Acrylic Workshop Supply List 2027

This list will get you prepared for the workshop. As you will discover, there are many, many options for supplies and techniques for painting with acrylics. I will cover quite a few, but there are always others to learn about.

As I always tell students, ideally, it would be best if you can come to class the first day with these basic supplies. That will make your understanding of what I talk about and demonstrate, and your own painting in the class, that much easier. The palette listed below with *’s are what I would consider a basic color selection if you don’t have any acrylics at all.

If you already have acrylic supplies that you’re comfortable with, then by all means bring those along. This is a “suggested” supply list so that if you have equipment and supplies that are similar to what I am listing here, you may use those. Don’t go out and purchase this entire list of supplies if you don’t need them.

Paints

I prefer to use Golden or Utrecht Heavy Body Acrylic paints. I like the pigment load of both brands, the value remains when they dry, their texture is similar to oil paints, and they hold brush strokes well.

Other brands that are also good choices:

• Winsor & Newton Acrylics
• Liquitex Heavy Body Acrylics
• Sennelier
• Holbein

THIS IS A SPLIT-COMPLEMENTARY PALETTE. Two of each of the primaries, yellow, red and blue, each one leaning towards a yellow/red or blue. Plus yellow ochre for convenience.

Required Palette Colors

• *Titanium White
• *Cadmium Yellow Light (bluish)
• *Cadmium Yellow Dark (reddish)
• *Yellow Oxide
• *Cadmium Red Light or Pyrrole Red Light (yellowish)
• *Alizarin Crimson Hue (bluish)
• *Manganese Blue Hue (yellowish)
• *Ultramarine Blue (reddish)

(* Indicates the colors basic minimum colors required if you’re new to acrylics.)

Additional Colors If Desired

• Burnt Sienna
• Titanium Buff
• Utrecht Viridian Hue
• Golden Permanent Maroon
• Cobalt Blue

There are many other colors to try. Feel free if you have the desire and budget to do that.

Brushes

I prefer stiffer synthetic brushes, but also use traditional hog bristle brushes. Also, any short handled brushes that might be used for details, are fine.

Flats and Brights are the brush styles I use the most. Sizes from 1/2" wide to 1-1/2" wide.

Some other brushes I paint with a lot are hog bristle fan brushes, inexpensive (Blick 3 pack) 1", 2" & 4" flat brown nylon brushes.

Some brands I use are:

• Princeton Catalyst Polytip Bristle Brushes
• Utrecht Rhenish Pure Hog Bristle Brushes
• Princeton Dakota Series 6300 Firm Synthetic

Palette or Mixing Area

Either of the following color mixing palettes are fine. I use both palettes for mixing paint that are listed below, and will talk about the benefits of one over the other during the workshop. Anything will work… a butcher tray, plastic baking tray, piece of plexiglass, anything that is non-absorbent and can be cleaned easily is suggested.

• Masterson Sta-Wet Palette Seal — an airtight palette with a system of a sponge and special paper that keeps the paints wet while working. Mostly I use the airtight palette and lid without the sponge and paper. Using those inserts tends to water down the paint piles too much for my use. But the palette itself is nice because sealed, it will keep your paints wet for some time.
• Or — Richeson Grey Matters Paper Palette — this is a “dry” palette pad of coated paper toned grey.

Paint Container

Here’s an item that is indispensable in my opinion. These are what you dispense your paint colors into to keep the piles of color from drying out. Any 7 day a week pill container that seals tight will work. There are many of them at most any pharmacy, grocery pharmacy, etc.

But my favorite one that I use is available either online from Amazon, or at most any Michael’s Art and Crafts Store. These are very large and have a lid locking mechanism that works great! It limits you to 7 colors, but you can have additional colors that you squirt out on the palette. When I’m done at the end of a painting session I slip it into a Zip-Loc bag to keep the paint fresh.

Here’s a link…

Amazon.com: Craft Mates Items Craft & Sewing Supplies Storage, 7 Locking Compartments (3XL), Clear Lids

For a larger palette, I use a Plano Waterproof #3700 StowAway 9"x14"x1.88" tackle organizing box. It has latches, is watertight and the compartments don’t allow paint to spill from one color to the others. You can divide it into however many compartments (for colors) that you want by adding dividers. I’ll show you mine at the workshop and how I deal with it.

Here’s a link…

Plano Waterproof #3700 StowAway

Painting Surfaces

One of the nice things about acrylics is that the surfaces that you can paint on are wide and varied, some needing no preparation, like paper. From that to stretched canvas, to primed wooden boards, canvas boards, etc. It really comes down to your preference. If you’re new to acrylic, try as many of them as you can. By doing that you’ll find out what suits you the best. Just be sure that they are “acrylic primed,” not “oil primed.”

For the class I would suggest either stretched canvas, or primed cradled panels. For the class anything that has a “universal” or acrylic priming, will suffice. My favorite acrylic primer so far is Utrecht’s “Ultra Thick Professional Acrylic Gesso.”

Canvas Sizes — Bring 2 or 3

For this class we are going to work a little larger in the studio so I suggest possibly 16x20, 18x24, 24x30, or a size that you’re comfortable with working on for a couple of days.

• If you’re experienced, you may want larger sized surfaces.
• If you’re brand new to acrylics, smaller sizes make sense.

Mediums

Although I do not require any mediums, if you do want to try one I would bring Golden Gloss Medium. During the workshop I will talk about other mediums, their plus and minuses, that might be interesting for you to try. To start with, just using paint is enough.

Easel

(This only applies to plein air classes)

I use either a French style easel or a tripod mounted easel. The easel I use is the Art Box and Panel. You can find them on their website I prefer the Standard or Compact size palette. On the website the owner, Jim Coulter, offers a complete set with the easel, staff and tripod, for a very reasonable price.

If you will need to sit to paint, you should have some sort of table top easel. I don’t have experience with these easels, so I’d suggest talking to someone you know who does. Or talk to the people downtown at Blick.

Miscellaneous Supplies

• Water container (at least a quart-sized plastic bucket or plastic tub)
• VIVA paper towels (brand specific because they absorb the water best)
• Optional: a palette knife for mixing colors
• A trash bag for waste paper towels
• Dawn detergent for washing out brushes
• Large Zip-Loc bags to put soiled brushes in
• Charcoal or graphite pencil for sketching in painting. I use a brush with thin paint, but if you’re more comfortable with a drawing tool bring that.