Any oil painters out there?

Or Ben Nicholson

@PhotoPhilljk said

A R G E N T U M I love e this kind of thing, but would like to be closer to realism

You need to understand how oil paint works first, by experiencing it - the texture, the time it takes to dry, how the secondary pigments in the colours affect them when you try to lighten or darken the colours. It will take a while for you to understand how to get the right tones in the colours when you mix them. 

I have painted with pigment in linseed oil as a medium for over 30 years. I have studied and been taught it for 8 years at University level. I have never painted oil, that would be a glossy black in a silo in the UAE somewhere. From the OP's description can I suggest you screen print your favourite photographs/digital images on canvas, and then add some brushstrokes, that might work if Neo-realism (and relief from boozing) is what you desire. I would say, gently, that painting at night, without natural North daylight, unless you use candles is considered rogue, even now. Get some clay, it is more tactile and forgiving and you can pay someone to cast it in bronze. To my students I suggest, looking at artists who are still alive, Nicky Hirst, Gideon Rubin, Leah Capaldi, Judith Cowan, Colin Smith, and anyone on the Turner Prize shortlist in the last 30 years. Otherwise Modern Art is just a pile of bricks.

A R G E N T U M said

Why don't you try post-impressionism, or maybe even abstract.

I love Robert Bevan. His style isn't difficult to copy:

That may be a good way to start, stops the frustration of trying to get things looking precise

Becky Kvittems said

Have you got a well ventilated space to paint in?

I don’t use oils much as the turps stinks out the house and upsets my cat.

Go for odourless thinner to clean your brushes, oil (I use linseed) to thin the paint. The Range sells Sansodor (great name) but there are cheaper alternatives from B&Q. Low odour thinner works better than  water-based ones. No complaints from the models in the studio.

priceb61 said

Becky Kvittems said

Have you got a well ventilated space to paint in?

I don’t use oils much as the turps stinks out the house and upsets my cat.

Go for odourless thinner to clean your brushes, oil (I use linseed) to thin the paint. The Range sells Sansodor (great name) but there are cheaper alternatives from B&Q. Low odour thinner works better than  water-based ones. No complaints from the models in the studio.

Nice! Thanks for the advice

Just go for it. It's only marks on paper, or canvas, or board. Enjoy yourself.

Rubbish. Just splat some paint on a canvas, call it abstract and boom! You're a star. ;) 

But also, enjoy it. I can't paint for crap, but when I do I love it!

Edited by Kirk Schwarz

priceb61 said

Just go for it. It's only marks on paper, or canvas, or board. Enjoy yourself.

I have nice images of landscapes that'll I'll have a go at, what's the worst that can happen? I waste some canvas paper or fall into the depths of depression that I am totally useless 😂😂😂 

Either way at least I have tried, still got the camera at least

I would say that it's important not to be too precious about your first attempts. Get either very cheap canvases or prime some paper with emulsion, just to play about on.

It might be useful to reduce your colour palette - too much choice can be a bit daunting to start with. If you're painting figures or still lifes it's often easier to start off with a monochrome underpainting (just try to get the tonal values right), then you can add the colour via glazes.

Hi, I am fully educated in all traditional art techniques. And there are two ways to start.

One is to do a proper step by step preparation for the technique (the best option for realism),
and second one is just to do a lot of play with the technique but it usually takes much longer to achieve the desired style.
Oils are brilliant if you are flexible in using various mediums, and may be terrible if it's your first technique.

Most paints, mediums nowadays are safe and there is a nice range of low-odour thinners. So ventilation is necessary more to improve drying than ventilating the odour.
The drying room must be dust-free as finished paint for oils needs between 1-7 days to stop being sticky, and between 3-8 months to dry completely before finishing it with varnish.

In my experience it's the best and the most classy painting technique,
but it needs a lot of planning beforehand.
Mistakes are usually difficult to hide/ repaint/ cover so before start you need to know exactly, what you want to paint and how you want to do it.

The best step for learning is to start from less demanding paints like watercolors and then gouache.
It's also cheaper, easier and dries faster. Once you get the desired level of style accuracy then it's time to start with oils.
From simple objects on a small canvas/ paper for oils to find out how mixing, drying, texture works.

Oil painting requires at least 24h of drying between the layers. So even with a simple scene it takes a lot of time.

There is a lot of really good tutorials on Youtube, just find someone who have the style you like, follow, try and don't give up.

Hope it helps.
Nat

I think it's good that you've set the bar high for yourself. There's nothing worse than having a low standard - that doesn't help with motivation!

As others have said, start by going to some classes. It might be worth joining a life drawing class that has guided tuition - and note that although they call it 'life drawing', many of these classes support painting too. I took up drawing a few years ago... I was always convinced that I couldn't draw, but I surprised myself. I did try painting, but in the end I preferred the good old graphite pencil.

Going back to "setting the bar high", I took up the piano when I was 18. Everyone told me I was too old to become any good at it. My piano teacher said it's unlikely I'd ever play anything 'difficult', and certainly not ragtime (which is what I really wanted to play). I proved them all wrong - I learned to play a lot of rags, as well as some Chopin. But it goes back to one thing - HARD WORK. Learn, practise and hone your craft. Own it. And make it your own.

Just do it. Do you see a toddler sit there staring at the paper worrying about how it will express it’s vision in crayon! I have not messed with oil for decades but the great thing about the medium is you can push and prod it around, paint back over and even grab a spatula and scrape the whole lot off to start again. I suspect the Missus is glad the nudes I did of her in my youth are long gone but I think you will be surprised how fast you will progress once you actually start. 

As a first aid instructor I was taught that people recall something like 10% of what they see 15% of what they read and 80% of what they do. Decide the area you want to work in, find a suitable subject and just see what happens. If something does not quite work, scrape it off and try again. The only thing I found at the time was the smell of the oils does tend to permeate the house if you are not careful! 

Edited by RedBaron