How do I get started with oil painting?
Lidia asked:
I have an oil painting I have to do for an art class and I'd like to know what I need to prepare for it. I already have a canvas. What are the other materials that I need (aside from the oil paints, of
course)? I've heard about linseed oil and turpentine. How do I use those and what are they for?
I have experience with other mediums such as watercolor, acrylics but this is my first time using oil paints.
Tagged with: Art Class • Linseed Oil • Oil Painting
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You need to make sure your canvas is sized, that is, it has been coated with a substance to protect it from the paint and the turps – these are corrosive substances and over time will break down the canvas. Rabbit skin glue or PVA glue mixed with emulsion paint will do the trick.
You can also prime your canvas with gesso if you wish.
You can thin the paint with turnpentine, which is really useful for the first layers. Have fun experimenting with this, because you get marvellous glows of colour coming through each other. You can thin it down so it’s very watery, the paint dries quickly this way.
You can also mix linseed oil and turpentine for the top layer of paint, and you can make the mixture thicker and apply it with a palette knife if you like.
You can also mix oil paints with sand or sawdust and put them on a canvas, and create texture. I’ve also seen them successfully mixed with polyfilla.
Have fun!
All that you absolutely need is paint and a prepared surface. A pallet and a knife to mix colors, brushes, paint thinner, and maybe some medium will make things easier.
If the canvas that you have is one of those pre-streched ones in the celephane or a canvas board from an artists’ suply store/ hobby shop , it is most likely prepared and ready to go. It should have a layer of white on the surface (canvas is naturaly a greyish off-white). If you have unprepared canvas, you need an archival primer. Acrylic gesso is the safest and easiest to use. Chances are, your canvas is already gessoed and ready to go.
Brushes can make your painting experience much less frustrating. You can use any thing that works to apply the paint- folded up paper, palet knife, flat peices of wood, etc. Brushes alow you to control the paint much more easily than any of these, however. Harder bristle type brushes will help to give you a chunky or stroky type of a look. Softer brushes will help to achieve a more blended and smoother look. It is good to have a range in sizes.
Turpentine is a sort of paint thinner. I use odorless mineral spirits. It is best used to clear the paint out of your brushes. You can use a small amount in a jar as you paint to clean the color out of your brush to switch to another. You can also use paint thinner to “water down” the paint. It is important to remember that while this alows easier application of the paint, it weekens the binding properties as well as the strength of the color. I try to keep this use of paint thinner to a minimum and mostly use it to clean brushes. Final cleaning of brushes after each session should be done with mild soap.
Another common tool is medium. This can be made from a mixture of linseed oil, paint thinner, and damar varnish. This will thin the paint without weekening the binding properties as much as thinner alone. It also makes the aplication of the paint much easier and a lttle bit shiney and fast drying. You can buy medium that is mixed and ready to go with different drying speeds and viscosities. Alkyd is popular. I use Liquin, a gel medium. Again ,as with paint thinner, you have to keep in mind that anything you add to you paint is going to weeken the color. Use medium sparingly and only at the begining. It is also hazardous to ones health. A well ventilated working space is important.
The last thing you may want is a pallet knife and a glass pallet. The little flexable metal palet knives allow you to easily control the paint on your pallet when mixing colors. You can also use them to apply the paint to the canvas. You can use a peice of glass as a pallat. A small round glass table topper works great and cost 5 or 10 bucks at Wall-y World. It is best to put white paper beneeth the glass so you can see you colors acurately. A mirror will work, but I find the reflection distracting. Other surfaces can be used but glass is the best because unused paint can be easily salvaged and it can be scraped clean with a razor blade.
All of thease things just make it easier. All you realy need to have is the paint and a surface though. Remember there are no rules to art, this is what sets it appart from almost everything else. Good luck on your painting.
The truth is oil painting is easier done than watercolor. Linseed oil is used to reduce the density of the oil paints and turpentine is used to clean brushes.
Your canvas should be primed, so if it’s not primed you need to paint it with gesso. The other thing you shouldn’t forget is some solvent to clean your brushes, and some rags. You can get odourless solvent. You can also clean up with turpentine.
Thinning paint with turpentine makes it dry faster. Linseed oil makes it smooth, shiny and slower to dry. I like to mix the two at about 50:50 to make a painting medium.