Your Complete Guide to Oil Painting with Winsor & Newton
Oil painting offers incredible versatility and rich colour depth that has captivated artists for centuries. Whether you're picking up a brush for the first time or looking to refine your technique, understanding the fundamentals is essential for creating beautiful artwork. This comprehensive guide explores everything you need to know about oil painting using Winsor & Newton products; from selecting the right paints and brushes to preparing your canvas and mastering essential techniques. We'll walk you through the various oil paint types, essential tools, and professional tips that will help you develop your artistic skills and create stunning pieces that truly capture your creative vision.
What is Oil Paint?
There are three main categories of oil paints: traditional, alkyd and water-mixable. One thing they all have in common is that they're all made up of pigment and binder. The role of the binder is to protect the pigment and act as an adhesive.
Linseed oil is the most common binder, being a strong and fast-drying oil. Using high-quality oil is vital because it's the coating that we see the colour through. The right size and shape of pigment particles is also essential.
How is Oil Paint Made?
The process of grinding together pigment and binder is known as milling. Each particle of oil paint pigments is coated in drying oil. This is critical because poorly dispersed pigment particles will clump together and create poor-quality paint.
Today, Winsor & Newton oil colour is produced on triple roll mills. The rollers are usually either steel or ceramic and move at different speeds, coming together under hydraulic pressure. Making oil paint requires astonishing skill and knowledge. Every pigment absorbs oil differently, requiring individual milling processes for each colour.
What Will I Need to Get Started?
You'll need a surface (canvas or panel), brushes, paint rags to wipe off your brushes, a palette, palette knife, a cup for solvent, solvent (such as low-odour Sansodor) and, of course, oil paint.
Winsor & Newton Oil Paint Ranges
At the moment, Winsor & Newton have four ranges of oil paint, created with different artistic approaches in mind:
Winsor & Newton Artists' Oil Colour Range
A traditional oil paint, this provides the widest choice of colours with the highest pigment strength, ensuring the cleanest, brightest colours and best mixes.
Winton Oil Colour
Also a traditional oil paint, this range offers dependable quality at an accessible price. It's ideal for beginners who want to learn the fundamentals of oil painting, and perfect for any artist who needs to cover a large area or work on an underpainting.
Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour
Oils that can be cleaned up with water instead of solvents, whilst providing the same level of depth, lightfastness, performance and drying times as traditional oil colours. Perfect for artists working in shared spaces or those who are sensitive to chemicals.
Using Mediums
Once you've picked your oil of choice, you'll want to think about a solvent. Solvents thin your paint to make it more workable, without adding to the drying time.
Recommended by leading art schools, and often the only solvent permitted in their studios, Sansodor is a good choice for traditional oils and alkyds. It performs like turpentine but has a low odour, and is the least hazardous of the solvents.
Artisan has its own range of solvents and mediums uniquely suited to the water-mixable formula.
All solvents should be used in a well-ventilated room. Make sure to clear away paint-soaked rags and palettes after painting, and dispose of them in an airtight, solvent and flame-proof container.
Choosing Brushes
If you want to make a mark with stiffer bristles that leave a texture, choose a Hog Brush. For a smoother mark, go for synthetic Monarch brushes. Artisan has its own special range of brushes that work well with other brushes, too.
Choosing a Canvas
Canvas is the go-to choice for most artists. Primed stretched canvases are easy to find, such as Cotton Traditional, but wooden panels are also a great surface to work on.
Final Preparation
Choose your palette, either wooden or Tear-Off Palettes, and grab a palette knife for mixing ; and you're all set!
Ready to Start Your Oil Painting Journey?
Whether you're exploring oil painting for the first time or expanding your artistic toolkit, the right materials make all the difference. At Art Shed Brisbane, we stock the complete range of Winsor & Newton oil paints, brushes, and accessories to help you create stunning artwork. Visit us in-store or browse our online collection to find everything you need for your next masterpiece.
Content sourced from Winsor & Newton educational materials. All product information and techniques are credited to Winsor & Newton.