Ann McMillan Art
Fine Art in Color

Acrylic Supplies

Acrylic Supplies

The California Art Supply Company stocks my list! It's always fun to buy in person, but if you don't have time, here is a Dick Blick Prefilled Cart. See below for a materials list.


Good Brands

  • Golden Open - dries more slowly, acts more like oil paint, much less frustrating. Standard Goldens are great as well, if the store does not stock the open kind.

  • Michaels Liquitex Heavy Body (I don’t prefer the texture of this paint, but others love it).

  • Windsor Newton Artisan

  • Lukas Acrylic--only available through Jerry’s Artarama.

Bad Brands - avoid them because they are too cheap to be useful.

  • Michaels Liquitex Basic

  • Winton  (Windsor Newton’s student grade line)

  • Artist’s Loft from Michael's

Paints in 2-4 oz tubes. Tubes <2 oz are too small.

  • 1 Titanium white.

  • 1 Cadmium yellow or cadmium yellow hue

  • 1 Cadmium red light or red light hue

  • 1 Ultramarine blue

  • 1 Indian yellow or cadmium yellow dark or cad yellow dark hue

  • Magenta, or quinacridone red.

  • Cobalt blue

  • Ultramarine blue

Other supplies:

  • Masterson Sta-Wet palette, 12 x 16 in., which is required equipment—it leads to good paint mixes and less frustration. A palette smaller than 12 x 16 will be too small.

  • A few flat or bright Bristle Brushes-- 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch wide, labeled as a No. 2 and 4. Avoid hair or other soft brushes-- they are good for watercolor, bad for acrylic and oil beginning students. Avoid rounds. I'll talk about why in class.

  • A metal palette knife with a step in it. No. 8, 11 or 12.

  • Small spray bottle for keeping paints on the palette moist.

  • Retarder--a medium that slows the drying time of acrylics, made by Golden.

  • Cheap canvas panels about 12 x 12 inches or a bit larger for practice.  A canvas paper pad 9 x 12 or larger is fine. Fredrix or Artist's Loft are both reasonable and inexpensive brands for painting surfaces.

  • Paper towels—painters like Viva or Bounty. The paper towels in the studio don't work for painting.  Cut-up fabric such as old T-shirts or sheets work as well if you wish to be thrifty and eco.