Oil is the medium I use and recommended for all. It's user friendly. Mediums and solvents for cleaning brushes and supports (what to paint upon) is the choice of the individual. If you have questions, please contact me and I will give some advice.

The virtues of a limited palette are stressed. Again, I leave that choice to the individual, but I will offer some suggestions. I recommend to all levels of students as a learning experience to experiment with a limited palette. Once one is totally familiar with the very limited palette, one can expand. The idea is to become familiar with every color combination on the palette; this is how color sensitivity develops. Starting out with a limited palette and slowly expanding upon that will help the process.

Limited Palette (Recommended)
1. White (individual's choice, I use Permalba)
2. Cadmium Yellow Pale
3. Cadmium Cadmium Scarlet (also called Cadmium Red Light. Can be considered optional for a very limited palette)
4. Alizarin Crimson
5. Ultramarine Blue
6. Phtalo Green (also called Windsor Green)

After gaining experience with a very limited palette, one can consider supplementing it with greys and/or black. Greys can be mixed and put into tubes at different values or bought ready to go. Gamblin makes a Portland Grey Light, Medium and Dark. (Ivory) Black can be used for the same purpose of greying colors.
Then, too, expanding the palette slowly is an option. The idea of intimate familiarity with all possible color combinations one has with the particular palette he or she is using is sustained as one expands his or her palette.
The artist Donald Demers says that when he paints he only squeezes out the colors he needs at that particular time. He may have many colors in his paint box, but depending on the subject matter he happens to be painting at the time, he uses only a few colors insuring a color harmony. In different situations he will use different color combinations, but always with a limited number of colors.

Following are some palette ideas to expand upon the limited palette if so desired; these are only suggestions, anything is acceptable that is comfortable to the student. Keep in mind that Kevin Macpherson (whom I met in Central Park in summer of 2009) only uses the limited palette listed above and grey. Artist Armand Cabrera uses the two primary palette and his colors are Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Cadmium Red Light, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue and Viridian. The last two could be substituted with Phtalo Blue and Phtalo Green, the Phtalos (or Thalos) are extremely strong tinting colors which I find useful for painting out of doors, but their tinting strength is so strong that they can overwhelm all the other colors. One may have to adjust to their great strength and keep in mind that a small bit will go a long way in mixtures. The Cobalt and Viridian are subtler and can be used much more liberally which may be more to one's own personal taste.

Two Primaries
1. White
2. Cadmium Yellow Lemon or Cadmium Yellow Pale
3. Cadmium Yellow or Cadmium Yellow Deep or Cadmium Orange or Yellow Ocher Pale or Yellow Ocher or Raw Sienna
4. Cadmium Scarlet (also called Cadmium Red Light) or Cadmium Red
5. Alizarin Crimson
6. Ultramarine Blue
7. Phtalo Blue (also called Windsor Blue) or Cobalt Blue or Cerulean Blue
8. Phtalo Green (also called Windsor Green) or Viridian (optional)

Two Primaries and Two Earth Colors
1. White
2. Cadmium Yellow Lemon or Cadmium Yellow Pale
3. Cadmium Yellow or Cadmium Yellow Deep or Cadmium Orange or Yellow Ocher Pale or Yellow Ocher or Raw Sienna
4. Cadmium Scarlet (also called Cadmium Red Light) or Cadmium Red
5. Terra Rosa or Indian Red or Venetian Red or Red Light
6. Burnt Sienna or Transparent Oxide Red
7. Alizarin Crimson
8. Ultramarine Blue
9. Phtalo Blue or Windsor Blue or Cobalt Blue or Cerulean Blue
10. Phtalo Green (also called Windsor Green) or Viridian (optional)

Full Palette
1. White
2. Cadmium Yellow Lemon
3. Cadmium Yellow Pale
4. Cadmium Yellow Deep or Cadmium Orange
5. Yellow Ocher Pale or Yellow Ocher or Raw Sienna
6. Cadmium Scarlet (also called Cadmium Red Light) or Cadmium Red
7. Terra Rosa or Indian Red or Venetian Red or Red Light
8. Burnt Sienna or Transparent Oxide Red
9. Alizarin Crimson
10. Ultramarine Blue
11. Phtalo Blue (also called Windsor Blue) or Cobalt Blue or Cerulean Blue
12. Phtalo Green (also called Windsor Green) or Viridian

There are many books to recommend but the one essential that we should all have and be familiar with is Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting.