Painting Tools for Artists

The painting tools that are required for each artistic discipline are different even down to the paint brushes required for specific canvases. This article looks at a multitude of equipment all connected with the wonderful world of painting.

Brush types

Brushes are the most important of all painting tools and yet some artists never use them. (instead they use knives, sprayers and other means of paint application). Generally you will need at least 5 different sizes of brush and if possible different styles too. The paint brushes needed for watercolors are differently textured than those needed for oils or acrylics. Normal bristles brushes are usually made from soft animal hair (Ox-Hair for example) but new ECO friendly brushes are now available. Different types of plastics, nylon and polyester are used in synthetic filament brushes.

Canvas

Linen canvas is most suitable for using oil paintings. Cotton canvas, referred to as "cotton duck" is also used but linen is made from a higher grade material Canvas made from the finer machine-made cotton is available today and is less coarse than older materials. It is important that cloth of high quality is used and has a high thread count so that the intricate paint strokes can be incorporated into the artist’s design.

Artist's Drop Cloth

When creating large beautiful paintings you need to cover your floors properly with drop cloths. Newspapers and plastic sheeting are much inferior materials. Good quality drop cloths will easily pay for themselves in time.

Paper weighting for artwork

Paper is measured by weight and the heavier papers are generally better for painting. Typically good paper would be 140 lbs. paper and it can be bought already stretched.The paper will need to be stretched before applying paint if it is less than 300 lbs. The best paper is usually an acid-free variety. If you buy paper with high levels of acid you risk damaging your art materials or even the artwork.

Art Boards

Canvas boards are made of cardboard with canvas stretched over the cardboard and glued solidly together. Ideal to bring on vacation and boards can be purchased for as little as $1 per board.

Rollers and pads

A paint roller is used by artists to apply the early layers or undercoat on very large canvasses. This is particularly true is the artist is painting a mural. Paint Roller Extension Poles are perfect and allow artists to reach new heights (no pun intended) Paint pads are also used to cover large expanses with paint. Interchangeable Replacement Roller Heads are ideal for painting different textured media.

Pallete knife

The pallete knife is a more delicate type of knife than a scraper and can be used for touch up work. With its flexible blade it can be used for removing small quantities of paint but more often it is used to apply paint to the canvas in wide bands of uneven chunks, strips of thin lines or broad textured smears often seen in abstract art work.

Scraper

Paint Scrapers are ideal for scraping old paint off walls being prepared for new murals. The paint scraping high carbon steel blade needs to perform many tasks and may even be used to apply paint.

Art Sponges

Sponges range from very fine to very coarse and can produce lovely effects which may be solid, open, airy, dragged and linear, splotchy, soft or hard edged produces even or streaked tones, and nice, solid "liners" is a gentle color applicator effecting small, thin, delicate, open tones which are great for foggy, transparent light sprays of color fading to the background. Medium and coarse sponges having wider open spaces exhibit color in larger circular patterns.

Masking tape

Masking tape is an inexpensive way to cover parts of the canvas that needs to be missed when applying a wash.

Paint Trays

Plastic paint trays come in various sizes to meet every need and are versatile when a large work is in progress.

What is Canting?

Canting is a process when part of the canvas can be covered with wax preventing the application of paint in the waxed area. Artists must be skilled and be capable of handling a canting (the pen-like instrument used to apply wax to the cloth). A better or higher quality wax is used on the more intricately painted sections of the piece.

Stencils for art

Stencils are useful for painting numbers and letters onto surfaces but some artists will refuse to use them as they prefer freehand work which is more quirky and natural and seems less contrived.

Brick wall

The American modern artist, Tyson Reeder, now in his mid 30s actually created a work called ‘Painting on Brick Wall’ in 2002. The materials he used were many including nail polish, felt-tip and ball point pens, color pen sets, dyes used for fabric, pencils and a mixture of polymer paint and gouache. Strange painting tools indeed! I love art like this. Copies or prints of the work (which measures 12 inches by 9 inches) can be got at The Judith Rothschild Foundation.