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Sunday, March 1, 2015

Carriveau Arts Unlimited - Oil Painting

Carriveau Arts Unlimited welcomes all artists of various experiences. We also want to help educate people about the different mediums to help them execute their ideas. In this blog I will be discussing oil painting.
 Traditional oil paint is created by mixing oil with a colored pigment. A thinning medium is needed to help dilute the paint to the consistency that the artist desires. In traditional oil paints this is usually linseed oil, mineral spirits or liquin. In water soluable oil paints the only thinner need is water. The less you dilute the oil paint with a thinner the thicker it is which is called impasto. This allows the artist to work more texture into their painting. It is easier to see the artists brush strokes. Typically, individuals that are in the market to buy oil paintings do so for this reason- the artist's signature brush strokes. Here is a great example of a famous artist known for his brush stroke.
This is VanGogh's The Night Cafe. You can see how he expressed himself through his brush stroke. The long strokes working their way toward the viewer in the floor boards and the illusion of the lamps glowing by short sharpe brush strokes emanating from the light source. He also used different colors to portray his mood. Green and yellow were colors he used when he was in a good stage of his life, as he used in this painting.
The thinning of oil paint to the point of transparency is called glaze. This works great to create the illusion of layering. The technique is successful when painting water scenes or anything that requires a sheer layer of color.
Traditional oils usually take a couple of weeks to a couple of months to dry. This allows the painting to be reworked to the artists liking. If an artist prefers to work quicker then they should try using the water miscible oil paints which can dry as quick as one day to one week.

References:
www.en.wikipedia.org
www.athenalearning.com
www.commons.wikimedia.org-image of Van Gogh's, The Night Cafe.

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