Most Important Oil Paintings Features

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From the popular portrait of Monalisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, The Scream by Edvard Munch, to The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, Oil paintings have come a long way! This art technique has been popular since the fifteenth century in Europe. And even today it holds the same luminosity, unsurpassed richness, and lavishness.

Oil being the main factor, most of the colors are made of linseed, walnut, poppy seed, or safflower oil. And surprisingly, each oil has different properties, for example, the luster or drying time. Isn’t it amazing how artists can build different effects and shades just by choosing the base/canvas, oils, or pigments?

An attractive oil painting is a clever mixture of pigment, binder, and thinner. Where the binder is the oil itself, and thinner is mixed with oil and pigment, for smooth application. Nonetheless, an artist also requires other additives for creating different appearances, which are surprising and incredible to know!

How Did Oil Paint Develop?

Painting through oil colors was never so easy because it required the exact formulation between oil and the chosen dye. Back in the eleventh century, there were not any metal tubes available to store colors. Painters used to crush and boil the pigments with oil, and used it immediately.

But with the invention of the metal tube in the nineteenth century, the process got a lot easier. Apart from brushes, painters started using different tools for painting, which resulted in the popularity of knives. Especially when the painting surface was uneven, knives gave much better and smooth results.

Having said this, the most popular surfaces for oil paintings are canvas, wood, paper, or masonite. Before heading ahead to paint, any artist focuses on establishing a composition between the color and the surface. Other than these, some other exciting features of oil paintings are –

Appearance

A painter can produce different effects with oil paints to make the portrait look more elegant. Usually, the difficult task is to paint an opaque and transparent subject. As if used lighter paints, the chances of image cracking get higher and the painting loses its durability.

But as oil paints are thicker, one can easily draw such effects by using deeper colors on opaque tones. The painter can also go for color modulation by choosing different pigments available. This is the reason why a striking variety of colors are seen in any oil paintings!

Drying Qualities

As the painter uses thick color strokes to build eye-catching effects, the paint remains wet for a longer duration. Oil paints dry slowly as compared to other paints because they have a buttery texture. The advantage of such a texture is, one can wipe out mistakes more easily without hampering the art freshness.

Also, as oil is the only binder which does not dry up quickly, painters can experiment with different color palettes. Hence because of this nature, the painting gets more portable and convenient to carry anywhere.

Film Qualities

Due to oil’s flexible nature, a painter can create thick, thin, rough, smooth, or any other kind of textural effect easily. They can either build up layers of paint with knives or some easy brush strokes, to subtly make the paint look unique from others. Oil paintings are also available in larger canvas formats which are less likely to get damaged by water. Unlike other paints, Oil paintings don’t get spoiled when exposed to air as they are completely dried before selling.

Now, gone are the days when people used artistry portraits in their house to attract guests. They understood that their home requires fancy art because they don’t live in a museum. Paintings are a wonderful conversation starter, and below are some innovative paint options you can add to your space –

A Defining Portrait For Home Decoration

A gorgeous self-portrait themed bedroom is in trend nowadays. Such oil portraits give a whimsical look to any corner of the room. If you are wondering where you can get your portrait done, there are various made-to-order websites available online like https://www.1st-art-gallery.com.

Something Old That Redefines Something New

Old portraits look like a major statement piece if you have an attractive wall background. You can buy a collection of historical portraits and place it near your staircase, or in the library. Such portraits also look attractive in the living room. You can pair them with contemporary or wood-textured furniture.

A Colorful Crew For The Favourite Wall

Everyone has their favorite wall in the house, if you have it, try adding some eye-catching portraits to make it more stunning. Choose portraits of different popular personalities, or just prop the wall with your family member’s oil paintings. You can also add a bit of sass by choosing a huge oil canvas in the middle that will pop out against others.

The Bottom Line

As oil painting has been popular for ages, there are several art styles and subjects available both online and offline. But, landscapes, pop arts, and still life paintings remain to be the popular ones, and we found some amazing pieces on 1st-art-gallery. These pieces inspired us, but do find yours, and start beautifying your space!

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