How to Start With Oil Painting

Starting a new art practice is exciting, fun, but sometimes somewhat overwhelming. Because although the discovery is enriching, we do not always know how to get started or with what.

Oil painting is a traditional technique, beautiful, but very complicated.

Oil painter Mia Abelson indicates that its complexity is only due to the choice of its practice. With a simple method, oil painting becomes easy. Here, Abelson explains how to practice a simple method with minimal equipment.

1. Obtain the equipment

Online or in-store, basic fine arts materials are easily found. Abelson indicates that you can just start with these 5 elements: brushes, colors, support, medium, and thinner.

The easiest and most practical way is to get a ready-to-use box with all the necessary equipment.

Otherwise you must choose these items individually:

Brushes: synthetic, 2 round + 2 brushes minimum.

Colors: fine quality or study (what is it?), 6 colors minimum.

Support: block of special oil / acrylic paper or canvas boards or canvas on a frame.

Medium: the standard painting medium. A 75ml bottle is enough.

Thinner: White Spirit or turpentine.

2. Prepare

It is true that oil painting is not really a practice of spontaneity. This technique allows all possible effects during long sessions thanks to its slow drying. Unfortunately, oil painter Mia Abelson points out that, unlike aqueous techniques, it is first necessary to prepare the equipment:

· The thinner and the medium are harmful to health, so Abelson recommends painting in a ventilated room. Open a window even slightly, for example.

· Place your support on a table or on an easel.

· If you are right handed, put your material (brushes, palette and medium) to the right of the holder. Conversely if you are left-handed, put them on the left.

· Place your colors on the palette, varying in size from a pea to a hazelnut depending on the size of the medium. Better to add more if it runs out rather than waste. Tubes are already expensive enough.

· The medium is poured in a very small quantity (a tablespoon) in a container in which you will dip the brush.

· As for new brushes, sometimes the bristles are glued by the manufacturers in order to protect them, making them then rigid. Do not bend them with force, rather run them under lukewarm water!

3 . Ready? Go!

You are now ready to paint. The oil paint can be used directly, as it comes out of the tube. However, it is sometimes difficult to apply because it does not "pull" well. Mia Abelson indicates (read more about this painter) that this is why the presence of the medium is necessary. It enriches the colors with fat, therefore they become fluid, shiny and consistent. The thinner (gasoline) should only be used during this first learning step to clean the brushes. Diluting it with mediums is useful for developing a multi-layered paint, but it's best to learn to master your tools before complicating the process.

So start with small subjects with limited details, in a small format. When starting out, the most important thing is to understand how it works. Learn about mixing colors, dosages with the medium and the different brushstrokes. Once this 1st approach is made, then opt for a subject a little more elaborate.