So, you’ve decided you’d like to paint in oils, fantastic! Now you need to know a few things about it, otherwise that stunning picture you’re intending to paint might not turn out exactly as your vision intended.
1) Don’t go out and spend a lot of money on a proper artist board; have you got any old paintings you don’t like? Great! Then take the backing board out and paint on that.
2) Always cover the board in an emulsion first; any one will do, but make it a light colour so that you can easily sketch on it.
3) The details are tempting, aren’t they? You want to get straight on with all those small fun bits. Don’t do it! Paint in the large areas first using basic colours. Once you’ve covered the whole board you should leave it for at least a day or so—this will allow the paint to dry. Start too soon and the whole thing will descend into a muddy mess.
4) Use turpentine or white spirits to clean the brushes, obviously. It may seem a daft thing to say but many people forget and put their brushes in water, with terrible results if left for too long!
5) Remember, you don’t have to use just brushes for oils. You can use pretty much any object—a toothbrush, a pallet knife—to mould the paint the way you want it.
6) Towards the end of a painting there is always the temptation to keep on going. Remember that like everything, an oil painting has to end somewhere.
7) OK, so you finished and it was a success! Or the other option–It was a disaster. What to do? This is a synch. Unlike with watercolour, with oil you can just paint over it and start all over again.
Before I go, great new post on the enigin PLC design blog if anyone is interested!
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