These are products that I use personally in both my oil and pastel painting, both in the studio and out in the field. I've spent years fine-tuning my painting setups and my choices of materials that I use. These items provide consistent, surpassing results with my techniques.

In addition, I've listed some resources that I've found invaluable over the years in my own education. DVDs, books, online communities -- please look through these and consider them as tools for your own development. - Michael

Painting - Pastel

• Wallis Sanded Pastel Paper. Consistent texture, paper that can take a lot of pastel.

Painting - Oil

• Ampersand Gessobord. My favourite commercially-prepared surface for oil.
• Gamblin Colors. Excellent, consistent oils and mediums.

Equipment

• Easels: Guerrilla Paintbox: Everything fits in this one box! Both oil and pastel setups.
• Pastel Boxes: Heilman Designs. The Heilman Backpack box fits lots of pastels.
• Umbrellas: Best Brella. Stands up in the wind!
• Brushes: Silver Brush Ltd. "Grand Prix". Natural bristles.

Communications - Links to the Arts Community

• Plein Air Painters of the Bay of Fundy
• Fundy Art : Artists with studios in the Bay of Fundy area
• Landscape Artists International
• International Plein Air Painters
• Pastel Artists Canada
• Pastel Painters of Maine
• Pastel Society of New Mexico
• Vermont Pastel Society
• Pastel Society of America
• Oil Painters of America
• Art for Patronage: Bringing Patrons & Artists Together
• Highlands Art: Artists who serve as guides for local areas to paint int
• Artshow.com: A great listing of workshops, tutorials and the like.
• WetCanvas!:  A superb on-line community.
• Robert Genn's Twice Weekly Letter:  Inspirational thoughts and darn good advice
• Artists in Canada
• Artists Who Teach - A resource of artist-teachers

Instruction & Learning

• Artist Productions - DVDs and tapes of instructors such as Bob Rohm, Albert Handell, Ann Templeton and Kevin MacPherson
• Friar's Bay Studio Gallery - Michael's open studio, workshop space and gallery on Campobello Island.
• Phil Laughlin - This Vermont-based pastel painter has an excellent demonstration on his website here.

Magazines

These are magazines Michael writes for.

• The Artist's Magazine
• The Pastel Journal
• Watercolor Artist

Recommended Reading List

Either of my books, Backpacker Painting: Outdoors with Oil & Pastel or Through a Painter's Brush: A Year on Campobello Island, has lots of useful information on outdoor painting. (Order from my website.)

Here is a list I've put together on Amazon.com that lists many of these books.

The "Bibles" of Outdoor Painting:

• Guide to Landscape Painting by John F. Carlson.
• Composition of Outdoor Painting by Edgar Payne.

Solid Books on Painting, Plein air or Studio, Oil or Pastel:

• The Painterly Approach by Bob Rohm
• Landscape Painting In and Out by Kevin Macpherson.
• Gruppe on Painting, Brushwork for the Oil Painter, Gruppe on Color by Emile Gruppe.
• Painting the Landscape in Pastel by Albert Handell & Anita Louise West
• Plein Air Painting in Watercolor & Oil by Frank LaLumia
• Capturing Light in Oils by Paul Strisik.
• Problem Solving for Oil Painters by Gregg Kreutz.
• Painting the Impressionist Landscape by Lois Griffel.
• Color and Beyond by Ann Templeton & Eugene Mendonsa

More books:

• Hongnian Zhang, The Yin/Yang of Painting
• For advanced painting concepts, read The Art Spirit by Robert Henri, Hawthorne on Painting by Charles Hawthorne, and Richard Schmid's Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting.
• An Artist's Way of Seeing by Mary Whyte - a very readable book on learning how to move beyond technique and into bringing the "moment" to your landscapes