Oil Painting Techniques

There are many ways that artists use to approach an oil painting. However, artists would have to be knowledgeable on the techniques and approaches of this type of painting prior to the commencement of their work as all steps have to be handled carefully. Among the many ways an artist could utilize in painting, there is the classical technique to oil painting, a technique employed by many great artists in the past. Artists who seek to increase their knowledge on oil painting and excel in their skills should refer to classical approaches that master artists utilized to achieve their goal.

Paintings on a toned ground

There are two kinds of classical techniques in oil painting:  paintings on a toned ground and paintings on a dark ground. One of the best known classical techniques is a technique of oil painting that utilizes a toned ground, visible in the completed product. The advantages are clear as the artist is only required to paint in the tones that are lighter or darker than the tone in the middle, so the artist consumes lesser effort while painting the oil painting. Also, this classical technique only requires thinner layers of paint which reduces the cost of production and makes the painting more durable. This technique also allows a steadier control of the tones on a painting which is achieved through the phasing of stages and the correction of final glazes.

Paintings on a dark ground

On the other side of classical techniques is the dark ground technique. Unlike painting on a toned ground, the artists will begin with a dark surface on canvas, and then proceed into adding more colors onto the painting by tracing. The benefits of this technique are plentiful because the technique quickens the speed of production of a painting. Besides that, with this technique the errors done in the process of painting can easily be modified by coloring off the error with a dark color. The benefits of both techniques are numerous, both being equally good in their own ways. There is therefore no wonder as to why past master artists preferred to use these two ways in their oil paintings.

Artists do, however, have to keep a watchful eye on their oil paintings and how they decide on painting because without a careful planning their mistakes will show. The best way would be to plan beforehand and consider the ways past master artists have tried using.

This is a guest post by Steven Koch, who is an oil painting designer from Collieart studios. He loves modern Oil paintings designs and tries different ways to create some day after day.

Photo credits: Collieart studios