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Oil Paints

Oil paintings are named after the type of paint used. Oil paints are simply pigments ground finely and suspended in an oil medium, typically vegetable/organic ones.

Natural pigments such as lead, zinc, titanium, cadmium, sienna, and umber, as well as synthetic pigments have been used in bringing color to the oil paints. A good number of these are toxic (e.g. lead carbonate, cobalt, cadmium).

Different types of oils are used to make these paints. Linseed oil is the most used and is extracted from the flax plant. Other contenders include hemp seed oil, poppy seed oil, walnut oil, safflower oil, and soy bean oil. Each oil has a distinct set of properties that can affect the appearance and quality of the painting. They may also be harmful--did you know that linseed oil is self-igniting?

Because oil paints are slow-drying paints--it takes 6-12 months before oil paintings can be varnished, but did you know that experts consider them only fully dry after 60-80 years?--additives are included in the making of these paints to modify the chemical properties of the oil. The most obvious is drying time, of course, but other properties are affected, like UV light resistance, glossiness, finishing texture, etc.

A History of Oil Paintings

A short tour of the origins of oil paintings

The earliest use of oil paints can be traced back to thirteenth-century England. Back then they were used both for aesthetic and functional purposes, especially because they were a lot more durable than tempera paints.

In the 15th century, painters in Northern Europe were said to have first painted with oil on wooden boards. Often, Jan van Eyck is mentioned as the inventor of oil paintings. He found that oil paints did a better job of depicting nature and other objects as realistically as possible. Moreover, oil paints were suitable in the cold, Northern European area to which he belonged.

By the next century, oil painting grew in popularity in Venice, one of the key areas in the Renaissance movement. Painters discovered oil painting as the answer to creating paintings that could withstand water.

Perhaps the most renowned oil painting--and painting in general--ever known is the Mona Lisa.

In the modern age, oil paintings continue to be a popular artistic form, although oil paints have become much more popular with domestic purposes such as exterior and interior decorations and furnishings: they are extremely durable and versatile with different hues.

  

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