Oil Paint

Using oil paints for portraits

The standard oil paint is made up of ground pigment (the colour) with Refined or sometimes Cold-pressed Linseed Oil, which acts as the binder. Whites and some Blues are mixed with Safflower or Poppy oils, which are lighter in colour in order to keep the paint colours clearer. However, these types of oils are slower drying than the Linseed oils. In some instances a combination of two oils can be found in some paint, such as Safflower and Linseed oil together.

For some artists the introduction of Alkyd, a synthetic resin has made the transition from water based paints to oils that much easier. This is due to the Alkyd resin within the paint that speeds up the drying time. As a further bonus with this medium, it is less likely to ‘yellow’ with age.

Natural resins such as Dammar and Mastic can also be found in some brands of paint, which help to increase the brilliance and lustre of the paint. Both of these natural resins are also used in the manufacture of varnish for oil paintings. However, with oil paints it is wise not to paint thin colour on top of thicker colour. Cracking will occur as the thicker paint is still drying under the quick drying thin coat, so the technique to avoid this is to paint ‘fat over lean’. This means, to paint thicker colour over thinner colour.