Blend Oil Paint

One of the biggest draws of using oil-based paints as a medium is the time it takes oil paint to dry. Because oil paint can take several days or even weeks to fully dry depending on temperature and humidity, artists can easily blend and touch up their works in progress and stretch out their painting over several sessions. Many artists find blending oil paint is significantly easier than blending other types of paints, particularly acrylics, which can dry within minutes of application.

Steps

  1. Begin your painting with a charcoal sketch. This sketch is the framework you’ll use to differentiate the areas where you’ll need to blend oil paint from the rest of the painting.
  2. Shake off the excess charcoal or spray the canvas with a fixative to prevent smudging.
  3. Add values of lightness and darkness to the sketch with an underpainting. The underpainting should be painted with a thinned out base color. Use turpentine or your preferred thinner to create the consistency of a watercolor. More pigment should be for use in the darker areas of the painting, and additional turpentine should mix into the base color when you are ready to paint the lightest values. The varying tones in the underpainting will be your guide when you’re ready to blend oil paint.
  4. Allow the underpainting to dry. Typically, 10 to 15 minutes is sufficient.
  5. Combine your oil paints on your palette to create the darkest shade in your blend. You may either mix all of your various shades for the blend before you begin, or you may lighten the shade as you work. For novices, it is generally best to have all of the shades at your disposal until you are satisfied with the blend.
  6. Apply your shades in their approximate final locations, using the underpainting as a reference.
  7. Create a transition between the first two shades using a crosshatch stroke. Flat brushes tend to work best for blending. Round brushes are typically avoided.
  8. Smooth the blend by using parallel strokes along the transition you just created. The parallel strokes should be perpendicular to the lighter shades.
  9. Use a clean brush to blend the next shade, and repeat the technique using first crosshatched strokes followed by parallel stokes. A clean brush should always be used when working with a new shade, even if the actual color is the same.
  10. Finished.

Tips

  • Because oil paint takes so long to dry, it’s OK to leave your used brushes while you work on your painting. You will be able to easily clean them later.
  • Wear clothes you don’t mind being damaged when working with oil paints. Unlike acrylics, oil paints can’t be cleaned with just water and must be removed with a paint thinner such as turpentine.
  • Clean you brushes out with your favorite thinner after every use. Otherwise it will dry in the brushes and be very difficult to clean.
  • When creating contoured surfaces, allow distinction between the blended shades to create a shadow effect.

Warnings

  • Oil paints and the chemicals used to clean them are highly toxic. Ensure your work area is properly ventilated, and keep paints and cleaners out of reach of small children and pets.

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Sources and Citations

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