Oil Paint - Category Description

[Axl]

If you haven't seen it yet, go and read this thread in regards to the Category Description of the products in the new Product Review System which Scott is working on.

In keeping with that particular project, This is one of many threads I will be creating in regards to different mediums and tools as I comply descriptions for individual categories. The following is a description I have researched and started giving some basic information regarding Oil Paints (Please note that this does not include alkydes, or water soluables, or oil sticks...):

[i]A tried and tested medium, Oil paints have been used for hundreds of years by some of the most finest painters the world has ever known! Their durability and their steadfast colour can be compaired to no other. They are amazingly versatile, and can be thinned to create many different levels of transparency which is attractive to many artists. Their slow drying time allows painters to take their time on the pieces, to rework and correct their images. Unfortunately it is also this drying time which can be a burden to some artists who desire to add many layers of the oils to their paintings.
The paints are made of pigments which are suspended in a binder - ususally linseed oil. Other ingredients can also be added, such as stabillizers and dryers. The veriations in composition between manufacturers can create major differences between the brands of paints, making each unique.
Different mediums can be applied to the paint to give the paint different feels and qualities. It is ususally thinned with terpentine, or other paint thinners which unfortunately may or may not have harmfull fumes associated with them. It is always important to work in a well ventilated area.
Oils can be applied to many different surfaces, although canvas, linens, panels and boards seam to be most popular. It is important for the desired surface to be heavy enough to support its own weight, but also the weight of the oils which can be very heavy. The surface should be somehow primed, and should allow enough tooth to hold the paint onto the surface. Oil paints are ususally applied with brushes, and both synthetic or natural haired bristles are appropreat. Palette knives can also be handy in applying the paint, or mixing paints together to create new colours or variations on shades.[i/]

If someone were a beginner to the world of oil painting and was looking for some basic background information about them, would this be sufficient? I got the bulk of my information off of Dick Blick's website. Do I have any of my information mixed up or wrong? Is there anything that more that should be said, or did I forget anything? Theres a lot of knowledgeable folks out there and y'al know much more than I do! Please let me know what else I need, or anything at all.

Thankyou for your help!

[Axl]

Does anyone have any thoughts? or feedback? Even if it is alright I would love to hear back from atleast a couple people before adding it to the list of completed descriptions.

thanx

[Linoxyn]

Great project to take on Axl...

There are a few typo and spelling errors, nothing to a program like Word couldn't fix. I couldn't live without spellcheck

Oil's are durable and steadfast but are not perfect, egg tempera far outlasts it in many ways. Oils do not need to be thinned to be transparent, making oils fatter by adding more oil can also make them more transparent - maybe the line you have just needs to be written in a different way? Oils can be slow drying to some painters and too fast for others, it depends on the artist, the paint and the practice. All volatile thinners are harmful to some extent. Tooth and some absorbency are both important for adhesion of oil paint.

It's difficult to summarize the whole approach to oil painting in one paragraph. I know I would tend to add much more and scare off a new person to oils. Hope what I've pointed out helps.

[Axl]

okay, thankyou very much for your feedback! This is the kind of things I need to hear And although I did put it through a spell check I guess it hasnt' caught everything! I will take what you have said and work it into the above paragraph. Thankyou for your help

[Axl]

A tried and tested medium, Oil paints have been used for hundreds of years by some of the most finest painters the world has ever known! Their durability and their steadfast color is an attractive quality. They are amazingly versatile, and the many different levels of transparency that can be achieve with the paints is an attractive quality to many artists. Their drying time is comparatively slow to other painting mediums such as acrylic and watercolors, allowing painters to take their time on their pieces, to rework and correct their images. Unfortunately it is also this drying time which can be a burden to some artists who desire to add many layers of the oils to their paintings. Depending on the style of painting and the type and brand of paint itself, it can take anywhere from a few days or week to dry, and then several more months to cure completely!
The paints are made of pigments which are suspended in a binder - usually linseed oil. Other ingredients can also be added, such as stabilizers and dryers. The variations in composition between manufacturers can create major differences between the brands of paints, making each unique.
Different mediums can be applied to the paint to give the paint different feels and qualities. Thinning of the paints can create different levels of transparency. Adding oils to make the paints "fatter" is one way which this can be achieved. It can also be done using turpentine, or other paint solvents. Unfortunately, however, all thinners are harmful to some extent so oil painting should be done with caution. It is always important to work in a well ventilated area which can allow fumes to escape from the workspace.
Oils can be applied to many different surfaces, although canvas, linens, panels and boards seam to be most popular. It is important for the desired surface to be heavy enough to support its own weight, but also the weight of the oils which can be very heavy. The surface should be somehow primed, and should allow enough tooth while having enough absorbency to hold the paint onto the surface. Oil paints are usually applied with brushes, and both synthetic or natural haired bristles are appropriate. Painting and palette knives can also be handy in applying the paint, or mixing paints together to create new colors or variations on shades.

