You would had been done your artwork with painstaking attention, yet drying is another pressing issues for beginners who uses oil color. Waiting time may take even weeks to dry. So what takes oil painting so long time to dry?

For simple fact that oil do not dry by evaporation. The drying of oils is the result of an oxidative reaction, chemically equivalent to slow, flameless combustion. The thicker the coat of paint, the longer the waiting time will be. Having said that, there are 3 basic methods to shorten drying process. Namely, paint with thin layers, use paints ground in linseed oil, and use drying additives.

1. Painting thin layers allows oxidation to permeate into oil layers easier, than thick or multiple layers on top of one another. Thus, shorter time is achieved and it also an added advantage for painting more layers on dryer oil surface.
2. Linseed oil is made from the seeds of the flax plant. It is available in refined and cold-pressed oil. Beside a better and faster drying oil, it also has adds gloss and transparency to paints. It dries very thoroughly, making it’s ideal for under-painting and initial layers in a painting.
3. Cobalt Driers are extremely powerful oxidizing agent. The adverse effect of using this addictive may affect the color of mixtures. So it is advisable to use it sparely. If used in excess they can ruin a painting. Most experienced painters would agree that not more than 5 drops of cobalt drier should be used per each 2 1/2 fluid Oz of any given medium. Basically Cobalt Driers are diluted in the oil painting medium if you are using one. It is harder to control the amount of drier, if directly into the blobs of paint on the palette. In short, Cobalt Driers are used to improve and speed the drying rate of oil colors.

Whatever the methods to increase the rate of drying oil painting, I would say having good patience is still the key factor in learning any art disciplines.

Related posts:

1. Choices Of Color Painting Media
2. The Technical Rules of Painting in Oil, Alla Prima
3. The Invention of Oil Painting

Learning “linear perspective” enable you to create depth and distant on a flat surface. By looking at any buildings out from your windows, you will notice object starts to appear smaller and parallel lines look as if they are converging. Visually, this effect reproduces on flat surfaces, such as your sketch book paper. When imaginary lines in the same direction, if extended, meet at a common point on the horizon, it form a vanishing point. Some abbreviate it as V.P.

Perspective is regarded as the key to drawing with great accuracy and quality. It is a tool to establish the scale of objects at different places in space. In general, different viewpoint, has different perspective and vanish point.

Based on the drawing from “The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci”, it show how a box would appear between the eye and the subject if it was traced on a flat screen. Using the rules of perspective means that you can draw without the need for tracing: the picture plane – the flat surface of the paper – replaces the window.

Leonardo da Vinci on Perspective

Below I have illustrated objects with three different types of vanish point in linear perspective, subjecting to your viewpoint.

1. Look at a box face-on. With one-point perspective, the horizontal lines at the front remain parallel, but the lines of the top coverage at the vanishing point on the horizontal line.


Perspective Vanishing Point VP1

2. If you look at the box from a corner angle. You will see two sides. With two-point perspective, the parallel lines of each face and the top of the box converge at two vanishing points on each side.


Perspective Vanishing Point VP2

3. Look at a tall box from above. With three-point perspective, the parallel lines of the sides will appear to get closer together towards the base. This means you will have a third vanish point (great for dramatic skyscapes.)

Perspective Vanishing Point VP3

Related posts:

1. The Invention of Oil Painting
2. Van Gogh’s Most Expensive Oil Paintings, Plus 2 More..
3. Describing Van Gogh’s Bedroom

This is an excerpt from the book “Art Theory For Beginners” by Richard Osborne and Dan Sturgis. As a beginner, I have enjoy reading this nice handy book. With simple English and cartoon illustrations to help better understanding. Below on the topic of “The Invention of Oil Painting”

The invention of oil painting was another big change for art. This technology was not developed in Italy but in Flanders by Jan van Eyck 1385 – 1441. The Flemish thought it such a wonderful invention that they tried to keep it a state secret. Before oil painting, most painting was fresco, which, when you think about it, was Roman tradition, or what is called tempra, which is a quick drying opaque paint. Van Eyck discovered that you could suspend pigment in linseed oil, and then apply it to carefully prepared wooden boards, thereby creating a slow drying paint that could be worked on over extended periods of time. The development of oil paint was a huge discoveries; it resulted in far more realistic painting being made, as the application of thin glazes allowed a whole new level of naturalism to be achieved. Suddenly these new hyper-naturalistic paintings become portable, more resilient to changes in climate, and consequently far more of a commodity to be bought and sold. The invention of oil painting is an good example of how technological developments effect art.

Art Theory For Beginners

Related posts:

1. 3 Basic Methods to Dry Oil Painting
2. Choices Of Color Painting Media
3. Van Gogh’s Most Expensive Oil Paintings, Plus 2 More..