Oil Painters: What quality brand paint do you use?

[Queen Nehalania]

Hello all, I was wondering what type of oil paint brands do you use or recommend.

I still have the student-grade quality and I'm trying to do some paintings for my AP art class and the paint I have now just don't cut it.

I would like to know what you all recommend.
I've checked blick art site and looked at all the professional quality paints, but I'm not quite sure which one is really worth the money... Although I'm sure they're all good in order to be of that quality.

Anyways if you want you can post an example of a painting that was done in a certain brand of paint. You don't have to if you don't want too.
I just want to see the difference in what I have. xD
I got a whole paint set for like $8 and well it's not the greatest.

[deepbluehue]

I really love the M. Graham line of oil paints. It's made with walnut oil and handles nicely.

[DavePalumbo]

I've always been a Windsor & Newton fan myself, though in my opinion you really can't beat Old Holland if money is no object

[Elwell]

If economy is a factor, Utrecht is probably the best balance between price and quality.

[Queen Nehalania]

I really wish I could be able to get the Old Holland brand, it miiiiight be possible though....

My birthday is February 18th, and I might be able to get it as a birthday present.
Just like a 10 tube basic set... Not the $500+ gift set, lol.

If not I may try the M. Graham brand or any other.

Thank you all for your recommendations. ^_^

[DavePalumbo]

to be honest, you don't need the highest quality product out there. Any artist grade paints should suit your needs. You can probably get more for your money with W&N, Gamblin, Rembrandt varieties. The differences between these and the highest quality products is certainly noticeable but also subtle in many ways and to get them for your first set of real oils is perhaps a bit overkill :)

[Elwell]

I wouldn't go for Old Holland yet. It's really good paint, honestly much better than your work probably warrants at this point, and that can actually be a problem when you're learning, because it can make you intimidated by your materials. What you need is paint that's well made enough not to make your work any harder (it's always harder to work with crappy supplies), and Utrecht, Gamblin, W&N (NOT Winton), Rembrandt, or any other brand of artist's quality paint will do fine for that. Just stay away from the cheapest of the cheap.

EDIT: Damn, Dave beat me to it!

[Queen Nehalania]

Yeah, I understand I even told my brother that today when I was looking at some paint.

What I have now is the cheapest of the cheap... Like $8.00 for 18 tubes of yucky stuff...

Oh well, I just checked a thread by Whitaker and he recommended Rembrandt which is supposed to be more buttery than other paints.

And I may look into getting that. Blick seems to have a good sale on one of the gift sets, yet it won't be stocked till Feb 2nd, but that's no biggy.

[steve kim]

i like gamblin cause they sell ALL their colors in big tubes. this is a big deal. they also sell common colors like white/black/ultramarine in larger cans but still pretty expensive for white and i dont need that much ultramarine :).

utretcht for titanium white. they sell em in big buckets at very nice prices.

[Lukias]

Shoot, if guys like Morgan Weistling can use W&S and cheap brushes then unless your loaded and at a level where you can actually notice the difference... keep it cheap.

Side note.. I've heard that Schmincke (Schmincke Mussini and Schmincke Norma) are top tare aswell. Guy at the art store reckons this company is the last to have a certain blue pigment.. 35mls tubes of which are $800 a pop.
I'll take the 'hue' thanks.

[Queen Nehalania]

Hmm, Gamblin does seem like it could be a good choice.

I'm starting to lean towards the Rembrandt brand currently.
I can't wait till I can order some because I have a painting on hiatus now and I'll probably end up painting over what little I have on there.

[deepbluehue]

You will love real artist quality paint, it handles much nicer than the student grade stuff. Invest in some nice brushes as well. Even if you can only buy one or two new ones a year, it's worth it and eventually you will have a good collection.

[Queen Nehalania]

I bet I will love it, I can't wait. :D

I'm just so used to student grade paint that I am sick and tired of the quality.

I may purchase a couple good brushes as well. I just have to make sure to keep them clean and take good care of them.