Oil painting as a form evolved during the High Middle Ages. Many people credit the Renaissance artist, Jan van Eyck, with developing the form. During the 1500s in Venice, Italy, oil painting really took root as an important method. Painters would grind up colorful pigments up into a fine powder and then add oils, such as linseed oil or safflower oil, to the mixture. Typically, it would take days to weeks for early oil paintings to dry. Since oil and water are immiscible (they don't mix), painters can create indelible images which can't be washed away by the elements. Thanks to recent innovations in polymer science, artists sometimes employ what are known as heat set oils in their works. In order for these oils to transition from liquid to solid, they must be heated to a temperature of around 130 degrees Celsius. The paintings produced from heat set oils are, in most visual respects, identical to paintings created from traditional oils. Oil-based pastels are ideal for use in certain impressionistic pieces. These pastels deliver extremely powerful colors, but they don't necessarily blend as well as other, paper-wrapped soft pastels. The oil paints used by older craftsmen were extremely flammable. Many fires resulted from the accidental ignition of oil-based paints. Fortunately, new, non-flammable, non-toxic oil paints now offer artisans far more safety. Keep your oil tubes tightly sealed after use to avoid drying out your paints. Even a slight leak can lead to "in the tube" drying, which can damage and discolor the paint in subtle ways. |
