Tips on Oil Painting – Why Paint With Oils?
December 14, 2009 by admin
Filed under Visual Art
Remi Engels, Ph.D. asked:
Because oil paints have been used for many centuries, their properties are very well known.
Oil is, even today, still one of the easiest and most forgiving mediums you can work in. Creating an oil painting is in fact relatively easy compared to other mediums such as watercolor or even pastels.
The advantages of oil are many and various. Here are some of the most important ones:
* Oil paints are easily put onto a canvas or panel. You just put some paint on your brush and rub it on the canvas or panel. The paint will generally not run or move.
* Creating a painting becomes a matter of putting the right color paint in the right place. Of course, some artists are better at this than others.
* One great property of oil paints is that they do not change color when they dry as opposed, for example, to acrylics. Oils pretty much stay the same for a long period of time.
* It is very easy to correct a mistake when you paint with oils. Just scrape the paint off with a paint knife and repaint whatever it was you scraped off.
* Oil paint dries very slowly because they consist of small pigment particles suspended in oil.
In fact, each color has its own drying time. But all paints dry slow enough so that you can remove them days and even weeks after they were applied. This is also the reason why it is so easy to correct mistakes.
Of course, the disadvantage is that they dry … slowly. That means they stay wet longer although there exist mediums that, when mixed in with the paint, can significantly speed up the drying process if that is what you want.
* It is easy to mix tube colors on a palette and is usually done with a brush of paint knife. There are mediums to thicken the paint into a pasta-like consistency and mediums to thin the paint into a water-like consistency.
* Once a color mixture formula is memorized it is easy to consistently reproduce the mixture. This is less the case with most other mediums.
* The fact that oil paint dries so slowly also gives you more time to work and rework a painting. You have enough time to sleep on certain decisions you need to make. Acrylics, for example, dry much faster and give you less time to ponder your masterpiece before action is required.
* Oil paints are also easily blended. So, it becomes relatively easy to render smooth transitional areas between different colors or values.
* Oils are also amenable to a whole series of techniques each of which yields a different look and feel. One example of such a technique is glazing. In de glazing technique several thin layers of transparent paint are put on top of each other. Each layer must be thoroughly dry before the next one is applied. Once done light is reflected off each layer resulting into an unusual luminosity and brightness.
* Oil can be used on any number of grounds: canvas, panel canvas, glass, wood, paper, etc. each, when done correctly, with excellent and durable results.
These are some of the more important and interesting properties of oil paints that have given this medium the enduring popularity that it has.
Because oil paints have been used for many centuries, their properties are very well known.
Oil is, even today, still one of the easiest and most forgiving mediums you can work in. Creating an oil painting is in fact relatively easy compared to other mediums such as watercolor or even pastels.
The advantages of oil are many and various. Here are some of the most important ones:
* Oil paints are easily put onto a canvas or panel. You just put some paint on your brush and rub it on the canvas or panel. The paint will generally not run or move.
* Creating a painting becomes a matter of putting the right color paint in the right place. Of course, some artists are better at this than others.
* One great property of oil paints is that they do not change color when they dry as opposed, for example, to acrylics. Oils pretty much stay the same for a long period of time.
* It is very easy to correct a mistake when you paint with oils. Just scrape the paint off with a paint knife and repaint whatever it was you scraped off.
* Oil paint dries very slowly because they consist of small pigment particles suspended in oil.
In fact, each color has its own drying time. But all paints dry slow enough so that you can remove them days and even weeks after they were applied. This is also the reason why it is so easy to correct mistakes.
Of course, the disadvantage is that they dry … slowly. That means they stay wet longer although there exist mediums that, when mixed in with the paint, can significantly speed up the drying process if that is what you want.
* It is easy to mix tube colors on a palette and is usually done with a brush of paint knife. There are mediums to thicken the paint into a pasta-like consistency and mediums to thin the paint into a water-like consistency.
* Once a color mixture formula is memorized it is easy to consistently reproduce the mixture. This is less the case with most other mediums.
