Oil Paint, My Friend

​©Annette Bartlett-Golden, Country Park. Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 inches. $175

Oil Paint, My Friend
By Annette Bartlett-Golden
 
It was a visceral attraction.  I fell in love with oils almost as soon as the paints were in front of me on my palette, and that was long before I could do anything more than smear them on a practice sheet of canvas. The brightness of the colors, the pungent smell of linseed oil, and the creaminess of the paint tantalized my senses. My grandfather painted with these and so would I! It was an unuttered vow, a personal challenge. After my debacle with oils ‘helping’ my grandpa around age three, I was determined to learn this beguiling medium.

More than forty years and hundreds of oil paintings later, I still love oils, though in addition to their sensual properties I appreciate their enormous versatility, durability, and forgiving nature. With oils I can build up successive thin layers of paint or create textured brush strokes to emphasize grass or leaves with a vividness that won’t fade.  Because of the medium’s capacity for opacity, or hiding power, it’s easy to correct mistakes or change directions halfway through a painting. Because it takes oils from a day to weeks to surface dry, I have time to blend colors on the canvas and work wet-in-wet, if I wish.
                    

​Afternoon in the studio with my dear friends, the oil paints.

​For some people, the long drying time of the paint and the necessity of using a solvent such as mineral spirits to clean brushes is enough for them to shy away from the medium. It’s true that the cleanup can be a lengthy process, especially if you use ten or twelve different brushes at a time, as I do. However, there are all sorts of products available to control the drying time of oil paints. Even the choice of paint brands can make a huge difference. The brand I use often dries to touch in a day, two at most, while others can take much longer.

Over the years I’ve enjoyed getting to know the properties of my oil paints much as I would get to know a good friend’s personality. Indeed, my oil paints are as dear as one of my closest friends! I absolutely love painting with oils and can’t imagine never having tried this amazing medium.