Ben Jonson asked:


First and foremost thing you should consider before trusting any oil painting method is that it must come with disclaimer. More than any other types of do-it-yourself process, oil painting cleaning must actually be trusted to professional conservators. On the other hand, if your painting does not carry expensive tag, or it is not really old, or not too critical, there are few options to make it look cleaner and brighter yourself. In addition, modifying true antiques in fact decreases their value, whether they look better to you or not.

During 1940s, paintings made from oil on canvas were normally covered with the layer of varnish to incorporate sheen and guard the thick layer of paint, name Impasto. However, varnish usually reacts differently to the surroundings than the paint do, so such varnish seals end up cracking, staining or gumming up over time. It could make the real tint of the oil paints appear dull or discolored.

In case, it looks that your painting has gone older, assess whether your paint is in good condition but the varnish has gone old. Here, try using mild solvent name conservation liquid. Art selling stores would usually sell an “emulsion” intended to clean and take away varnish. There is forever option that this solvent would as well harm or take out the oil paint. If you are eager take this risk then wipe the emulsion with a cotton scrub very carefully. Try to do spot-testing one bend before going on to the total canvas painting. Work in an area where you find sufficient ventilation.

When it comes to recent paintings, you might come across the trouble of build-up of smoke, dust, stain, pet hair (in case you have pets at home), dander, and even fungal development. Here, you need to make sure that none of the paints is prepared to come about the board or canvas, in the sense that it does not display any flakes and cracks. After that, you could watchfully clean up the surface with very dry and soft bristle brush, may be with baby toothbrush or shaving brush.

When the painting surface is steamy, mucky and oily, you might desire to take some steps for cleaning by means of detergent solution. However, usually it is not an good idea to mix up water and oil as the moisture could damage both the impasto and canvas. Moving with caution, you can use fresh cotton cloths dipped in a mixture of dish soap and hot water. Then next you need to lightly blot the base, make sure you don’t scrub or rub on the painting. Never should you allow submerging any part of painting, nor must you let the moisture to drip or pool.

Ralph Serpe asked:


One of the more frequently asked questions from beginners in oil painting is: How do I get Started? To get started in oil painting is relatively easy. There are some basic supplies that you will need and some basic guidelines to follow. This article will discuss how beginners can get started with oil painting. This article will not teach you how to become a good painter however. In fact, no one can make you a good painter. You can only be taught certain things and it is up to you to take what you have learned and apply it.

Many beginners who are new to the oil painting medium, generally have the same questions. So let’s cover those questions now so that you can begin your painting journey right away.

Oil Painting Supplies

The first thing you will need to do is purchase a few supplies. You need not spend a ton of money on expensive oil painting supplies. Start with the basics as you are only a beginner right now. The goal at this point is to get used to working with your support, brushes, paints and other materials. So expensive supplies will be wasted during this stage.

Supports

You are going to need a support to paint on. There are a number of different supports that can handle oil paint, but for now, start with canvas. Many beginners often ask if a canvas needs any special coating or priming for oil paint. The short answer is yes, but you need not worry about that either. Any local art supply store or online art supply store will have canvases that are already primed and ready to be used.

Oil Paint

Next, you are going to need paint. You do not need an expensive brand of paint. That would again be a waste for beginners. There are less expensive, good quality paints on the market that will work beautifully for your painting needs. Here are a few oil paint brands to test out: WINSOR & NEWTON Winton Oil Colours, GRUMBACHER Academy Oils and DALER-ROWNEY Georgian Oil Colours.

For those of you who may be concerned about the potential hazards associated with oil paints, have no fear. Introducing water miscible oil paints! These paints are fantastic. They can be thinned with water as opposed to using dangerous solvents like turpentine. Here are two brands to try out if you are interested: GRUMBACHER Max Water Miscible Oil Colors and WINSOR & NEWTON Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colours.

Oil Painting Brushes

Having good quality brushes is important. While a good quality brush will not make you a better painter, a cheap brush will only wind up frustrating you. When you use cheap brushes you will see why. Cheap brushes have a tendency to shed hairs that get stuck in the oil paint, which is extremely annoying. Good quality brushes should have stiff hairs and snap back into place when you run your fingers through them. They should be well crafted and sturdy.

You do not need that many brushes for oil painting. I personally only use two types of oil painting brushes: flats and filberts of various sizes. I do have a few rounds and a fan brush on hand, but I almost never use them. I would also recommend that you use hogs hair brushes as opposed to the softer synthetic hair brushes. The synthetic brushes are just too flimsy to handle the oil painting medium in my opinion.

Cleaning your brushes is important, so don’t be careless in this area, especially if you are working with high quality brushes. Many artists recommend turpentine for cleaning brushes, but I simply cannot bring myself to use this stuff. I use a much safer brush cleaning product called “The Masters” Brush Cleaner and Preserver.

I clean my brushes right after a painting session with this product and it works wonderfully. It may take some time to really get your brushes clean, but it is worth the effort. If the brush cleaner does not remove all of the paint, then I use a bit of odorless mineral spirits. I find this a much better alternative to turpentine.

Oil Painting Mediums

What about mediums? Do you need to mix the oil paint with anything or can you use it straight out of the tube? This is another common question amongst beginners. The answer? You do not need mediums to paint with. They are not a requirement, but I find them to be quite helpful.