* The fact that oil paint dries so slowly also gives you more time to work and rework a painting. You have enough time to sleep on certain decisions you need to make. Acrylics, for example, dry much faster and give you less time to ponder your masterpiece before action is required.
* Oil paints are also easily blended. So, it becomes relatively easy to render smooth transitional areas between different colors or values.
* Oils are also amenable to a whole series of techniques each of which yields a different look and feel. One example of such a technique is glazing. In de glazing technique several thin layers of transparent paint are put on top of each other. Each layer must be thoroughly dry before the next one is applied. Once done light is reflected off each layer resulting into an unusual luminosity and brightness.
* Oil can be used on any number of grounds: canvas, panel canvas, glass, wood, paper, etc. each, when done correctly, with excellent and durable results.
These are some of the more important and interesting properties of oil paints that have given this medium the enduring popularity that it has.
Tips on Oil Painting – Solvents Mediums and Varnishes
October 21, 2009 by admin
Filed under Visual Art
Remi Engels, Ph.D. asked:
If you paint with oils you will need a solvent to clean your brushes and thin your paints. Of course, if you paint with water soluble oils then your solvent will be water.
Turpentine is a standard solvent used to thin ordinary oil paints. You can purchase turpentine in any art supply store or hardware store. In some cases, the kind of turpentine you buy in a hardware store may be fresher because of the shorter turnaround time.
Some artists work with mineral spirits. These are also available in hardware stores. To save money, buy the largest available quantity and use a smaller container when you do your actual painting.
Tube oil paint (i.e., oil paint directly from the tube) can be difficult to manipulate. Some colors are stiffer than others and may be hard to evenly distribute over your canvas. To solve this problem, artists often need to mix their tube paints with a so-called painting medium.
A painting medium is a liquid solution that makes the oil paint smoother and easier to manipulate. Adding any one of a number of different painting mediums changes the consistency of the paint. Some mediums are meant to make the paint thinner for glazing and others are meant to make the paint thicker for impasto painting. There are also mediums to shorten or lengthen the drying.
The most basic medium is regular turpentine. Adding a little turpentine thins oils paint. Another frequently used medium is linseed oil, which makes the paint more fluid but, over time, it also tends to yellow the paint. The most commonly used medium is a combination of turpentine and linseed oil, sometimes with the addition of a little damar varnish.
Begin by experimenting with a half-and-half mixture of turpentine and linseed oil. Because linseed oil slows down the drying process, you may want to increase the proportion of turpentine. A good mixture is three parts of turpentine to one part of linseed oil.
Once you find the medium you like, mix a batch and store it in a tightly sealed jar. As you paint, dip your brush into the medium, then add a little paint, then mix them together on your palette (mixing surface).
Preliminary compositions can be drawn on your canvas with a so-called thin turp wash, i.e., a little bit of paint with a lot of turpentine. A turp wash evaporates very quickly, so you can quickly paint over them.
In general, the more turpentine you use the matter the finish will be and the more linseed oil you use the glossier it will be. If you like robust, permanently visible brushstrokes, you may want to use less medium. Dry brush is one technique where you do not add any medium at all.
Special painting mediums are also available that change the oil paint in different ways. The most common are those that shorten or lengthen the drying time of the oil paint. Check your art supply store or the Internet to see the available types of mediums. All medium bottles will show instructions on how best to use the particular medium.
Oil paintings must be varnished to protect them from undesirable elements such as dirt and toxins. Varnish is a clear solution made from a resin and turpentine or some other solvent.
In art-supply stores you will see two major types, retouching varnish and picture varnish. Depending on the paint layer thickness, it can take six months or more for an oil painting to dry. In the meantime, the surface of the painting needs to be protected with a coat of retouching varnish. After the varnish is applied, the turpentine evaporates, and leaving a thin protective coat. You can apply retouching varnish as soon as the paint feels dry to the touch.
Picture varnish contains more resin than retouching varnish. It should be applied about six months after you complete a painting. If you paint with impasto-like brushstrokes, you may have to wait as long as a year before applying the final coat.
Both types of varnish are applied in the same manner. Using a broad, flat nylon brush, apply the varnish evenly using horizontal strokes. You can also use retouching varnish to brighten dry dull patches in your painting.