Is this looking any better?

[Axl]

Does anyone have any other information I should include, or see any information that should be changed? Please let me know...

[scottb]

I should add that we should try and keep the descriptions as short as possible - lol. Otherwise, all of the product reviews will be pushed way down by the description ...

[Axl]

Hmmmmmms *rubs chin* If they got a little lengthly, could there be a "more.." button, like you see on different websites. They'll start the basic description of a couple of lines, and then there will be the more link, a little box will popup with the rest of whatever is written there?

however I must say that less could definately make my job much more easier lols Its been hard to keep them short already there are a LOT to these mediums! *drowns in information!*

[Luis Guerreiro]

Originally posted by Axl_Happy_Goth
A tried and tested medium, Oil paints have been used for hundreds of years by some of the most finest painters the world has ever known! Their durability and their steadfast color is an attractive quality. They are amazingly versatile, and the many different levels of transparency that can be achieve with the paints is an attractive quality to many artists. Their drying time is comparatively slow to other painting mediums such as acrylic and watercolors, allowing painters to take their time on their pieces, to rework and correct their images. Unfortunately it is also this drying time which can be a burden to some artists who desire to add many layers of the oils to their paintings. Depending on the style of painting and the type and brand of paint itself, it can take anywhere from a few days or week to dry, and then several more months to cure completely!
The paints are made of pigments which are suspended in a binder - usually linseed oil. Other ingredients can also be added, such as stabilizers and dryers. The variations in composition between manufacturers can create major differences between the brands of paints, making each unique.
Different mediums can be applied to the paint to give the paint different feels and qualities. Thinning of the paints can create different levels of transparency. Adding oils to make the paints "fatter" is one way which this can be achieved. It can also be done using turpentine, or other paint solvents. Unfortunately, however, all thinners are harmful to some extent so oil painting should be done with caution. It is always important to work in a well ventilated area which can allow fumes to escape from the workspace.
Oils can be applied to many different surfaces, although canvas, linens, panels and boards seam to be most popular. It is important for the desired surface to be heavy enough to support its own weight, but also the weight of the oils which can be very heavy. The surface should be somehow primed, and should allow enough tooth while having enough absorbency to hold the paint onto the surface. Oil paints are usually applied with brushes, and both synthetic or natural haired bristles are appropriate. Painting and palette knives can also be handy in applying the paint, or mixing paints together to create new colors or variations on shades.

Is this looking any better?

Hi Axl,

Sorry but I have to disagree with this "Introduction to Oils". There are several errors here.
Too big for an introduction.
Also:

Thinning of the paints can create different levels of transparency. Adding oils to make the paints "fatter" is one way which this can be achieved. It can also be done using turpentine, or other paint solvents. Unfortunately, however, all thinners are harmful to some extent so oil painting should be done with caution. It is always important to work in a well ventilated area which can allow fumes to escape from the workspace.

This is a huge technical error. Firstly, adding oils to make paint fatter is not the correct way to achieve the thinning of the paint. Thinning makes it leaner, not fatter, because oils are not thinners, solvents are the thinners.

Unfortunately, however, all thinners are harmful to some extent so oil painting should be done with caution.

Nonsense! Oil Painting doesn't need any more caution than any other medium. This is exactly the sort of misconception that causes me more headaches than any solvent ever did.

Painting and palette knives can also be handy in applying the paint, or mixing paints together to create new colors or variations on shades

Nope! Palette knives may be used to mix paints and the more flexible painting knives should be used to apply the paint.

