At the Florence Academy of Art I had the privilege of learning the craft and tradition of oil painting, and the method and philosophy behind the materials. I have ground all my own colours by hand and I still continue to grind certain colours if I believe the quality is better than commercial products. That said, Michael Harding and Old Holland are generally very good.
Making your own paint is rather like growing and cooking your own vegetables; you know exactly what’s in it, and how it will perform. I use refined walnut oil or linseed oil as a binding medium and that’s about it, occasionally I add a little aluminium stearate to certain colours that don’t bind as easily.
In terms of linen, I am currently using the very highest quality herring bone linen which is so beautiful you could wear it as a suit. I then size it with rabbit skin glue, stretch it and apply a titanium white oil ground by hand.
Palette. I have slowly narrowed the palette down to four colours: black, alizarin, indian yellow, and white. They have the right balance of temperature range and transparency for me. I also have raw umber and ultramarine blue on the bench, if I want a stronger green. or if I need things to dry a bit quicker.