What do I need to get started painting with oils?

When I started to paint with oil paints back in 1985 I asked myself that question and had to basically figure out what all I needed as a beginner to get started painting with oil paints. I think I ended up buying an expensive oil paint box. This box comes with everything you need to get started painting with oil paints. The only problem is it is quite expensive and prohibitive for many people who cannot afford to pay for a nice paint box kit. I was living in South Africa at the time and actually ended up leaving it behind when I returned to the U.S. a year later. My husband bought me a new paint box kit to replace the one I left behind in South Africa. But while I was in South Africa I basically began to paint with oil paints and began to teach myself to paint from a book I had about oil painting.
Anyway in this post I will list the basic art material you need to get started with oil paints.
You will need:
Oil paints (I recommend primary colours: red, yellow, blue) Of these colours you can virtually mix all the other colours on the palette. As a beginner I would have the following colours to start:

*Titanium White (get a large tube of this as you will use lots of white)
*Cadmium yellow
*Cadmium red light
*Alizarin Crimson
*French Ultramarine Blue
*Winsor Green or Viridian
*Yellow Ochre
*Sap Green
*Paynes Gray
*Black (for beginners)
*Raw Umber (dark brown)
*Cadmium Orange (optional as you can mix this colour)

You will need brushes, try to get long handle bristle brushes
*brights, rounds and flats are good to start with
(you can get a variety of sizes, size 6 or 8 are good to start with)

You will need something to paint on. If you want to save money you can get a canvas pad. You just need to tape the sheets to a cardboard or glue them to a board of some type. You can also purchase canvas board or canvas panels as these are fairly economical.

You will need mineral spirits or turp to clean your brushes and to thin your paint with.
You will need some sort of easel. A table top easel is easy and cheap for beginners to start with.
Also linseed oil or poppy seed oil is good for adding to your paint. You will learn more about these things later.
You will need some sort of palette to put your paints on and to mix your paint on. You can buy disposable palettes or buy a plastic one or a wooden one.
Other items that are handy for painting with are an apron to protect your clothes, paper towels, a palette knife (I use mine to mix the paint with) an old rag is handy for wiping your brush occasionally. Old jars to put your turp in to wash your brushes.

You will need lots of patience as painting is a skill you have to build up and many people get frustrated because they do not like the results that they get. It takes time and lots of practice to get really good at painting with oils. Eventually you will improve and get better with practice.

You will need an area to paint in that has good lighting and good ventilation as this is a very visual art experience.

When you buy your supplies to start painting with keep in mind that "you get what you pay for" so if you buy cheap brushes, you will get cheap brushes that lose the bristles, and lose their shape easily. Try to get good quality art supplies and you will notice the difference either in the colours or brush performance almost immediately.

Glazing - What is it?

Glazing is a painting technique that is used in oil and acrylic painting. It is a process of painting "layers" of thin (hopefully) transparent paint over a dried painting to produce a rich deep colorful painting that has layers of transparent colors one on top of the other. Acrylic paint works great for this glazing technique as it dries very quickly. After you begin your painting you will have to wait for it to dry completely before you can proceed to paint the second layer over the first one. You need to use very thin diluted paint in the process. You can use oil paint with this technique but it will take longer to dry unless you use the Griffin Alkyd type of oil paints that dry faster than the regular oil paints. Some artists will have many different painting "in process of being painted" and can stop and let one dry and then just go on to another project they had put down for awhile. Sometimes it helps an artist to put a painting down for awhile and then come back to it with a fresh eye and then proceed with the project on to its finish. Glazing is great for painting such things as a creek bed with transparent water so see the rocks and things under the water. Painting water drops is another subject that you would use transparent glazing on. I recommend you try this technique, it is fun and can provide great results with your own paintings.