What You Need to Paint Bob Ross Style at Home: A Beginner's Kit List

One of the best things about the Bob Ross method is that you don't need a studio or a huge collection of equipment. A small, carefully chosen kit will let you paint the same kinds of landscapes you've seen on The Joy of Painting. The problem is that beginners often buy the wrong things, like soft student paints, the wrong brushes or a canvas that won't take Liquid White, and then wonder why it doesn't look like it does on TV.

Here's the kit I recommend to my students when they want to carry on painting at home after a class, along with what you can safely skip.

1. Liquid White (the one you can't skip)

If you only remember one thing from this list, make it this. Liquid White is a thin white paint that you brush over the whole canvas before you start. It keeps everything wet, so the colours you add on top blend softly into each other. That's the whole "magic" of the wet-on-wet method. Without it, your sky won't blend and your paint will drag.

A thin, even coat is all you need. Beginners often put on far too much, which makes the painting muddy and slippery.

2. The brushes

You don't need a dozen brushes. Four or five will cover almost everything:

• 2-inch background brush: your workhorse for skies, water and big areas. If you buy one good brush, make it this.
• 1-inch landscape brush: for smaller areas, bushes and tapping in foliage.
• Fan brush: for evergreen trees, grass and distant tree lines.
• Script liner brush: for fine branches, tree trunks and signing your name.
• Round or oval foliage brush (optional): useful for leafy trees and bushes once you've got the basics.

Bob Ross style brushes have stiff, thick bristles designed to hold a lot of firm paint. Soft watercolour or acrylic brushes won't work the same way. For a full rundown of each one, see my Bob Ross brushes and tools guide.

3. A palette knife

Mountains, rocks and cabins are all done with a knife, not a brush. A standard painting knife (Bob Ross's is the No. 10) is the one to start with. A smaller detail knife is handy later for cabins and fine highlights.

4. The paints

Bob Ross famously used just 13 colours:

• Titanium White
• Phthalo Blue and Prussian Blue
• Midnight Black
• Dark Sienna and Van Dyke Brown
• Alizarin Crimson and Bright Red
• Sap Green and Phthalo Green
• Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre and Indian Yellow

You don't need them all on day one. A basic starter set with white, a blue, a brown, a green, a crimson and a yellow will paint a surprising number of scenes. The important thing is that the paint is firm. Soft, runny student oils slide around on the Liquid White and won't hold a highlight. That's why Bob Ross branded paints are much thicker than normal oils.

5. Canvas

A pre-primed, stretched canvas is easiest. The classic Bob Ross size is 16x20 inches (about 40x50cm), which is what we paint on in class. It's big enough for bold brushwork without being overwhelming. Avoid canvas boards and very cheap, thinly primed canvases, which soak up the Liquid White.

6. Odourless thinner and cleaning

• Odourless thinner: for cleaning brushes and thinning paint for the liner brush.
• A cleaning bucket with a screen: you scrub the brush on the screen to get the paint out, then "beat the devil out of it" to dry it, just like Bob did.
• Paper towels or old rags: lots of them.

Always paint in a well-ventilated room. Dispose of oily rags carefully, because rags soaked in oil can self-heat, so lay them flat to dry outside or keep them in a sealed metal tin.

7. An easel and palette

A simple table-top or standing easel that holds the canvas upright makes a big difference, because wet-on-wet is much harder on a flat table. For a palette, a large sheet of glass, acrylic or tear-off palette paper all work well.

What is in a Bob Ross painting kit?

If you'd rather buy a ready-made Bob Ross painting kit than collect each item, the usual starter option is the Bob Ross Basic Oil Set. UK retailers typically list it with five oil colours (Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Blue and Sap Green), a 1-inch landscape brush, a 100ml bottle of Liquid White, a No. 5 painting knife and an instruction leaflet. That's enough to try the method, but you'll want a 2-inch brush, a fan brush and a liner brush as you progress. Contents vary between sellers, so check the product page before you buy.

Where to buy a Bob Ross painting kit in the UK

You can find the Bob Ross Basic Oil Set at established UK art suppliers such as Cass Art, the Society for All Artists (SAA) and Cowling & Wilcox, and prices have recently ranged from roughly £60 to £80 depending on the shop and any offers. Delivery is often free above a minimum spend. Buy from a recognised art supplier rather than a random online listing, and compare what's in the box. I list the supplies I recommend on my art supplies page.

What you can skip (for now)

• Big 30-piece "complete" sets: you'll never use half of it.
• Liquid Clear and Liquid Black: nice extras, but not essential for your first paintings.
• Specialist floral brushes and detail knives: add these once you know you're hooked.

You can see the brushes, paints and canvases I recommend on my art supplies page.

My honest advice: try a class before you buy

A full starter kit can easily cost more than a class, and it's much easier to know what to buy once you've felt how the brushes, knife and paint should behave. My one-day classes include every material, so you can find out if you love it before spending a penny on equipment. You also get a finished painting to take home.

If you'd rather dive straight in at home, my online video tutorials are £10 each and walk you through a full painting step by step. You can also start with the free video lesson.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading: what paint Bob Ross used is a colour-by-colour guide. Ready to paint along at home? Try our online painting classes for beginners.