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Sourcing Transparent Artist’s Oil Paints & Materials

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Question from Stephan, Drawing Academy student

I love and appreciate the traditional multi-layer oil painting approach of the old masters. So much so, that I intend to create a body of work utilizing this approach.

My question is: Where can I source such oil paints and purchase them? Can you recommend any particular website or company that possess these oils that are of good, professional artist’s quality? I could not find the oils to attempt this technique locally. Please provide me with some legitimate source.

I have been drawing since the age of five. As I transitioned from a teenager to adulthood, I found that my drawings ability, and moreover my painting ability, has remained stagnant when compared to the Old Masters, whose skills and technique I’ve forever admired and envied. Such talent to this day remains a mystery to me; I have no knowledge of how my work could even approach theirs.

I’ve got so many ideas and compositions laying in my journals that I would like to have painted onto canvas, yet I feel that the lack of my prestidigitation in painting (specifically, that it is rather amateurish and shameful) would further result in the suffocation of my figure drawings, which I believe are my strong points. For this reason, I have produced very few paintings.

Recently, I enrolled into the Drawing Academy to revisit old areas of drawing, lost and forgotten skills and newly learnt techniques, and to re-strengthen my weak areas.

Feedback from Vladimir London, Drawing Academy Tutor

Dear Stephan,

Many thank for your questions.

In regard to art materials, it is very much a matter of personal preferences and budget. We try not to advocate any brands. As a rule of thumb, the more expensive the make of oil paint is, the better its quality. You may search online art stores and compare prices to get some ideas on the product range they sell. For example, Old Holland tends to be more expensive, while Winsor & Newton offers cheaper paints that still deliver decent quality.

When it comes to the oil paint transparency, usually that information is marked on a tube of paint. Some manufacturers use the following coding:

oil-colors