7 Techniques of Oil Painting
♫ Tuesday, June 9th, 2009Oil paintings come in all shapes and sizes, and may be based on a variety of themes to appeal to all tastes. They may be painted on different types of material, such as canvas or cardboard. Original classic oil paintings are among the most valuable works of art that exist; some are valued at millions of dollars. While a number of valuable oil paintings are displayed in museums, private collectors who buy art for their personal enjoyment or as an investment also own some.
The ensuing discussion provides top 7 techniques of Oil Painting. Lets look.
Creating Fundamental Structure. All the forms in an Oil Painting are created from the basic five shapes viz., Sphere, Cone, Cylinder, Cube, and the doughnut shaped Torus.
Color Blending. The gradual transition from one color of Oil Paint to another is called Blending. As Oil Paints, take time to dry, the wet Oil Paints easily move around on the Canvas. This easy movement of wet Oil Paints on the Canvas, makes the Blending easy. The Paint Brush is dragged back and forth between the colors until the suitable Blend is achieved.
Matching colors. The artist handles colors with the help of a Color Wheel. The Color Wheel, an essential tool for matching colors, is a Circle, sporting basic 7 rainbow colors. It is arranged with Yellow, the lightest value color, on the top, and with Violet, the darkest value color, at the bottom. The band of colors on a Color Wheel are divided into Warm Colors such as, Yellow-Orange, Orange, Red-Orange, Red, and Red-Violet, and Cool Colors such as, Yellow-Green, Green, Blue-Green, Blue, and Blue-Violet.
Contrast. The correlation between the lightest light and the darkest dark shades in an Oil Painting is called Contrast. The representation of Color Value from Black to White is called Value Scale. The distances between the values on the Value Scale decide the levels of Contrast.
Texture. This is another significant factor in Oil Painting. It is clearly seen at the transition of light to the shadow. The sharpness of the focus on a picture decides the smoothness of the object. The same object would have a better texture in direct light than in a shade.
Glaze and Wash. The Transparent Layers in Oil Painting are called Glaze. Glaze is a thin, see-through color, used over another dry color to create a third color. Glaze always darkens a color. Translucent Layers in Oil Painting are called Wash. Wash is a thin opaque color, used over another dry color.
Shadow. Shadows are of three types, Shadow, Cast Shadow, and Proximity Shadow. The dark shade an object creates is called its Shadow. Cast Shadow is the absence of light caused by the object in its environment. It is easily identified, as it is always the darkest and is mostly focused near the source. Proximity Shadow is the Dark Shadow formed when the objects touch each other. This is considered the darkest part of an Oil Painting.