The Advantages of Oil Paints

If you’re a novice to art classes or painting in general, you may be wondering why oil painting lessons are so popular. Indeed, any serious art studio will make sure to have the best masters of oil painting in order to attract students.

You may have noticed that most masterpieces of the Renaissance and even the modern period are painted with oils. Artists seem to prefer oil paints, as it is understood that they offer a great many more advantages.

Here are just some of the ways that oil paints outshine other mediums:

Oil paints have a thicker consistency than most other types of paints. While this may be intimidating to most newcomers to oil painting lessons, you’ll soon find that this consistency is what enables painters to manipulate application even better. Oil paints can be diluted with turpentine to create a thinner, shinier finish, or can remain in their thick state to be applied in a technique known as impasto, which is what creates those raised layers of thick paint, providing texture and depth on top of colour.

Furthermore, the oil in the paints makes it much slower to dry. This is ideal for blending and allows artists to work on larger pieces over a much longer span of time. This is why art classes tend to teach children to work with acrylics first as they dry much quicker and therefore are more suitable for the simpler, smaller paintings children make.

Blending is an important technique in oil painting, and if you examine the works of old masters closely you’ll see just how they used the unique consistency of oil paints to their advantage. It is much more effective to convey lighting using oil paints as they allow for the better execution of tonal transitions.  

Lastly, consider how many of these oil pieces have been able to withstand the passage of time. Oil paints are more durable than other types of paints, with the colours changing very little over time. Of course, proper preservation methods should be undertaken to maximize this longevity, such as applying varnish and storing the paintings in cool, dry spaces.

These are all techniques and tips that you will learn during your oil painting lessons at VR School of Art. Call us today for more information about our classes!