Craig Birch
Materials List

A minimum palette of colors might consist of:
 
Cad Red
Cad Yellow light
Raw sienna
Veridian
Cobalt blue
Alizaron crimson
Burnt umber or Transparent Oxide Brown (Rembrandt)
Ivory black
Titanium white 
 
I do not use so called “Hues” such as “Cobalt blue Hue”. They are inferior. And won’t behave the way the “real thing” does when mixing color. It’s your choice…
I recommend you stay with fairly good quality paint such as Grumbacher, Winsor Newton (artist level not Winton), Rembrandt, and Utrecht are fine. If you already have a set of paints not named above, you can use them as long as you have equivalent colors.
 
Painting medium:
I use one part mineral spirits, one part linseed oil and one part Damar varnish as a medium mixed in a small medium cup.
 
Palette:
My palette is a 15” x 20” piece of double strength safety glass, ground on the edges to eliminate sharpness and then has a middle tone, neutral gray sheet of canson pastel paper taped to the bottom for color comparison. You may use whatever type of palette works for you. A paper palette is not preferred.
 
A silicoil jar filled with inexpensive ODERLESS mineral spirits (Hardware store variety) for cleaning brushes is an economical way to go. I use common bathroom tissue or paper towels as a paint rag and keep several roles on hand.
 
I buy the best brushes I can afford. I use a variety of sizes and kinds, but here is a minimum recommendation.
          A fairly large (# 12) Flat. Either Hog bristle or Synthetic bristlette
          1 #6 Flat Hog bristle
          1 #6 Flat Synthetic
          2 #4 Flats  Hog bristle
          1 #3 Flat Synthetic
 
If you already have a good set of brushes that you’re comfortable with, feel free to use them.
        
You should have a number of canvas panels, 12x16 minimum, or stretched canvases at student’s preference.
 
Palette Knife: Good palette knives are difficult to find now. Find one that is long enough and has enough strength to mix plenty of paint.