What is Oil Painting? Oil paintings are considered a great means of creating enticing and realistic artwork. Oil painting as a medium is really appreciated today, but did you know that it was not prominent till the 19th century? Read the article for more. The concept of Oil paintings is centuries old and an incredibly far reaching artistic practice. In layman’s terms, oil painting is a mixture of pigment, binder and thinner. While pigment is the colour element, the binder (oil) acts as a hold up for the pigmentations to add its magic. Although a popular entity today, oil paintings were not prominent till the 19th century. It is on its arrival in Europe in the 19th century and its practice by renowned artists like Jan Van Eyck tat oil paintings became an appreciated medium of art.
Oil painting is generally done on canvas that is made out of linen and the commonly used primers have been gesso rabbit-skin glue, and lead white. In recent years’ cotton canvas is being widely used because it is cheaper. Oil colours are made by mixing dry powder pigments with selected refined linseed oil to a stiff paste consistency and grinding it by strong friction in steel roller mills.
A finished oil painting is always required to be protected from atmosphere attacks and an injurious accumulation of dirt. Paintings which were made in 19th century were built up in layers; the first layer was a blank, uniform field of thinned paint called a ground. Several people these days use acrylic to prepare