What Does Darrell Recommend For Minimal Art Supplies For Landscapes & Seascapes

Darrell, I have some questions. I signed up to get the free lessons via email each day. I haven’t purchased any paint, any brushes or supplies of any kind. I wanted to see what your program was all about first. So my question is this……….. noticed that you don’t seem to have any kind of “starter kits” that would include the needed paints for a project, brushes, DVD and/or any other kind of supplies needed for a kit; like an “all in one for beginners.” …..Can you recommend how to start with minimal supplies, minimal money involved ….? I’ve never attended an art class, I’m more of a visual learner so the DVD’s make sense to me to be able to learn. Thanks for your time, Dawn

Hi Dawn,

Painting supplies is like any other kind of hobby you’ve tackled. There’s a minimum number of brushes and paints you’ll need. But the better you get and the longer you paint, you acquire more and more supplies…. You also tend to experiment with ‘new stuff’ until you get to the point, you don’t ask what your investment is, you simply look at the beautiful works you have and all of the people you’ve made happy through your art.

The other question is “what are you painting?’ Since you mentioned the free on-line video, I’m going to make the assumption of painting landscapes and seascapes.

I use one set of brushes and add brushes if I’m painting florals or tall ships or wildlife or portraits or pet portraits. So this answer will be for the landscapes and seascape paintings…..

Basic Brushes you will need for painting landscapes

1. Alexander 1’’ landscape brush
2. Alexander #3 Medium Fan Brush
3. Alexander #2 script liner
4. Alexander Flexible knife
5. #6 Flat Bristle Brush (Available nearly everywhere for about 99 cents)

The above is the absolute minimum and would cost under. $36.00 Now, to have a complete set of brushes you would add the following to the above ….

1. Alexander 2 ½’ Background Brush
2. Alexander #6 Large Fan Brush
3. Alexander Hake Brush
4. Alexander Small Knife
5. Alexander Original Knife
6. Alexander Mop
7. #4 Flat Bristle Brush
8. #2 Flat Bristle Brush

The above would give you a complete set of brushes and would add approx. $54.00 for a total of around $90 for a complete set of brushes to handle landscapes and seascapes. Next you’ll need painting medium.If you’re looking for the absolute minimum to buy I’d suggest one each of

1. Alexander Magic Clear Medium
2. Alexander Magic White Medium

A small tub of each runs $12.00 each…. For Paints, I’d suggest the following 8 colors in small tubes as a minimum

1. Sap Green
2. Alizarin Crimson
3. Van Dyke Brown
4. Burnt Sienna
5. Prussian Blue
6. Cad Yellow
7. Yellow Ochre
8. Titantium White

These paints are $6.95 a tube or roughly $56.00 for the above. I use a total of 18 colors for everything I paint and that’s available as a kit for $115.00 So let me summarize the beginners kit ….

• Brushes………………$35.00
• Paints……………….. $56.00
• Medium……………… $24.00
• Total…………………$115.00 Now, we’re holding a 25% off sale today, so you can save about $30.00 on the above costs by ordering before our sale ends today. Its an end of summer sale. I hope this answers your question….. Darrell