Oil painting Techniques

Traditional oil painting technique often starts with the artist drawing the figure onto the canvas with charcoal which is watery paint. Oil paint can be mix with turpentine or artist rating mineral spirits or other lean vehicle to make thinner, faster aeration paint. Then the artist build the figure in layers. A vital rule of oil paint application is 'fat over lean'. This means that each added layer of paint must be a bit oilier when compared to the layer below, to permit proper drying.

As a picture gets additional layers, the paint must get oilier or the final canvas will break and peel. There are a number of other painting medium that can be used in oil painting, include cold wax, resins, and varnish. These added medium can support the artist in correcting the translucency of the paint, the shine of the paint, the thickness or 'body' of the paint, and the ability of the paint to grip or hide the brushstroke. These variables are strongly connected to the expressive capacity of oil coat.

When we look at original oil paintings, the various character of oil paint allow one to sense the choice the artist made as they apply the paint. For the spectator, the paint is motionless, but for the artist, the oil paint is a fluid or semi-fluid and must be stirred 'onto' the painting surface.