Oil Painting: Timeless Technique and Artistic Mastery

In this article, we will talk not only about the materials needed for this technique (oil painting), but also about its advantages and disadvantages, as well as the procedures for its execution.

Generalities:

We cannot know the exact date of its appearance, but it became established as a technique towards the end of the Middle Ages, in the countries of Northern Europe. Oil painting was known both by the Linbourg brothers and by the brothers Hubert and Jan van Eyck, the latter of whom contributed to its improvement.

In his book Oil Painting , Liviu Lăzărescu lists some of the advantages of the technique:

• " The brilliance of oil colors – infinitely nuanced, associated with transparency and depth, creating effects superior to other techniques;
• Colored matter can be directed in various ways, from very thin films to glazes, to semi-transparent demi-pastes and opaque pastes, facilitating the expression of the most diverse temperaments;
• The convenient drying time creates the respite so that the work can be freely shaped wet or dry;
• Land returns are possible without risks to the durability of the work;
• Very varied sizes are available, from miniatures to large works of a monumental nature. "

However, we must also take into account a series of disadvantages, which we will go through, also from Liviu Lăzărescu:

• " the oil incorporated into the colors (precisely the oil that is the defining element of the process) has a tendency to darken, a tendency accentuated by the possible "ingredients" it contains (...) storing the colors in tubes for a long time can cause the oil to go rancid (acidified);
• The overlapping of layers cannot be done haphazardly, two rules must be followed: "thick over thin" and "dark over light";
• Oil pastes dry slowly (…) imposing too long a gap between two repetitions, the optimal drying interval for an intermediate layer is about two weeks, a time that cannot be respected by the modern artist;
• Overlapping on fresh and semi-fresh is dangerous, it causes dissolution of waste, matting, darkening, cracking;
• The matting that occurs during the work requires the application of a touch-up varnish;
• Too thick a thinner darkens the paste, and too thin a thinner makes it crumbly;
• There are impediments in the relationship of the color layer with the primer (too little or too much absorbent) or with the support, the current risks are darkening, cracking, detachment;
• The lack of flexibility of well-dried pictorial paste makes it brittle;
• Foreign materials sometimes introduced into the paste, such as sand, plaster, etc., do not adhere to it, everything ending in detachments, chemical, chromatic or tonal alterations;
• Oil painting is sensitive to the action of several external agents – excessive light, darkness, humidity, polluting air. ”

Materials

One of the advantages of oil painting is the diversity of supports on which one can work, being a real asset for beginners. One can, thus, paint on paper , cardboard, plywood, PFL, wood, canvas, metal, glass, stone, etc., provided that these supports are primed, to prevent the absorption of the binder from the colored pastes. Thanks to this primer, both the artist's craft and the durability and resistance of the creation will be visible over time.

The recommended oils for oil painting are drying vegetable oils : linseed, walnut, poppy. Their drying power determines the hardening of the color layers.

Varnishes could be defined as fluid products with solidifying properties, which form a translucent layer after being applied over the finished and well-dried painting. They can be of several types:

• Painting varnish that enriches the color binder;
• Touch-up varnish used to nourish and impregnate depleted color;
• Insulating varnish that prevents the penetration of unwanted elements;
• The final varnish that controls the shine and acts as a final protection for the painting;

The brushes are known to be those with rough, pig hair, which are commercially available, being white or light beige in color, flat or round.

Oil painting processes:

Painting in layers – is perhaps the oldest method. The sketch is the first stage and consists of indicating the main areas of the painting in summary colors, worked spontaneously, following the compositional construction of the drawing. The second layer is applied only after a semi-drying and taking into account the rule of fat on thin and dark on light.

Painting in layers

In 18th-century France, the sketch was executed in wash using only tones of black and white called grisaille or with different tones of the same color (brown, English red, etc.) called camaieu , emphasizing the reliefs and lights with white.

The grisaille and cameo technique

Smearing is an oil painting process that consists of light transitions between the elements of the composition, made with a rough dry brush, lightly loaded with color, to obtain diaphanous areas, especially in the representation of water, sky, clouds, smoke;

The Smear – Joseph Mallord Turner

Oil painting with glaze makes the color strokes always look fresh, the sketch is executed entirely in light colors and bright tones. This technique requires skill and time, skill and patience in dosing the layers of color, as well as the necessary dilutions of the glaze. The application of glazes is done with soft, simple brushes in one or two layers. Today it is practiced less and less.

Jan Van Eyck Glaze Painting

Painting alla prima is the most modern of all. It requires, first of all, talent, a lot of skill and dexterity, and a good knowledge of the materials and working technique. The spots of color are juxtaposed, in a quick and spontaneous way and much simplified than the other methods. The colors can be applied directly with the brush or palette knife in spots, lines, dots, fragmented strokes, thin layers or thick pastes.

Painting alla prima - Henri Matisse

The watercolor-like process is a method that first requires a support primed in white and well-dried. The colors are thinned only with turpentine, applied as in watercolor, without using white in the mixtures, leaving only the white of the support to shine through.

Fake watercolor

The technique of oil painting allowed the interruption and resumption of work even after several months of the execution of the sketch (Leonardo da Vinci, Titian did this). It is recommended to keep these paintings in bright and airy rooms and avoid closed, humid and dark spaces, which lead to the darkening of the colors or their yellowing.