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any people shy away from oil painting before
trying it because it seems intimidating. I cannot argue with
that; oil paint can be a tough medium to work with, but with
the right tools and knowledge, anyone can do it. Oil paint is
a beautiful medium, and the buttery glosses, thin lumines-
cent glazes, and rich colors just cannot be achieved with
any other painting medium in my opinion. Here are a few
things to know before painting with oils:
in order to achieve more rich lumines-
cent colors, the technique of glazing
must be applied. Glazing is the pro-
cess of layering diluted layers of paint
over each other, working from broad
shapes and getting more detailed
with each layer. To make a glaze, the
oil paint must be mixed with other
substances. There are two types: oil
based and solvent based. Turpen-
tine, a solvent, is extremely thin and
very toxic, so when using turpentine
it is important to be in an extremely
well-ventilated area. If the smell of
turpentine bothers you, mineral spirits
or odorless turpentine is available (but
still toxic, so keep the area ventilated).
All of these are available at your local
hardware store for a very reasonable
price, in fact it seems almost insane
how marked up turpentine is at art
stores, but be aware that the turpen-
tine/mineral spirits at the art store are
more pure than the ones at the hard-
ware store and are specifically meant
for painting with fine oils.
The other components are oil
based. To name just a few:
linseed oil, stand oil, poppy
seed oil, walnut oil, japan
dryer and alkyd painting
medium. Depending on
the properties of the oil,
they are
good
plied in the under layers of the paint-
ing, and after each layer, the paint can
get
‘fat-
ter’
and
‘fat-
ter’.
for different things. Some, such as ja-
pan dryer and alkyd painting medium,
will speed up the drying
process. Linseed oil and
stand oil are thicker and
improve the buttery texture
of the paint, making blend-
ing easier, but they take
longer to dry. Linseed oil is
known to yellow over time,
and therefore walnut oil is
sometimes preferred, but
walnut oil goes rancid faster.
To truly know the effects
of each oil, it is mandatory
to use them for yourself
and experience how they
work.
4) Mix it all up:
In order to create a
glaze, a ratio of paint,
thinner, and oil me-
dium must be com-
bined to dilute the
paint. This ratio is
undefined and can
only be determined
through practice.
Something to help
along the way is
the principal of
‘lean to fat’. This
means that
‘lean’ paint
must be ap-