(Part 2) Best products from r/HappyTrees

i got both KH custom detail round and 3/4" flat brush detail; i wasn't super impressed with either. My detail round now flairs too much for detail work, and the 3/4" is simply overpriced.

I moved to using red sable brushes (weasel hair), as recommended by Byron's videos. They're essentially the same softness as the two KH brushes and have worked well for me. The last Kevin Hill I posted was painted with them.

If you search amazon for red sable brushes there are plenty to choose from. I own this flat set and these detail brushes specifically.

Whether you go with KH's brushes or the sable brushes, just keep in mind to treat them gently. Don't scrub them against the grate in your thinner bucket; favor just dry wiping them with paper towels when switching colors vs a full clean. When done for the day, soak in thinner and squeeze between paper towels to remove all paint/thinner.

Spending a bit of money will fix your problem.

What you need to do is buy this thing. And then put that inside of a small-ish wastebin. Something like this thing.

Then buy a big thing of turpenoid, like this for instance.

Finally you can buy this guy.

Then here's what you do. When you're ready to change paints, wipe your brush as well as you can with a paper towel. Then clean the brush off in the brush cleaning bucket (which has a screen inside of it, it's not just a bucket--very important). Your brush will be mostly soaked through with turnpenoid, and you then beat off the last bits of paint/turpenoid into the wastebin/rack combo you made.

If you spend this money up front, you will have very pleasant painting experience from now on.

Thank you! I've done a few on canvas pads like this https://www.amazon.com/Fredrix-3501-Canvas-Pads-16-Inch/dp/B000YQGG3A

But this was my first on a stretched canvas. Also I won't be selling this one... (it was my Christmas gift to my mom!)
Hopefully I can paint some that will sell in the near future though!

I generally prefer French easels but A/H frame easels are better for wet on wet painting styles. The best easels I have is one I made, but it took me 6 hours for one and 3 for another plus I had power tools.
But it's hit or miss on making a easel in short amounts of time so this is one I'm going to get. https://www.amazon.com/Tangkula-French-Wooden-Portable-Folding/dp/B01DW0A4FA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1495569674&sr=8-4&keywords=French+easel

This is my second tutorial from Michael James Smith's art school, "River" (the names are pretty much just tutorial names).

It's oil on gesso'd plywood because that's what I had ready and cut into a square (12"x12"). I've got some gesso'd MDF boards ready to go, because plywood was not great. It frays way too much when I run it through the saw, and I couldn't ever get a really nice feel when painting on the board. MDF is much more of a pleasure to paint on.

The basic process is:

1. Make a grid layout and get a rough pencil outline in.
   
2. Block in with acrylics.
   
3. Move from back to front. Lots of liner brush work (Winsor Newton Sceptre Gold II liners are what I've been using and they're awesome). MJS uses Liquin and thinner for most every step of the process, plus he uses Winsor Newton Griffin paints that basically have liquin in them inside the tube. I've been using Galkyd because it's what I have right now and it works fine, plus Gamsol as my thinner.
   
   This is about 6-7 hours or so worth of work, although it took me a few days as usual working around the wife and kids where I could.

After painting our dining room and reducing some other items along the way, wifey made me hang my first few.

The 3M Command strips worked quite well, more for better hold for larger I suppose. Held the canvases and panels just fine.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073XV1P16

Bonus, I can take them off and not have to spackle holes yet again.. because wall painting isn't as happy as oil painting. ;)

I bought two and one inch brushes from Home Depot, and they seem to work just fine. I bought this set of oil paints ($17) which had all the important colors. I buy these canvases from walmart ($3 a piece). Other supplies you need are odorless turpenoid, a fan brush, liquid white, palette, and you probably want an easel. I bought pretty much the cheapest things I could find, and so far they are working just fine! I do not recommend getting the Bob Ross master set thing - it seems way overpriced.

I second the larger canvas! Tiny canvases mean you need different tools since your area of coverage is drastically different, meaning the 2" brush will be too big. If you want to save money - I'd recommend getting canvas paper, they come in different sizes!

[Experience from painting a 5" x 7" seascape after painting on the 18" x 24"]

If you are getting mud - I'd recommend not loading the brush as much as you think you need. The point is to get some color on the canvas and then later blend. When I was following one of Bob's paintings - he really emphasized scraping off excess paint exactly because the "thin" paint sticks to "thick" paint.

