Oil paints

 OIL PAINTS 

Oil paints are made by mixing dry pigment powder with refined linseed oil to a paste, which is then milled. The main advantages of oil paints are their flexibility and depth of colour. They can be applied in many different ways, from thin glazes diluted with turpentine to dense thick impasto. Because it is slow to dry, artists can continue working the paint for much longer than other types of paint. It requires a time commitment; You must prime your canvas for oil paint, It offers little in contrast to create a crispness to a brush stroke, oil paints require a couple of days, Oil paints still change colour over time they tend to yellow as they age. Priming also gives the canvas a smoother surface, allowing your brush to flow much better, if the canvas is poorly primed when using oil colour, the oil may sink into the canvas, leaving dull patches on the surface of your painting. ​Solvents, such as turpentine, paint thinner, and mineral spirits, are the most common brush cleaners for oil painters. All three options are incredibly effective, but they do have toxic properties. When using solvents to clean brushes, be sure to do so in a well-ventilated area. Impasto, paint that is applied to a canvas or panel in quantities that make it stand out from the surface. Impasto was used frequently to mimic the broken-textured quality of highlight eg. the surfaces of objects that are struck by an intense light. An imprimatura or grisaille is an initial stain of colour painted onto a white ground. It is usually created using an earth colour such as burnt umber or raw sienna. When painted onto your canvas it provides you with a transparent toned ground to work onto. A fun fact about oil painting is Oil paints don't dry. Instead they harden due to oxidation, usually in about two weeks, and are ready to be varnished in roughly six months. However, sometimes it takes years for an oil painting to fully harden. 

Today I painted a leaf, it was my first time using oil paints and the research I did yesterday helped me work out the right techniques to use and how to properly clean my brush after using oil paints. We walked around the school trying to find something to paint and I came across a big leaf that looked interesting to paint so I tried my hardest and as you can probably tell I am not quite Picasso ahaha.