If you paint with oils you will need a solvent to clean your brushes and thin your paints. Of course, if you paint with water soluble oils then your solvent will be water.
Turpentine is a standard solvent used to thin ordinary oil paints. You can purchase turpentine in any art supply store or hardware store. In some cases, the kind of turpentine you buy in a hardware store may be fresher because of the shorter turnaround time.
Some artists work with mineral spirits. These are also available in hardware stores. To save money, buy the largest available quantity and use a smaller container when you do your actual painting.
Tube oil paint (i.e., oil paint directly from the tube) can be difficult to manipulate. Some colors are stiffer than others and may be hard to evenly distribute over your canvas. To solve this problem, artists often need to mix their tube paints with a so-called painting medium.
A painting medium is a liquid solution that makes the oil paint smoother and easier to manipulate. Adding any one of a number of different painting mediums changes the consistency of the paint. Some mediums are meant to make the paint thinner for glazing and others are meant to make the paint thicker for impasto painting. There are also mediums to shorten or lengthen the drying.
The most basic medium is regular turpentine. Adding a little turpentine thins oils paint. Another frequently used medium is linseed oil, which makes the paint more fluid but, over time, it also tends to yellow the paint. The most commonly used medium is a combination of turpentine and linseed oil, sometimes with the addition of a little damar varnish.
Begin by experimenting with a half-and-half mixture of turpentine and linseed oil. Because linseed oil slows down the drying process, you may want to increase the proportion of turpentine. A good mixture is three parts of turpentine to one part of linseed oil.
Once you find the medium you like, mix a batch and store it in a tightly sealed jar. As you paint, dip your brush into the medium, then add a little paint, then mix them together on your palette (mixing surface).
Preliminary compositions can be drawn on your canvas with a so-called thin turp wash, i.e., a little bit of paint with a lot of turpentine. A turp wash evaporates very quickly, so you can quickly paint over them.
In general, the more turpentine you use the matter the finish will be and the more linseed oil you use the glossier it will be. If you like robust, permanently visible brushstrokes, you may want to use less medium. Dry brush is one technique where you do not add any medium at all.
Special painting mediums are also available that change the oil paint in different ways. The most common are those that shorten or lengthen the drying time of the oil paint. Check your art supply store or the Internet to see the available types of mediums. All medium bottles will show instructions on how best to use the particular medium.
Oil paintings must be varnished to protect them from undesirable elements such as dirt and toxins. Varnish is a clear solution made from a resin and turpentine or some other solvent.
In art-supply stores you will see two major types, retouching varnish and picture varnish. Depending on the paint layer thickness, it can take six months or more for an oil painting to dry. In the meantime, the surface of the painting needs to be protected with a coat of retouching varnish. After the varnish is applied, the turpentine evaporates, and leaving a thin protective coat. You can apply retouching varnish as soon as the paint feels dry to the touch.
Picture varnish contains more resin than retouching varnish. It should be applied about six months after you complete a painting. If you paint with impasto-like brushstrokes, you may have to wait as long as a year before applying the final coat.
Both types of varnish are applied in the same manner. Using a broad, flat nylon brush, apply the varnish evenly using horizontal strokes. You can also use retouching varnish to brighten dry dull patches in your painting.
What is You Need to Know About Oil Painting?
Krista QQ(www.123giftfactory.com) asked:
Before picking up a brush, Learn what lean to fat, value, and more mean and many important terms that you need to learn. Here are terms and tips and every word you need to know about oil painting and it’s necessary termps for producing better paintings.
Long and Short Oil Paint
Oil painting mediums can be used to control the thickness, or consistency, of your oil paint.
Long oil paint means that enough medium has been added that it has very little “peak” (the ability to make small peaks or hills out of the paint) to it. It is smooth and oily. Long paint is used when you want very little brush strokes. Short oil paint is paint straight out of the tube. It is thick and has a lot of “peak” to it, stiff and buttery in consistency.
Some classic mediums are:Linseed Oil, Stand Oil, Safflower Oil, Alkyd Painting Medium etc.