I have Grumbacher Linseed Oil that I got from Michael's. Just a little bottle. Mix it with titanium white for liquid white, keep it clear for liquid clear. I'm sure Bob Ross' stuff has extra ingredients, but I like the idea of keeping it more simple anyway. I'm just an amateur, but the masters used just linseed oil for hundreds of years, right!

https://www.amazon.com/Grumbacher-Linseed-Medium-Paintings-558-8/dp/B001OV925I

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Stationery-Office-Supplies/Daler-Rowney-DR114007020-Art-75ml-Masking-Fluid/B002BU2NDE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1483614662&sr=8-3&keywords=masking+fluid

masking fluid is literally just liquid latex. you paint it on and when its dry is produces a rubber coating to wherever youve painted, thereby protecting the area until you rub it off once your artwork is finished.
it is mostly used my water colour artists to keep pure white canvas/paper or to mask off buildings etc when they apply washes.
the thing with the wet on wet technique is that it involves alot more blending and firmer paints (oils) than water colours. so you need to apply several layers of masking fluid to the areas you want to protect.
i apply 3 layers of fluid, and possibly a fourth layer around the outline just to be safe.
so for the wolf design...everything OUTSIDE of the wolf shape was covered with 3-4 layers of masking fluid; just painted on and left to dry between layers. use an old brush because it quickly ruins brushes.
so the masking fluid is essentially just acting like contac paper, but you dont need to have decent scalpel skills and you can get infinitely more detailed and interesting masks by painting them.
when the painting is done; you literally just peel off the masking fluid. it comes off really easily.
the only thing left to do is tidy up the edges. In some cases i tidy up the edges once the painting is dry by simply painting the background with acrylic. or if ive painted n a coloured canvas (black gesso or grey gesso etc) then ill just use the same gesso to tidy the edges once the oils are dry

This is the one I use:

Jack Richeson Clear Palette

It's a very large palette and clear. Probably very similar if not exactly what Bob uses. You have plenty of room for mixing your paint and putting 8-12 colors on it like Bob.

Bob Ross teaches wet on wet oil painting, so thick oil paints are necessary to paint like Bob does. This will give you an idea of how expensive the paints can be, so yes, they're pretty expensive. However, buying larger tubes of paint will get you much more paint for your dollar, and may also be able to find cheaper paint if you don't buy Bob Ross brand paint.

It's good to hear you're able to paint. My apartment is 700square feet.

I was thinking of buying something like this

Does your apartment smell of oil paint a lot?

One of the Bob Ross kits, like this one, are a very good place to start. It includes the most popular colors, liquid white, and all the brushes you'll really need. I wouldn't pay more than $75 for it.

I use this canvas, this easel, odorless mineral spirits, an empty paint can, and a butt-load of paper towels.

An easel isn't super important. Easiest way to cut down on cost is to clamp your canvas to a chair, a ladder, or the wall

Skip the pallet, use paper plates or something.

I had a shopping list picked out across some craft stores, Amazon, and even Home Depot (for a bucket, drop cloth, and mineral spirits). I wasn't planning to get Bob Ross brand for anything. Is there a reason you think I should get the Bob Titanium White? I was going to start cheap and small, like https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B181B1G

For brushes, I was going to use a local craft store with good prices. An example brush I would get is https://jerrysartistoutlet.com/items/142237-69287

The Mahl Stick seems like a cool tool I didn't even know existed. I'll start without one, but if I have a problem with my arm tiring or shaking, I'll get one.

Thanks!

I use mason jars, and I have the Bob Ross brush cleaning bucket.

https://www.amazon.com/R6545-Brush-Cleaning-Bucket-Screen/dp/B000CSSASE/ref=pd_sbs_201_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BB19N39R5VX0DZ39B2M4

Wait till that is on sale because that price right now is ridiculous.

As the previous poster mentioned, I pour the used thinner into mason jars with lids, leaving the sludge in the bucket. I pull out the brush screen and wipe that down, then I then close everything up and let it settle. Later, I wipe out the sludge out of the cleaning bucket with paper towels and throw them away, and reuse the thinner once the paint has settled to the bottom, adding more clean thinner as I go.

Disposal I don't know, I was asking that same thing in my other thread. So far I'm just keeping it in mason jars until I find out what to do with it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/HappyTrees/comments/5vd6ds/specific_questions_on_bob_ross_painting/