How to Use Oil Paints?

Painting as a form of expression is one of the most beautiful and liberating techniques that exist for our mind and creativity.

There are many types of outstanding painting techniques that we can use. One of them is the oil painting technique, which was used for creating some of the most famous classic paintings like The Mona Lisa.

Here, painter Moshe Stahl will share more about this technique.

Materials for painting with oil paints?

Oil painting is a very fine technique. Monet and Van Gogh already used it in their time and their artworks have lasted until today.

According to Moshe Stahl, the minimum materials you need in order to paint with this technique are:

· A blank canvas

· Palette

· Basic oil paint colors

· Oil and solvent

· Brushes

· Spatula

· Charcoal


Moshe Stahl suggests buying quality fine art supplies.

“It is better to invest in quality than in quantity. Good materials, in addition to lasting over time, make the result of your work better,” says Moshe Stahl.

Methods and techniques for oil painting

The greatest characteristic of oil painting with oil paints is the large number of methods and techniques that can be used.

Next, Moshe Stahl will summarize the most common ones.

Indirect Painting, Wet on Dry or Layer Painting

This method is based on applying several layers of paint over several sessions. First, the thinner layers are painted and then the thicker. The Wet on Dry technique requires a certain patience and a lot of planning when creating the work. It is one of the methods that both amateurs and professionals of painting usually use. In fact, most of the world's most famous artworks are painted using indirect style oil painting methods. Moshe Stahl also uses this technique when creating most of his artworks.

Direct painting, Alla Prima or Wet on Wet

Painting Alla Prima, means that the painting is painted at once, or "on the first time", in a single attempt. Without waiting for the paint to dry, without corrections and in a single session. Obviously, this technique is only applied by painting professionals, such as Moshe Stahl, who have many years of experience and a lot of skill at it. Vincent Van Gogh and Monet are some of the great painters who used this technique when creating their works.

Optical techniques with oil paints

Glazes

This technique involves applying a thin layer with an almost transparent color over another that is more opaque and of a lighter color than the previous one. Of course, keep in mind that it should always be on dry layers. Glazes is a technique that is used only by experts, such Moshe Stahl, since the desired color is obtained by forming these layers properly.

A variant of glazes consists of spreading a color with a medium consistency on the desired surface and then removing it with a brush or a clean, dry and rough cloth.

Scrubbed

It consists of applying oil paints on another layer of dry paint. The used color is usually medium or thinner. It is applied with a dry brush previously smeared with little pigment. For this, you must rub the loaded brush on a paper or a paint rag so that you can remove the excess paint. Afterwards, apply it in the place you want in a light and soft way so that the result is correct.



Now that you know the techniques used for painting with oil paint, you can choose the one that best suits your style and start creating your first artwork.