Arising in the 15th century due to growing popularity, oil painting was not a commonly used technique among the artistic culture. Widely used in European art expression, this method of creating portraits normally required linseed oil.

This type of oil was made by being boiled with a pine resin or frankincense. The traditional method of this style was applied to a medium of drying oil with paint pigments by using a paintbrush, a rag, or a palette knife.

The foundation of an oil painting starts off with the artist sketching their desired design upon the given canvas with thinned paint or charcoal; once the sketch is complete, the artist may then begin pairing. In order for the portrait to come out properly, multiple layers of paint must be applied to the piece, and this application is referred to as flat over lean.

With each new layer brushed over the next, the new coating must possess more oil than the underlying layer in order for the work to dry properly. If this is not done correctly, the result of the final portrait will be peeling, cracking, and the piece will be of no use.

Through the centuries various surfaces have been used for oil painting, such as paper, slate, pressed wood, wooden panels, cardboard, and linoleum. Even with the numerous elements which were made usable to artists worldwide, the most popular medium since the 16th century has been canvas.

A canvas was made of two fabrics, the less expensive cotton and more traditional linen, which were stretched across a wooden frame referred to as a strainer or stretcher. After stapling and sizing the canvas it was then covered with animal glue (commonly rabbit skin glue) and coated with white colored lead paint, which was at times mixed with chalk.

In early ears of oil painting the means of transpiration where limited due to the fact that designers had to create their own raw materials needed to paint. Having this restriction placed upon their creativity often had many artists confined to studios instead of being out in the world and producing their work.

Later in the 1800s oil paints became portable by being placed in tubes, this meant that no longer did artists have to stay in studios to create their pieces, but allowing them to observe and paint at the same time. Having mobility to go where they please was not the only benefactor that tubed oil paint provided, it also allowed artists to mix colors with ease and rather quickly.

Many different techniques and uses of oil painting have developed since their European use in the 15th century. Artists today still use the traditional method, and others have created new techniques when using this style.

Expanding from Egg tempera, to Fresco, and wet-on-wet, new ingenious ways to produce oil paint based work is being experimented with as one might speak. As long as imagination thrives and pulsates through the artistic generations, never-ending means of self-definition will always be projected in our society.

Betz Gallery is an expert in oil painting , art print and reproductions.

Please visit us for any art work you may be looking for at http://www.betzgallery.com/

Author Bio: Betz Gallery is an expert in oil painting , art print and reproductions.

Category: Arts and Crafts
Keywords: oil painting , giclee, reproductions, photos on canvas, fine art, cubism, art prints