting session-just wipe your knives off with a paper towel!
The knife on the left, in particular, functions very much like a brush. Also, painting with a knife adds a bolder, more interesting texture to your paintings and, if you wipe your knife off between colors, your colors stay nice and clean!
Plastic plate-
I put the main colors for my painting(or series of paintings)on a plastic plate, and mix them on masonite(more on that below!)
When I'm done painting, I just put plastic food wrap over the plate and---
---put the plate in the freezer section of the dorm refrigerator I have in my studio. The paint lasts much longer when kept the freezer and it takes no time at all to thaw when you take it out for your next painting session. Of course, you can also put the paint in your normal freezer-just be sure to keep paint off your food!
Freezer Paper Roll
One more supply I can't neglect to mention is freezer paper. You can, of course, buy it in the grocery store, but you can get a huge roll of it from Amazon for $32. As I said above, I wrap masonite in it to use as my palette. It's also great to have on hand to wrap paintings to mail- to decorate to wrap presents- and to make banners. And, if you're an artist- you know how much we all love paper of any kind!