Oil Painting Instruction

Oil Painting Instruction:

Painting in oil to me, is very rewarding. I consider that painting with oils, my favorite painting medium of all. Now I'm going to tell you why......   Now just because it

I started painting at a very early age, when I was still in primary school. And found that the smooth texture of oils was so easy to work with, and also spreads well on any surface that you put it on. Its blending abilities would rival most mediums with the exception of water color paints. With watercolor paints, the water that is mixed with with the paint, which gives you a freedom that you cant get with any other.  A word of warning though.... water paints mixed with water, depending on how much water you put with the paint, when applying it to your chosen surface. Will have a tendency to run.

"When you start a painting, it is somewhat outside you. At the conclusion, you seem to move inside the painting." - Fernando Botero

This is where you will get your added freedom from - though you will also have the feeling of being out of control with water paints. And many things can go wrong. So that's why they say that water paints can be the hardest of paints to master.

Where oil paints mix so well with each other, you find that you can create many different colors when mixing them. You can also control oil paints so that you can in paint detail to extremes. I like this wide variety that oil paints can give me. Probably being the most willing of any paints to create and achieve on canvas the effects that you want to achieve.

Oil Painting Instructions in Techniques

Traditional oil painting techniques often begin with the artist sketching the figure onto the canvas with charcoal, pencil or a thinned paint. Oil paint can be mixed with turpentine or artist grade mineral spirits or other solvents to create a thinner, faster drying paint.

You can then build up your subject in layers. A basic rule of oil paint application is 'fat over lean.' Meaning that each additional layer of paint should be a bit oilier than the layer below, to allow proper drying. As a painting gets additional layers, the paint must get oilier (leaner to fatter) or the final painting will crack and peel.

 Artist: Sharlene Lindskog-Osorio

Oil Painting Instruction in other Painting Media

You can use many other types of painting media that can be used with oil painting, like cold wax, resins, and varnishes. These additional media can aid you in adjusting the translucency of the paint, the sheen of the paint, or you could say, the density or 'body' of the paint. And the ability of the paint to hold or conceal the brushstrokes.

Oil Painting Instruction Methods

Traditionally, moving paint around on a canvas was done with paint brushes,there are also other oil painting instruction methods, including the palette knife, rag, or even directly from the paint tube. Oil paint remains wet longer than many other paint types, and that's another reason why I like them so much. It gives you time to play with your colors, and even change the texture with what I have mentioned previously.

Painters have been known to remove an entire layer of paint and begin anew. You can be do this by using a rag and some turpentine for a certain time while the paint is wet, but  leave it too long, the paint starts to harden. So then you would need to use a palette knife or just a knife to scrape off the paint from the surface.

 Artist: Sharlene Lindskog-Osorio

Oil paint dries by oxidation, not evaporation, and is usually dry to the touch in a day to two weeks. I always was a bit impatient, touching the surface of my paintings with the greatest of care to see if they were dry enough! It is generally dry enough to be varnished in six months to a year later if you wish, I never did. Its your choice. Art conservators  don't consider an oil painting to be completely dry until it is 60 to 80 years old. Amazing really.........

Remember, you first need to prepare the surface you are going to paint on, with a primer that you can get from any art shop, or other shops if you look around for it. Although surfaces like linoleum, cardboard, wooden panel, paper, slate, and pressed wood  have been used. The most popular surface being canvas, has been around since the 16th century, although many artists used panel through the 17th century and beyond. Before that, panels were used, they were more expensive, heavier, and  less easy to transport, apart from being prone to warp or split in poor conditions. For fine detail, the solidarity of  wooden panels gives you an advantage.

Oil Painting Instruction on Oil Brushes

Artists most often use brushes to apply their paint. Brushes have been made from a variety of fibers to create different effects, so you need to experiment. They have been made with hog's bristle, which you can use for bolder strokes. Brushes made from miniver, which is squirrel fur, for finer detail. You have a variety of sizes in brushes from round to flat; for detailed and non-detailed work. These days you can buy allot of man made fiber brushes on the market. And I find that some have a greater ability to bounce back when painting surfaces. Yet natural brushes made from hair, such as sable can be brought - though at a more costly price.

You might also want to use a  palette knife, being a flat metal blade, which you can buy in different sizes and shapes, for a more less detailed painting. You can also use pallet knives to do a whole painting if you want. In oil painting instruction......why not try unconventional tools, such as rags, sponges, and cotton swabs. You could even use your fingers............

I have had allot of joy painting with oils, I seem to get immersed with

Oil paints seem to have a richness about them, and brings a dimensional richness to your paintings. And the ability to create no end of different colors and shades onto your canvas is only limited you your experimentation and imagination. So give yourself the chance to get to know oil paints and see what you think for yourself.

Lets return from Oil Painting Instruction to Painting Techniques