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.

Ben Jonson asked:


A paintbrush is certainly the most commonly used tool in oil painting. But that does not necessarily imply that paint brushes are indispensable for oil painting. Most people, because they do oil painting with paint brushes, easily forget that there are other ways to apply paint to a surface.

Most people who are knowledgeable about oil painting will agree that palette knives have for long been the traditional oil paint mixing tool. It is indeed a fact that palette knives are ideally suited for creating smooth, consistent mixtures of paint with the medium. At the same time, there is no denying that there is a host of oil painters who go beyond the palette with their knives, straight to the painting surface.

These knives are available in a variety of shapes and sizes and even made in plastic. As all of us are aware, for mixing purposes, just one traditional shape or size might do. But applying paint calls for a range of palette knives to choose from like choosing a set of brushes. When you are attempting to paint with palette knives, experiment with different shapes and sizes to see what produces the best effects. It is generally believed that smaller and thinner knives are ideal for lining, and the bigger ones are more suited for loading on the paint.

There are people who are fond of using stencils into their painting work = particularly when the subject demands a repetitive effect. There are ready-made stencils available in the market or you can make your own with the aid of a stencil kit. But you must take care to use the proper materials or else, the desired results cannot be achieved.

All professional painters will agree that stenciling is not a traditional oil painting method. This is one reason why there are hardly any tutorials. Professional will insist you should still keep in mind the fundamentals of the medium – what is generally known as ‘fat over lean’. It is obvious that very thin paint will bleed around the edges, so it might be necessary to wait until one of the thicker layers of your painting. But it is a fact that stenciling in one of the under layers gives a great effect. However, it is advisable to experiment to find a solution that will fit your needs.

You will soon find rags, sponges and even your own fingers as excellent alternate tools when it comes to oil painting. Professional oil painters claim that it is possible one could create an entire oil painting using rags and/or sponges and without the aid of paint brushes. Sometimes the background color of the painting can be effectively done using just one’s own fingers. Of course, the basic ‘fat over lean rule’ always applies, so bear that in mind when experimenting in any innovative methods.

However, one should exercise caution when painting with your fingers or any other part of your body. You must make sure that the oil color and solvents do not absorb into your skin and then into your bloodstream. This could lead to health problems.

Ben Jonson asked:


The process of painting with varnishes is popularly known as oil painting. Varnishes are a combination of oil like the linseed oil with the resin such as pine resin. Other than linseed oil, oils like poppy seed oil, walnut oil and safflower oil. Oil paintings provide extremely versatile color combinations. For a thick coat oil paints can be used in impasto, which is a textured application where the marks of the paint brush remain visible. They can even be used for a thin layered image like glazes.

Here are some oil painting tips which will make your painting experience more enjoyable and disciplined.

• First the selection of a non porous palette is of vital importance; it would be extremely useful if he would place it in the same order as you paint so that it could be dipped instinctively thus constituting a good flow of painting . Always pour a good amount of whites. Arranging the colors at the end of the palette is considered as good practice thus providing space in the center for mixing.

• It is always suggested to invest in a good set of brushes because cheap set of brushes often tend to lay their bristles. Sometimes it extremely becomes difficult to clean the brush, then it would be suggested that you mix some thinner along with some liquid soap, the brushed can be dipped and then it could be wiped with a newspaper.

• At times it becomes a major chaos to find the right combination of colors to get a lighter combination or a darker shade. The commonly used colors come from the spectrum viz; red, blue, violet, orange, yellow, green. The chaos would be easily solved once we become aware of the properties of colors value ,intensity ,temperature and hue .Intensity or purity of a color indicates how bright or dull the color is For example when orange is directly used from the tube it has higher intensity. On the other hand value of the color refers to the darkness and the lightness of the color. Colors vary in temperature from warm yellows to cool violets. Hue is the synonym of color like apple and cherry are shades or hues of red . Ivory black can be avoided to be used for underpainting or outlining as it dries much slower than the rest of the oil paints.

• To avoid cracks in the painting always follow the fat over lean i.e.; the proportion of oil should be increased for each additional layer because the lower layers penetrate the oil of the layers above, thus causing cracks.

• It is much preferable that the oil paintings should never be dried in the dark this will constitute to the formation of a thin film of oil raised above thus yellowing the paints.