Oil Painting Tips
Oil painting tips:
Art is a wonderful aspect of life that comes in many forms. Of all the beautiful art forms in the world, is considered to be a relatively new and beautiful form of art. The actual meaning of oil painting is painting with the use of oil pigments. Till the early fifteenth century, artists used to have a mythological and decorative outlook to art. However, with the Renaissance, artists began looking for different means of propagating their art.
This is when Jan Van Eyck first thought of oil painting. He nursed a desire to mimic nature in his paintings, but found it impossible to achieve with the existing tempera paint. Tempera paint was made from ground up pigments of plants and minerals that were combined with binder to form paint. However, since this paint tends to dry up quickly, smooth transitions in painting were quite impossible. So with the intention of acquiring realism in his paintings, Van Eyck conjured oil paint. He did this by using oil as a binder, instead of egg in the paint. He thought that adding oil would make colors look glossier in his painting. After trial and error, he found out that oil paintings gave their best when applied in several layers. He found out that with he could reach the realism and nature he was seeking in his art. So with this introduction of oil paints, many artists started using oil in their paint mixtures to make oil paining a popular form of art.
Painting is an inspiration; without any inspiration, it is impossible to paint. If you don’t feel inspired, drop your brushes and take a walk outside while looking at mother earth. If possible, visit a local gallery or museum for some inspiration for your oil painting. Once you are inspired and ready to paint, the first and foremost thing is to get some oil paints to start your oil painting with. When buying oil paints for your oil painting, it is better to buy quality primary and secondary colors than a range of cheap paints. Oil paints can be found in tubes, as water-mixable oils in tubes and blocks and oil bars that are in stick form and not oil pastels. It is very important to buy thinner to both dilute the paint and to help clean the brushes and palette. The best choice for a thinner is turpentine that helps maintain the oiliness of oil paint.
Oil colors may have changed since then, but the principals of oil painting remains the same. Improved technology has produced much better oil paints for the modern painter to paint with. When starting an oil painting, it is important to always start with an acrylic under painting as this paint dries quicker than oil painting. However, avoid using ivory black for under painting as it takes longer to dry than other paints. Then once the paint has dried, you may proceed to use oil paint. As you paint, you will realize the importance of good lighting for painting. With good lighting, the color of the painting is brought out, to lessen the strain on the eyes. Surprisingly, equally important to good lighting is good ventilation. When using materials like in the studio, it is very important to have good ventilation as these chemicals prove to be toxic.
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The most important tool in besides paint is of course, the brush. It is very important to invest in a good set of brushes for your oil painting as cheap brushes tend to shed bristles when painting. The sable and synthetic sable brushes are the best for oil paintings. The nylon brushes are better for acrylic paints. Oil brushes long for you to paint away from the canvas so practice holding them towards the middle end of the handle. These brushes have to be taken good care of as if not cleaned and stored well, may end up ruined. Clean them with a quality brush cleaner and preserver that is easily got from online stores or in the local art store. Alcohol is also a strong solvent that can be used to clean away a layer of oil paint or oil varnish on the brush.
Now that all the tools for your oil painting are ready, get down to your oil painting! Lay out your oil paints on the palette in the same order each time you paint so that you will be able to pick the paint instinctively. The paints having lead, cobalt and manganese tend to dry quicker, so mix these colors with other colors to enhance the drying time of the au painting. Never dry your oil paintings in the dark as this causes a thin film of oil to rise to the surface, to finally yellow the painting. However, after drying, if the paint on the palette has too many wrinkles, it means that too much oil has been used in the medium of the painting.
Source: ArticlesBase.com