Oil Painting Tips

Here are some general tips for oil painters.

• Make certain you have good lighting. Good lighting brings out the color and also lessens the strain on your eyes.
• Keep your working environment clean and organized. Have an abundant supply of rags and a few cups for storing mediums, solvents and used brushes.
• You can use either a drawing stand or a table, as far as you are comfortable.
• Get into the habit of laying out the colors the same way every time you paint so that you can pick a color instinctively. Also see to it that you arrange it along the edge of the palette leaving a lot of room in the center for mixing.
• It’s good to wipe and keep the mixing area of your palette clean during the process of painting.
• Buy good quality brushes. Cheep brushes shed their bristles quite easily while painting. Flat brushes are used for oil paint. Small round brushes can be used for detail work.
• Avoid holding your brush like a pencil too close to the bristles. Oil brushes are made long for a reason so that you can paint further away from the canvas. Practice holding the brush toward the middle and end of the handle.
• “Fat over lean” - follow this rule and you will reduce the chance of your paint cracking. If the upper layers dry faster than the lower ones, they can crack. Each layer of your oil painting should have higher oil content then the ones below it.
• To create the illusion of distance in your paintings paint receding objects with cooler less intense color. Objects that advance are warmer and more intense.
• Avoid using Ivory Black for under paints as it dries much slower than other oil paints.
• Avoid using linseed oil with light colors as it has a tendency to yellow. Poppy oil can be used instead even though it dries slower.
• To get any desired color, try to mix as few colors as possible.
• Use can save your oil paint for future use. Put your unused paint onto a piece of glass and then keep it submerged in water.
• Don't dry your oil paintings in dark. This may cause a thin film of oil to rise to the surface yellowing it. This can be removed by exposure to bright light.
• To protect your painting from dust, smoke, and other pollutants, you should varnish your painting. Varnish should be applied only once the painting is perfectly dried. It might take 6months to a year depending on how thick the paint was applied.

I hope these tips will help. Happy Painting!!!