Color Temperature
Color temperature refers to the color’s place on the color wheel. If you divide the color wheel at neutral purple (purple that is neither warm nor cool) and at neutral yellow the wheel will be divided into a “cool” side and “warm” side. Warm colors are colors that have a red tint to them. Cool colors have a blue tint.
Value
Value is the graduation of a color from light to dark. By varying the values in a painting you can achieve what is called contrast, or the sharp difference between light and dark. Adding contrast to a painting adds depth and interest. To see the difference in value in your subject simply put on sunglasses. Your sunglasses will keep you from seeing the actual color, and leave you with just lights and darks.
Layering
There are certain rules that should be followed when painting in oils. These rules keep you from ending up with a muddy mess of a painting.
First, you should always paint from warm to cool, meaning, lay down warm colors first, then cool. This also goes for value, always go from dark to light.
Similarly, you should always lay down your thin paint first (or long paint), getting thicker (short paint) as you go along, using your biggest brush first. Start with big, blocked in objects first, slowly working into more detail toward the end.
* Two typical layering methods for an oil painting as following:
Gesso: Gesso is used to prime a surface or canvass before painting. Basically, it makes paint stick better to the surface. It also keeps it from sinking into the surface. You don’t have to use gesso when painting, but it is worth giving a try.
Varnish: Varnish protects your painting from damage. It is only applied when the painting has thoroughly dried, around six months. Retouch varnish is temporary and can be used as soon as the picture is dry to the touch and can be removed with gum turpentine.
Other familiar ways of layering for oil painting:
1. Canvas
2. Underpainting
3. Thin, long, dark, warm paint
4. Thicker, short, light, cool paint
Now, did you have got an idea about oil painting? try it now!
Before picking up a brush, Learn what lean to fat, value, and more mean and many important terms that you need to learn. Here are terms and tips and every word you need to know about oil painting and it’s necessary termps for producing better paintings.
Long and Short Oil Paint
Oil painting mediums can be used to control the thickness, or consistency, of your oil paint.
Long oil paint means that enough medium has been added that it has very little “peak” (the ability to make small peaks or hills out of the paint) to it. It is smooth and oily. Long paint is used when you want very little brush strokes. Short oil paint is paint straight out of the tube. It is thick and has a lot of “peak” to it, stiff and buttery in consistency.
Some classic mediums are:Linseed Oil, Stand Oil, Safflower Oil, Alkyd Painting Medium etc.
Color Temperature
Color temperature refers to the color’s place on the color wheel. If you divide the color wheel at neutral purple (purple that is neither warm nor cool) and at neutral yellow the wheel will be divided into a “cool” side and “warm” side. Warm colors are colors that have a red tint to them. Cool colors have a blue tint.
Value
Value is the graduation of a color from light to dark. By varying the values in a painting you can achieve what is called contrast, or the sharp difference between light and dark. Adding contrast to a painting adds depth and interest. To see the difference in value in your subject simply put on sunglasses. Your sunglasses will keep you from seeing the actual color, and leave you with just lights and darks.
Layering
There are certain rules that should be followed when painting in oils. These rules keep you from ending up with a muddy mess of a painting.
First, you should always paint from warm to cool, meaning, lay down warm colors first, then cool. This also goes for value, always go from dark to light.
Similarly, you should always lay down your thin paint first (or long paint), getting thicker (short paint) as you go along, using your biggest brush first. Start with big, blocked in objects first, slowly working into more detail toward the end.
* Two typical layering methods for an oil painting as following:
Gesso: Gesso is used to prime a surface or canvass before painting. Basically, it makes paint stick better to the surface. It also keeps it from sinking into the surface. You don’t have to use gesso when painting, but it is worth giving a try.
Varnish: Varnish protects your painting from damage. It is only applied when the painting has thoroughly dried, around six months. Retouch varnish is temporary and can be used as soon as the picture is dry to the touch and can be removed with gum turpentine.
Other familiar ways of layering for oil painting:
1. Canvas
2. Underpainting
3. Thin, long, dark, warm paint
4. Thicker, short, light, cool paint
Now, did you have got an idea about oil painting? try it now!
