42 artistFebruary 2021 http://www.painters-online.co.ukOIL PAINTING MATERIALS & TECHNIQUES 1st of 4
O
il paint is a versatile medium
that suits both amateur and
professional painters. It can
be applied in many ways –
thin, glazed, impasto, drybrush – and
the vast array of tools and materials is
now so extensive that it can get rather
confusing, but you don’t need to buyMaterials for oil
painting
Alan Bickley begins a new four-part series aimed at artists who
wish to develop their oil painting knowledge and skills. This month he
discusses some of the popular choices of materials
everything that’s on the market.
There is no right or wrong way of
painting with oils, each of us will find
our preferred style. Much of this will
be down to trial and error but there
are certain parameters you can follow,
which may help during this greatest of
artistic journeys; I’ll be sharing some
of these with you in my forthcoming
articles.Oil paints
If you’re a relative newcomer to oil
painting, it isn’t necessary to buy
expensive artist-quality oils, student-
quality oils are more than adequate.
Although the variety of colours may be
more limited, that’s not a bad thing as
it’s important to learn the benefits of
colour mixing. Artist-quality oils contain
expensive pigments, are more lightfast,
pure and vibrant, and have far greater
tinting power. Cheaper paints contain
thinning agents and far less pigmentbut some brands are very acceptable.
Winsor & Newton Winton oil colours
are a good economical choice (see
pages 50-52), as are the Daler-Rowney
Georgian range. An excellent oil paint
that I often use is Jackson’s Artist oil
paints, which give great coverage with a
free-flowing consistency.
Once you’ve become more confident
with oil painting, you may want to
experiment with the more expensive
artist-quality oils. Where possible,
the bulk of my work is painted with
Michael Harding, Winsor & Newton, Old
Holland, Royal Talens Rembrandt and
Jackson’s Professional range.Mediums
There are many good mediums you
could experiment with. It’s worth
mentioning here that oil paint already
contains oil (usually linseed) as its
binding agent, so if you do add oil, use
it in moderation, although that may