How To Oil Paint?

How to use oil paint?

• k dont tell me things like "keep practising". I know how to paint its just i never used oilpaint always used acrylic. peoplesay to useoil paint is different.i have linseed oil and the oil paint. do i use it the same as i did with acrylic or is it different?

• Answer:

  10 THINGS TO HELP YOU GET STARTED WITH OIL PAINTING: 1. PAINTS: You only need red, yellow, blue and white oil paint to start out with. You can mix all the other colors, including black, from just those four colors. Colors mix or blend easily and the paints are wonderfully buttery. Buy "artist grade" oil paints, if possible. Oil paints dry slowly and are workable for a day or more. They dry to the touch in about 7 days. Expect to throw away your paints after your session; they don't keep up well on a palette. 2. BRUSHES: Nos. 2 and 4 Brights (Short Flats) and No. 12 Flat Bristle Brushes; No. 12 Pointed Round Sable Brush (for lines and details). 3. MEDIUM: Linseed oil (and/or the faster drying Galkyd or Liquin). Mediums extend the concentrated pigments of tube paint. Mediums sometimes can be diluted further with OMS, but you need to read the manufacturer's recommendations as to percentages. I use a medium of 1/2 walnut oil (instead of linseed oil) and 1/2 Gamsol. 4. SOLVENT: OMS (Odorless Mineral Spirits). OMS is used to thin paints, thin mediums, and clean brushes. Turpenoid, Gamsol, and artist-grade White Spirits are examples of OMS. Keep a little OMS in an airtight glass jar with a metal screw cap (baby food jar) in which you'll clean your brushes. 5. PALETTE: You need a palette on which to put your paints. It can be a throwaway plastic picnic plate, a piece of cardboard or foam core board covered with freezer paper, or a disposable palette pad. 6. SUPPORT: Canvas panels, stretched canvas, or a canvas pad. ("Support" is the fancy term for stretched canvas or anything else on which you fine art paint. Supports should be primed with Gesso. Supports from art and craft supply stores are usually pre-primed with white acrylic gesso and suitable for both oil and acrylic paints.) 7. EASEL: Anything with which you can prop up your support (canvas) so that it is at comfortable angle and height. I've used everything from an empty three ring notebook to a French plein air easel. 8. CLEANUP: Paper towels or rags to clean your brush as you paint and change colors or when you finish painting. (Dispose of in an airtight fireproof container. Yes, they are flammable.) Brushes cleanup with OMS and brush soap and water. Dried paint may or may not cleanup. I first wash my brushes with Dawn liquid dish detergent and then with "The Masters" Brush Cleaner and Preserver. 9. VENTILATION: Paints and mediums may have an odor. (I like the smell of oil paints.) The fumes from OMS can make one ill. Make sure the room in which you work is well ventilated with fresh air! 10. IMAGINATION: If it is at all possible, take an oil painting class. Also, your local library should have several books on beginning oil painting and ideas that might spark your imagination, ask at the reference desk. The learning curve might be steep, but worth it! Best of luck. Artist and Designer, U.S.