What You Need To Know About Oil Painting

By Robert Smith


To many artists, oil paints have always been their first choice for many years now. Artists make their colors by blending dry powder paints with selected oils. They mix the products to achieve a stiff paste that has consistency. The consistency of these colors is usually important. Actually, the recommended standard is to have a smooth and buttery paste that is not stringy or tacky. However, oil painting has been a good choice for many artists over hundreds of years, of course, with good reasons.

As a matter of fact, colors are beautiful and gorgeous, and they last forever. The nature of oil paints is that they are slow drying making it possible to remove what you might not want when it is still wet. Again, you can still paint over the picture once it get dry.

As stated, consistency is an important feature for these paints. Nevertheless, in case a flowing quality is sought, a liquid medium could be added such as turpentine. Besides, a siccative or even a liquid drier may be added so as to speed up the drying rate. With just basics on oil paints, you can be able to use them with ease.

When carrying out this artistic work, artists canvas as their ideal support. The canvas is usually cut to the required size and is then stretched on a frame which in most cases a wooden frame, and then it is secured in place by staples or tacks. To lower permeability of the canvas and attain a smooth surface use a primer, and allow it to dry before you can start painting. The mostly used primers are such as gesso and lead white. In some cases, a stiffer and smoother paint could be preferred to texture and springiness. In such a case, a processed paperboard panel or a wooden panel that is primed can be used.

A brush is an essential tool in this particular work. The artists use brushes to apply paint over the sketch. The brushes can be made from various varieties of fibers so as to give different effects. Some of the brushes used in this work are the red stable brushes and bleached hog bristles. They are also made of different sizes and shapes, for instance, they could be oval, flat or round.

After the painting work, a picture varnish coat is normally done in order to protect the picture from atmospheric attacks, accumulation of dirt and minor abrasions. Nevertheless, the varnish can be safely removed using some solvents such as isopropyl alcohol. Also, the varnish adds a uniform luster, tonal depth and color intensity originally in the wet paint.

There are many benefits of painting using oil paints. First, the paints are slow in drying compared to watercolors. This is a benefit to the artist since it give him enough time to work with his creations and make important changes before deciding that painting is complete. Also, this kind of paints can withstand wear and tear.

Finally, after the painting process is over, you can correct any mistakes when the paint is wet. If you have unused paint save it for the next project. Also, ensure you clean the brushes since the paint can ruin them if they are left to dry.




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