Materials of the artist: oil paints. Description and how to choose



Oil paint is a paint based on natural vegetable oils and varnish. It was invented so long ago that the exact date is unknown. The first oil paint was formed by pouring food waste from the furnace hearth and consisted of oil with pigment from soot.

Nowadays, the composition of oil paint includes: a solvent (oil or drying oil); pigment (finely ground powders of inorganic and organic origin); fillers consisting of talc, mica and kaolin; special desiccant substances (cobalt, lead and manganese salts) added to speed up drying; surfactants that are added to evenly mix pigments and fillers, and to obtain a uniform color.

Features of oil paint, for which artists love it:

  • after drying, forms an even dense color;
  • resistant to external influences, it can withstand high and low temperatures, high humidity and solar radiation;
  • freshly applied paint can be washed off hard surfaces until oil oxidation has occurred;
  • easy to manufacture and inexpensive;
  • are applied both manually, using brushes and rollers, and using spray guns;
  • penetrate well into small cracks.

Disadvantages of oil paints:

  • can not be applied in a thick layer;
  • dry for a long time;
  • eventually, fade.

How to choose oil paint

Paint composition

The pigments that make up the oil paint can be inorganic (mineral) or organic. Some of them are very rare or require large production costs, others, on the contrary, have a low cost and are common. This significantly affects the cost of the paint. Pigments determine the color of paints, intensity, and lightfastness.

The binder can also be made from various compositions of ingredients that affect the final cost.

By composition, oil paints can be divided into series designed for various segments of customers and solving certain problems.

Professional — are made on a high-quality binder and light-resistant pigments, with a high concentration and with the minimum necessary filler. Used by professional artists.

Semi-professional — made on high-quality binders, but with the replacement of expensive pigments with analogs. Paints have a fairly high light fastness and a good concentration. The main advantage is a balanced combination of price and quality. Popular among aspiring artists or amateurs, students of professional art institutions.

Entry-level paints are mainly made on the basis of inexpensive synthetic components with a large percentage of fillers and binders, which affects the pigment concentration.

Special designations

When trying to choose oil paint, also pay attention to the special designations on the tubes (as a rule, stars and squares are used as designations, but sometimes you can see pluses or similar symbols). Asterisks indicate the lightfastness of the paint, the more there are, the greater the light fastness of the paint, and therefore the richness of the colors in the picture will last longer. The squares talk about the hiding properties of oil paint - about how the paint will lay on the canvas.

  • *** — light-resistant paints;
  • ** — medium-light paints;
  • * — low-resistant paints;
  • ■ — covering paints;
  • ◨ — translucent paints;
  • □ —  transparent paints.

Lightfastness

Paints with one star (plus sign) begin to fade after a year of service. Accordingly, artists prefer not to use them. Such paints are suitable only for beginners, for various kinds of experiments.

Paint with two stars lasts about 25 years, which usually suits both beginners and already more experienced artists.

Paint with three stars is ready to serve up to 100 years.

Hiding power

Transparent paint, indicated by a white square, is well suited for glazing in oil painting. Using a diluent, it can be diluted to a watercolor.

Semi-transparent paints, indicated by a half square, mix well and give fairly pure shades interacting with case and transparent ones.

Non-transparent paint with high hiding properties, indicated by a black square, is called cabinet paint. It fits tightly on the canvas, and even with a thinner does not get divorced from a transparent state. Case paints are well suited for applying textures and for creating the density of the painting.

Signs of poor quality paint

  • Bad consistency. Excessive fluidity or excessive pastiness;
  • Peeling paint. The pigment is separated from the binder. For example, when squeezing paint from a tube, oil first flows;
  • The presence of extraneous inclusions;
  • Poor paint tear. It lays on the base with an uneven layer, with the formation of stripes and poorly stains;
  • Low elasticity. Cracks when dry.

Brushes and accessories

For work with oil paints, brushes are needed harder, brushes with a pile from a column, bristles, and synthetics will be the best. To work on large-format canvases, it is good to use bristles, for small paintings — synthetic brushes.

In oil painting, master artists use 3 types of synthetic brushes:

  • Thin round brushes for working on parts (about a millimeter);
  • Flat dense brushes for smooth wide curls (1-1.5 cm);
  • Soft fan brush for smoothing grooves.

For oil painting for beginners, a set of brushes is perfect, which will eliminate the problems of choice, but if you don’t want to take a set with a set, then you should take the following brushes:

  • Flat bristle brush (No. 5) — for wide rectangular strokes and painting areas with dense paint of intense color;
  • Round bristle brush (No. 8) — to create an initial composition, apply paint to large areas and long relief strokes;
  • A short bristle brush (No. 2), a synthetic brush (No. 4) or columns (No. 1-2-3-4) with a rounded end — for processing small parts.

When working with oil paint, you can notice how it flows under the metal sleeve of the brush. In order not to suffer from washing this part, a new brush must first be dipped in sunflower or linseed oil, removed and put it upside down for a day. This time is enough to absorb the oil. The next day, the brush can be washed, but the absorbed oil will still remain, and will no longer allow the paint to penetrate deeper, which will significantly extend the life of the brush.

Foundations and primers

To work with oil, artists usually use canvases. And the most common canvas material is linen. Linen canvas has an interesting texture, due to which the paintings painted on it acquire a certain “liveliness”. Linen is a fairly durable material with a high coefficient of abrasion, which gives the picture protection from exposure to temperatures, humidity, and various deformations.

For especially large paintings, it makes sense to use linen with double weave, which is even harder, stronger and more reliable, because less prone to shrinkage.

Canvases differ in grain size. For accurate and detailed painting (for example, portraiture) fine-grained linen canvas is suitable. A medium-grained canvas is universal and is perfect for beginners. Coarse-grained canvas, unlike the first two, can withstand pasty painting (large strokes) without any problems.

Note:

  • The picture will last longer on linen canvas made of long fibers since they have a more even thread in thickness;
  • The lifespan of a painting made on canvas from primary flax wastes is much shorter. On such a fabric, you can notice thickening, thinning, or any kind of bumps (tubercles, nodules, warts), which, in addition, will have to be cut with a blade to remove defects.

The second most popular canvas material for oil is cotton. Its main advantage is that the cotton thread is much smoother and thinner, which some artists like. But there are drawbacks: it can rot, expand, shrink and subsequently send waves along the borders of the canvas. It is suitable mainly for beginners and is much cheaper.

For energetic and pasty paint application, a burlap base, preferably not too thin, is suitable. You can write excellent large-format sketches on it since the pronounced relief texture allows this. Hemp fibers are made. It has a pronounced texture and requires a good primer, as well as gentle handling, as the yarn is fragile.

Sometimes polyester is used to work with oil. It is believed that it is much superior to linen and cotton, resistant, durable and not sensitive to irritation of oil paints, in addition, it has no texture, which makes the material completely smooth. But this effect is not suitable for all paintings.

When choosing a canvas, keep in mind that too white canvases can become less durable due to bleaching chemicals. Do not take canvases with protruding threads and knots, the threads should be perfectly even both in width and in length.

Features of working with oil

Oil allows you to apply a thick layer of paint, simulating the volume. Impasto is the foreground, along with a gradual decrease in thickness, will create an expressive texture of protruding stones, tree trunks or sections of foliage. A dry brush will help to create many textures and effects due to gaps in strokes. Short strokes form expressive foliage or foam on the water, and smooth lines form a tree bark.



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