• Learn tips for oil painting.Oil painting image by lefebvre_jonathan from Fotolia.com
  
  Artists have been using oil paint for centuries. It is forgiving to use, as you can apply one color over another when dried, and you can make alterations easily on the canvas without spoiling the picture.
  
  Painting in oils or alternative paint mediums can be intimidating to the beginner, so knowing a few handy tips about working with oil paint, can be useful when approaching a blank canvas. The more knowledge and confidence you have, the more likely you will relax into the painting and succeed in creating an oil painting you are happy to display on the wall.
  
  

Preparation Tips

• Use linen to made a strong long-lasting canvas. Do not store rolls of canvas in a cold place, as the lead surface is apt to crack on unrolling. Tighten the canvas by hammering two flat wooden keys, which must overlap each other, into the corner slots on the inside of the frame. These are supplied with ready-made canvases. Smooth the canvas by lightly rubbing sandpaper over the surface, then apply a thin coat of gesso, which is a white art primer, and allow to dry before rubbing a finer sheet of sandpaper over the surface.
  
  

Painting Tips

• Think in stages of creating line, tone and color, and in that order, when approaching your canvas. Roughly sketch your subject with loose flowing lines to construct compositional form on the canvas. Do not be tempted to work so rigidly by adding too much detail, as you can fill this in later. Apply a base wash of a light hue, using acrylic paint as it is quick drying. A wash adds a richer tonal quality to the under-painting so that reflected light will have body and not just reflect the base white of the canvas. Leave your canvas to dry between stages to be able to apply color one over another; this allows you to make corrections easily. Fill in the tone to highlight light and dark areas to shape your composition. Be loose when applying your color, remembering you can erase mistakes, and apply paint using criss-cross strokes to get the paint into the canvas and avoid the white fleck effect that can sometimes occur. Add detail in the last stage to refine your painting. Correct mistakes by rubbing off the paint using a cloth and a touch of paint thinner. Use Alkyd Flow instead of linseed oil to thin your paint because it helps the paint to dry more quickly.
  
  

Cleaning & Storing Tips

• Store used oil paint by placing it in water to keep it wet, so you can re-use it the next time you paint. Remove dried oil paint off a palette knife by dipping the knife into paint remover and then scrape it off with a razor blade.