Sunday, May 29, 2016

Understanding The Oil Painting Process

By Robert Smith


For many years now, artists have held to oil paints as their first choice. Artists use particular oils together with dry powder paints to form their colors. They blend them to have a stiff paste, one that has consistency. The act of consistency is an important feature for these paints. Basically, the required standard is the smooth, buttery paste that is neither stingy nor tacky. The reason why oil painting has been a great choice to many artists over the years is because of the benefits it offers.

As a matter of fact, colors are beautiful and gorgeous, and they last forever. The nature of oil paints is that they are slow drying making it possible to remove what you might not want when it is still wet. Again, you can still paint over the picture once it get dry.

As noted earlier, consistency is an important property for this kind of paints. However, if a bit flowing quality is needed, a liquid medium such as turpentine can be added. On the other hand, a liquid drier or a siccative can also be added to accelerate the drying process. By learning the basic, oil paints are quite easy to use.

When performing this artistic work, a canvas is usually used as a standard support. Once the canvas is cut to the desired size, it is stretched over a wooden frame and then secured by staples or tacks. A primer is also used to reduce the permeability of the canvas in order to have a smooth surface. The primer should be allowed to dry before the painting process begins. Lead white and gesso are mostly used as the primers. Sometimes, rigidity and smoothness are preferred to springiness and texture. If that is the case, a wooden panel or a processed paperboard sized or primed may be used.

A brush is an essential tool in this particular work. The artists use brushes to apply paint over the sketch. The brushes can be made from various varieties of fibers so as to give different effects. Some of the brushes used in this work are the red stable brushes and bleached hog bristles. They are also made of different sizes and shapes, for instance, they could be oval, flat or round.

After the painting work, a picture varnish coat is normally done in order to protect the picture from atmospheric attacks, accumulation of dirt and minor abrasions. Nevertheless, the varnish can be safely removed using some solvents such as isopropyl alcohol. Also, the varnish adds a uniform luster, tonal depth and color intensity originally in the wet paint.

There are numerous benefits of oil paints. The slow drying nature allows the artist to work longer on their creations and make changes unlike watercolors. On the other hand, these paints are wear and tear resistant.

Finally, once the painting work is done, correct any mistakes before the paint dries up. Then, save the unused paint and use it in your next artistic work. Lastly, ensure you clean up the brushes since the paint can ruin them if allowed to dry with the paint.




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