"Exploring Bold Colors and Thick Textures: Why I Fell in Love with Oil Painting"

Oil Painting palette used to paint a vibrant cafe painting with a window view of the street, a flower and coffee art. Circa September 2024

My personal journey into oil painting began with a fascination for its vibrant and bold colors. As a former watercolor artist, I appreciated the delicate nuances and fluidity of watercolors, but I was drawn to the intense pigments and the thick, textured strokes that oils uniquely offer. The ability to layer paint and achieve dimension captivated me, inspiring my transition to oils just last year.

What is Oil Painting?

Oil painting is a traditional and widely used medium that includes a mix of pigments with a binder like linseed oil to create vibrant colors and timeless works of art. Known for its richness and versatility, oil painting has been a favored medium for artists since the Renaissance, offering unparalleled opportunities for depth, detail, and creativity.

One of the defining characteristics of oil paint is its slow drying time, unlike watercolor and acrylic. It is an exceptionally forgiving medium as it allows artist time to manipulate the paint, blending colors seamlessly and layering details to achieve depth and realism. This quality makes oil painting ideal for creating textures, intricate details, and subtle gradations of light and shadow, often referred to as chiaroscuro. Famous artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Vincent van Gogh mastered the use of oils to create iconic works.

Today, oil painting remains a cornerstone of artistic expression, and for me, it represents a thrilling and vibrant new chapter in my creative journey.