Painting In Oils With Patience, The Essential Input

By Author: Anthony Keith Whitehead
Total Articles: 21
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Patience Is An Essential
When one comes to painting, in oils or anything else, patience is the quality which is needed before anything else. It is said that “If something is worth doing..” Well, when it comes to painting, how good you are will depend crucially on how patient you are! Nearly everything in life that is worth while needs to be worked at, and painting is no exception. Indeed, the saying might have been coined for painters! But the great satisfaction one can achieve from learning to paint is worth the patience and effort one puts in.

Here are at least two ways of learning: learning in an academic sense from books, tutors and the like; and learning by doing. The latter is arguably the most effective way whenever it is possible. In the case of painting there is no doubt that learning by doing can be a source of great pleasure. Even from the very beginning this is the case. One’s initial efforts may look pretty miserable, but the second will look better than the first, the third better than the second and so forth, simply because one is learning through such attempts.
Patience Even Before You ...
... Begin
You see something you would like to paint. So get out the paint and brushes and get going! Right? No, wrong. Be patient enough to first consider how you are going to paint. Of the various potential elements in the picture, how are you going to arrange them? Even if it is as fixed as a landscape you still need to consider the view you are going to take, the angles you will adopt, the colours you are going to use.

Think also about the kind of support which will be best for this particular work of art. There are many alternatives and patience is needed to consider at least some of them.
The Virtue Of Patience
Oils were a major discovery around the fourteenth century, but it was soon realized that this is a medium for which time for drying is essential. Other mediums such as acrylics and watercolours, dry very quickly and oil paint takes much longer to dry. How much longer depends on such factors as how thickly the paint has been applied. Nature of the pigment is also important because some colours dry faster than others. Titanium White, for example, is a fast dryer. Different manufacturers tend to use different ingredients, so a colour from one may dry slower or faster than the same colour from another.

But for any colour, the more thickly one applies the paint the longer it will take to dry. And one is storing up trouble for the future by adding more paint when that underneath is not fully dry. An initial layer of paint must be thoroughly dry before adding more if subsequent sagging and cracking is to be avoided.

But Every problem Has A Solution
Well, potentially at any rate Many artists solve the problem by working on more than one painting at the same time. Hence, having spent, say, a couple of hours on a painting which then needs time to dry, one can carry on with another, and so forth. That also keeps the activity varied.

There is another solution. Alkyd resin and solvent is used in the suspension of the oil pigment, which reduces drying time. So accelerate the drying process by purchasing, for example, Winsor & Newton’s Griffin Alkyd oil paint The paint will dry in a day or a couple of days depending on atmospheric conditions and which pigment has been used. And it can be possible to complete an oil painting in one session.

An alternative is to use one or other of the fast drying mediums available which one mixes with the oil paint to shorten drying time. An example is Artisan Fast Drying Medium. Linseed oil is often used by artists to thin out oil paint, especially when additional coats of paint are being applied to prevent subsequent cracking, but Drying Linseed Oil will also accelerate drying time. Liquin Original not only improves the flow of paint but also cuts drying time by approximately half. Liquin Oleopasto is a medium, which is fast drying and does not yellow with time.

Using thin layers of paint will also shorten drying time. An example of this is when using a glazing technique where very thin layers of paint are used. Due to their thinness, the paint dries very quickly.

Consult Artists Suppliers
Any supplier of artists material will be happy to advise on all such products and most will carry
a range of drying accelerants. Manufacturers catalogues (often available through the internet) describe the individual characteristics and uses of their products. This is also so for paints themselves; many reputable manufacturers of oil paints have web sites which provide swatches of their actual colours plus various characteristics of the paints.

So, although patience is still needed, it is possible to reduce its necessity somewhat. But as soon as you begin to see the results of your efforts, that will largely cease to be a problem.

AUTHOR: A K Whitehead
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This will take you to paintingsinoil.co.uk main page of original images painted by A K Whitehead.
All the paintings in oil here are by A K Whitehead, who is aself-taught artist, and are original oils and not copies. The approach is traditional, making use of various techniques, including impasto and glazing. This link will take you to the main categories of landscapes, seascapes, snowscapes, waterscapes and still life and all are provided with free frames and fastenings. Free delivery is also included within the UK.