Anyway, this is all a bit silly. Why on Earth are we trying to explain 500 years of technique in an "Introduction"?

The Introduction should be:

"Oil Paints were developed and used for the first time in Europe, around 1348. Initially used as a finishing complement to egg tempera painting, where oils were used as a glaze, soon their greater versatility made them the most popular medium, because they allow for a finer blending of colours and values, enabling the artist to create perfectly smooth results. Oil Paints, known for the short term of “Oils” are made out of just two ingredients: Dry pigments and a “drying oil”, usually linseed. Pigments are mixed with the oil first and then ground very finely to a stiff pigment rich paste. Tube oil paints were firstly introduced in the 19th Century; their unchallenged success allowed for a much more versatile medium for painting outdoors and “alla prima” and today, tube oil colours are a huge industry, offering many different types of oils and grades of quality. Handling and use of oils for the purpose of fine arts and painting is in itself a wonderful experience and learning to paint in oils an interesting challenge."

Luis

[Titanium]

Actually Luis,

oil painting in a conservation article a while back
stated that Oil painting started around 1200 and
for some reason Egg tempera later became the
fashion.
Then again to be replaced by Oil Painting.

Others I have spoken to say Oil painting/Egg tempera
may have been going around in circles much earlier
than this.
Decay of paintings hides the actual dates.

Please,no need to "rough" up Axel_Happy_Goth he is trying.
Titanium

A bit from the Article -

Papers given at the IIC
Dublin Congress 1998, for example, and an editorial comment in "Restauro" some time ago, were clearly unaware of oil as a normal medium 200 years before van Eyck.

And -
Well-known sources, e.g. Theophilus, testify to the use of drying oils in painting in the 12th century and before.

And -

In brief, 13th-c. examples are now quite numerous, comprising easel paintings, wallpaintings and sculpture. A probably German crucifix from the 12th century at Hemse, Gotland, helps to push the time-limit back (Plahter and Tångeberg, both 1984), and ongoing studies in Florence suggest oil in Italian 12th and 13th
century painting as well.

[scottb]

Luis brings up a lot of good points, and as usual, Titanium is right on the money with the history lesson.

Axl - let's keep these descriptions down to just a short paragraph. Inside the description, I will provide a link to the appropriate forum/channel here at WC!, where they can come to learn more.

Cheers.
Scott

[Noble]

Originally posted by Luis Guerreiro
Nonsense! Oil Painting doesn't need any more caution than any other medium. This is exactly the sort of misconception that causes me more headaches than any solvent ever did.

Taken on face value, your statement is nonsense, but I don't take it that way. I do understand your frustration with the rampant toxicity hype that floats around, and it gets blown way out of proportion.

What I think you are alluding to is oil paints should not be feared any more than any other medium when used properly. Your original statement (at face value) implies they are intrinsically as safe (thus not needing any more caution) as lets say, watercolors for example.

As you well know, the solvent for watercolor you can drink with impunity--not so with oil. Turps/oms are a volitile fire hazard etc. Oil mediums carry a few extra risks that need to be managed to use safely, thats all. Babies and children pose special concerns around oil media vs. some others.

I'm a big fan of oil painting, and I'm not one of those that is advocating oil paints and solvents need level 5 hazmat suits for proper use, btw.

That being said, I think oil painting when responsibly handled, is just as safe as other mediums, properly handled. But, one has to know how to handle them safely and there is less room for error with oils, than with watercolor or charcoal for example.

[paintfool]

Let's keep the good info comming so that Axl may finish her task with clarity and the BASIC info that is needed. The introduction will be edited for spelling, grammar, content and length, etc. at a later date. I think we're off to a good start here and i want to thank all of you for your input and thanks to you too Axl for taking on this job.
With appreciation,
Cheryl

[scottb]

I think Axl has given up on it - the project is simply proving too overwhelming for her current level of spare time.

No worries, though, I'll just cobble up short descriptions as I go along. If you see anything in the review system that looks out-of-whack, just let me know ...

Cheers.
Scott

[Axl]

Yeah... I'm a little overwhelmed by all of this. I'm sorry for being a bother y'all, but thankyou for your help anyways..