Painting In Oils: Why It Is The Premier Choice

By Author: Anthony Keith Whitehead
Total Articles: 21
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Using oils is a great way for beginners to “get into painting”. It is quite simple to do and promises great levels of satisfaction. Start by buying an inexpensive box of small tubes, around 38ml. Buy a cheap frame with ready-treated canvass stretched on it, a few brushews of different sizes and off you go!

Oils From The Start?
Mine is obviously a skewed opinion! I obviously like oils and think they are by far the best painting medium. And for those just beginning to paint there is an individual advantage because oil paints are what is called a “forgiving” medium. In other wards, mistakes can be quite easy to rectify.

Mistakes That Do Not Have To Be Left
Every one makes mistakes, and for those starting out in painting, their frequency can be really discouraging. Correcting mistakes can be done in two ways, or at two stages. If you find you have done something wrong, maybe got the wrong shapes for something, or the wrong tone, is easy to change it. Use turpentine to remove the paint in the offending area. The oil paint will remove quite easily using a rag or kitchen roll or even, if it is a small ...
... area, a brush with turps on it – but this needs to be the proper stuff, not turps substitute. If the offending area is quite small, also try using the turpentine on a cotton bud, so that the area being treated is more easily restricted and the surrounding area unaffected. (It is always well worth keeping a box of cotton buds to hand for various uses).

Again, perhaps you have left your painting for sometime and allowed it to dry. Then you decide that something is not quite right and needs to be changed. Apply turps as before – or paint over the offending area, or even the whole picture with titanium white. If the support is canvass, always be careful with the surface of the support in these cases.

Other Ways Of Removing Mistakes
Canvass stretched over a frame is great, but to start with a more solid surface may be better, say one of the thin, solid boards you can buy made to look (and paint, to some extent) like canvass, or by some MDF and coat it with an acrylic base.

With board, you can try scraping some of the paint off with a suitable knife, and especially if the paint has been applied fairly quickly. Also try using sandpaper (but not too coarse) and gently rubbing the offending area. One often does not need to remove all the paint because the new paint to be applied will cover it up especially if it is of the opaque rather than transparent type. You will know if it is the latter because it's covering power is much weaker. If so, makes an opaque colour with it, if possible, such some Titanium White mixed with it.

Avoid Dissatisfaction
Considerable dissatisfaction can come when time and effort has been spent on a painting and then you realise something is not right but you are unable to alter it. That is common with other mediums, such as water colours. This, as already indicated, can be largely avoided with oil paints.

On the other hand, satisfaction comes from completing a painting you are pleased with, and that is more likely if you can undo your errors! Also there is much enjoyment simply in using oil paints. And that can vary depending on the style of painting you adopt. One approach consists of laying on thick layers, perhaps to represent sea on rocks as at Rough Seas Staithes
This is called in “impasto”. This is an 18th-century term from Italy derived from "impastare" meaning to apply paint thickly so that the brush or palette knife marks can be seen. There are also special mediums which allow you to bulk up the paint. For many artists the potential for impasto work is a major attraction of oil paints. The “opposite” kind of approach is using subtle layers of thin transparent paint in what is called "glazing. Glazing can be used in different ways but, for example, instead of using orange, one can get a much greater translucent effect by laying down a of thin coat of yellow and, when dry, putting a thin transparent coat of red on top.

Endless Possibilities

Well, perhaps not quite endless, but the possibilities are much greater than in other mediums. The possibilities are comparatively considerable, and certainly the satisfaction is inexhaustible.

AUTHOR: A K Whitehead
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This will take you to paintingsinoil.co.uk main page of original images painted by A K Whitehead.
All the paintings in oil here are by A K Whitehead, who is aself-taught artist, and are original oils and not copies. The approach is traditional, making use of various techniques, including impasto and glazing. This link will take you to the main categories of landscapes, seascapes, snowscapes, waterscapes and still life and all are provided with free frames and fastenings. Free delivery is also included within the UK.