tips for people who are thinking of using oil paints !!
Oil paint takes forever to dry. and I mean forever. its absolutely amazing at blending and being able to fix work for a long time after starting, but if you ever want it to dry faster, buy some liquin and mix that into your colors on your palette before painting. Linseed oil is helpful for slowing down the drying time of your oil painting. also helps to thin paint.
sansodor vs turpentine: when you paint with oils, they don’t mix with water, so you can’t just rinse your brushes between colors or clean them with water! you need either turpentine or sandosor in a glass container you can close up. turpentine is a very harmful and flammable solvent, while sansodor is less so and also generally odorless. turpentine smells awful.
also, pro tip with your solvents: you can generally use the same amount for quite a while, as the paint settles to the bottom and separates. however, after a while it’ll just get a real murky muddy color and can start to dirty the colors on your painting (particularly light colors) so make sure to pour yourself a new jar every so often!
OIL PAINT AND SOLVENTS ARE CLASSIFIED AS HAZARDOUS HOUSEHOLD WASTE, you CANNOT dump the stuff down your drain or just throw old paint tubes out in the trash! they can become super harmful to the environment and are really flammable! so make sure to contact your local hazardous waste facility to arrange a pick up/drop off with them to dispose of the chemicals and old paint. make sure always to paint w oils in a well ventilated area! they have a pretty strong smell.
always use an old rag or cloth to clean brushes in between colors and after use. don’t rely on paper towels. also make sure to dispose of your rag when you’ve used up all its life with the hazardous waste facility.
if you’re working on big pieces, consider getting a palette with a cover so you can close up excess paint and make it last longer! (this goes for acrylics too) definitely get some brush cleaner for your brushes, it helps sustain the life of the brush and get out the colors that the turpentine or sansodor didn’t. oil paint stains! so use old clothes you don’t mind getting dirty, and use a drop cloth if you don’t want to stain your floor
and also, there is an alternative to oil paint. companies like blick and windsor and newton make water based oil paints, which takes away the harmful chemical factor!! so if you don’t think it’s a good idea to have all those chemicals in your house, then definitely consider getting the water based ones. i’ve read/heard they work just like normal oil paints, but they’re totally compatible with water, so you don’t need stuff like turpentine or whatnot :’)
as always, have fun! oil painting is really fun, so just get some canvas and start experimenting!!
janainaart
baratheonpilled
pixelskylines
dededos
jbbartram-illu