Most oil paints that I have worked with are simply too stiff right out of the tube for my particular style of painting. Mediums will help dilute the oil paint and make the paint flow better, which means you will be using less paint. Using less paint, means you will save money.

There are many different kinds of mediums that are used for different reasons, like speeding up the drying time of paint, improving gloss, etc. Do not be overly concerned with mediums right now.

I like to start my painting using thinned down acrylic paint. I first tone my entire canvas with a neutral color. I then draw in my composition using different values of the same color. I let this initial drawing dry over night. I then apply the oil paint using the fat over lean oil painting method.

Lighting

This is a very important part of oil painting. Without proper lighting, you will not be able to accurately see your colors. The best kind of lighting is natural sunlight, so if you have the opportunity to paint in a well lit room or outdoors, that would be ideal. Of course not everyone is blessed with this type of situation, so the next best thing is to use lighting that mimics natural sunlight.

This type of lighting is referred to as “full spectrum lighting”. There are number of different full spectrum lighting products available. Just do a search on google for “full spectrum lighting” and you will find a number of websites on the topic.

Safety

Oil painting for beginners can be hazardous if you are not careful, so it is important to take the necessary precautions. Make sure you work in an area that has good ventilation and airflow. Wear disposable latex gloves while painting. Read all manufacturer warning labels carefully.

Some Final Words

As you sit down to start your first painting, remember that you are just a beginner. Your main goal right now is to have fun and get used to working with your oil painting materials. Do not be overly judgmental about your own work. If you do so, you will only wind up getting frustrated. Your first, second, third or even tenth painting may not turn out the way you wanted it to. This is completely normal so do not get discouraged. Oil painting is a difficult medium to master. It takes perseverance so hang in there. I wish you all the best! God Bless.

vijay asked:


One may come across many advices about cleaning an oil painting, but those tips must come with a major disclaimer. More than other types of rough and ready projects on cleaning oil paintings must really be trusted to professional conservators. Anyhow, if your oil painting is not really old, not terribly valuable, or not too important, there are other potential ways to make it appear good and cleaner yourself. Furthermore altering true antiques more or less forever decreases their value, whether or not they appear better to you.

If it seems that your oil painting reproduction is little older, evaluate whether the paint is in good condition but the varnish has become older. In this case, try applying a gentle solvent known as conservation liquid. Some of the art supply stores may sell an “emulsion” intended to clean and remove varnish. There is always a chance that the solvent would as well harm or remove the oil paint. If you are ready to risk this possibility, pat the emulsion with a cotton swab quite delicately. Try spot testing one corner before moving on to the whole canvas. Work in an area where you find adequate ventilation.

For any of the recent oil paintings, your trouble is more probable a loudening of dust, smoke, pet hair, dander, and other bacterial or fungal growth. In this case, ensure none of the paint is set to come off the canvas or board, sense that it doesn’t display any cracks or flakes. Then you could vigilantly dust the surface with a very soft, dry bristle brush, like a baby toothbrush or shaving cream brush.

When the surface is steamy, dirty, or oily, you might desire to take the cleaning a step further and in fact uses a mild detergent solution. Again, in general speaking, oil and water must never mix, as moisture could be damage both the canvas and the impasto. Proceeding with care, use brand original cotton cloths dipped in a mixture of dish soap and only the warm water. Lightly blot the surface, but do not rub, wipe, or rub at the oil painting. At no point you should sink any part of the painting, nor permit so much moisture that it drips or pools.

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.

vijay asked:


Following are the tips for you to maintain good oil painting habits:

Tips for saving color:

• Clean away any mixtures near heaps of colors you are setting up to keep.

• Keep a habit to put colors in same place on palette – used up areas must be worn out & wiped for new oil paint for next painting session.

• For disposable palettes scoop off mounds of paint you desire to maintain with your knife and move them to a fresh sheet; if a skin shapes, stab and take away the skin and work with the new color under.

• If you are not regular on painting for a week – cover palette with plastic cover & place in freezer.

• When you desire to clean your palette clean off central mixing area of wooden/acrylic palette, when you are done with your oil painting,

• For caring for tube keep tubes clean, wipe necks & caps.

Caring for your brushes:

• Wipe to take away surplus paint on rags, newspaper, etc.

• Rinse in container of solvent not advisable to soak.

• Clean your oil painting brush with rags, newspaper to immerse up solvent

• You can also use mild soap (shampoo or dawn), put dab in palm of your hand, foam brush in palm moving in circle to work foam into bristles.

• Lather & wash it in lukewarm water until soap suds are snow white, & rinse with clear water; bristles might discolor.

• Press bristles into tidy, solid shape while moist.

• Let it dry and store in jar bristle-end up.

Safety precautions:

• Read labels on oil paints and mediums – some are gently toxic (cadmium colors), so you need to careful with it.

• Avoid consumption of food or smoking while you paint

• Wash hands carefully after oil painting reproduction session; try using lotion to hands before hand, paints would wash off easier

• Some solvents don’t create deadly fumes, any how, must be used in well air room – open a window

• Some solvents are combustible also and toxic (gasoline, kerosene) – stick to turpentine and petroleum stuff made for artist’s use.