Oil painting are considered a great means of creating enticing and realistic artwork. Oil painting as a medium is really appreciated today, but did you know that it was not prominent till the 19th century? Read the article for more.
The concept of Oil paintings is centuries old and an incredibly far reaching artistic practice. In layman’s terms, oil painting is a mixture of pigment, binder and thinner. While pigment is the colour element, the binder (oil) acts as a hold up for the pigmentations to add its magic.
Although a popular entity today, oil paintings were not prominent till the 19th century. It is on its arrival in Europe in the 19th century and its practice by renowned artists like Jan Van Eyck tat oil paintings became an appreciated medium of art.
Oil painting is generally done on canvas that is made out of linen and the commonly used primers have been gesso rabbit-skin glue, and lead white. In recent years’ cotton canvas is being widely used because it is cheaper. Oil colours are made by mixing dry powder pigments with selected refined linseed oil to a stiff paste consistency and grinding it by strong friction in steel roller mills.
A finished oil painting is always required to be protected from atmosphere attacks and an injurious accumulation of dirt. Paintings which were made in 19th century were built up in layers; the first layer was a blank, uniform field of thinned paint called a ground. Several people these days use acrylic to prepare the base or under-painting for oil painting. They will add several layers of acrylic to the canvas. The acrylic layer needs to be sanded down before the painting can start. Oil paint has been the first choice of artists for hundreds of years and with good reason. These colours are gorgeous to do anything
linseed oil is the most popular kind of oil used in painting due to the fact it dries by way of oxidation unlike other vegetable oils like olive or canola oil that dry due to evaporation. linseed oil is also proffered as it has a tendency to dry faster and thereby creating a more malleable artwork. The fact that different colours dry at different speeds adds to the mystique.
The main advantages of oil paints are their flexibility and depth of colour. They can be applied in many ways, from thin glazes diluted with turpentine to dense thick impasto. Because it is slow to dry, artists can continue working the paint for much longer than other types of paint. This provides greater opportunity for blending and layering. Oils also allow the artist to create greater richness of colour as well as a wide range of tonal transitions and shades In fact oil colours do not change noticeably after drying, and it is possible to produce both opaque and transparent effects, as well as matt and gloss finishes. Take a look at some great oil paintings here.