Getting Back Into Traditional Art: Oil Painting Edition
Hello all!
It’s becoming increasingly clear that the world is gradually becoming technology-dependent. We’re on our phones more often than not, and everyone is going 100 miles per hour because of it.
One of the many side effects of this trend that is getting me is I have been struggling to illustrate on my iPad for more than an hour; I am on my computer all day for my job, as well as obsessively doom-scrolling on social media. I want to break the cycle and create a better routine that reintroduces traditional drawing into my life, whether it involves doodling in my sketchbook more frequently or perhaps learning a new medium.
So, on a recent fateful Saturday, after months of traveling and full-on exhaustion, coffee order in hand driving home, I made the impulsive decision to pick up oil painting again.
A short history lesson about me
So you probably read the “again” part in that sentence. That’s because I have oil painted in the past. I went to college for Graphic Design with a minor in Studio art. It was the other way around in the beginning, but that’s a story for another day.
As part of the curriculum, I took an oil painting class at the beginning of my Sophomore year. Needless to say, I fell in love with the class. I have so much fun learning this medium, creating vibrant studies of objects, fabrics, and figures, and playing around with it all. I enjoyed the fluidity oil painting gives. Unlike acrylics, the paint dries slower, so you can be meticulous and blend better as you go.
It’s like sculpture, in a way, with the fluidity of it all. It’s funny to put that into words because I struggled with 3D classes back in school, and here I am, saying oil painting is like sculpting in a way, and I love it.
This is one of the abstract palette-knife paintings I did in college. It hangs in the stairwell up to my apartment.
But, as time went on life got busier, the oil painting became more of a bookmark in my artist journey than sticking. My art director job is all on the computer with Adobe Creative Suite, everything is done in an instant and a press of a button. Outside of work, I’ve been more of a digital painter. Still applying the same principles I learned with traditional, but it’s faster, and more forgiving because you can just hit undo.
Why the interest to try it again
There’s a very simple reason I am trying to get back into oil painting: I need to break out of the digital bubble—emphasis on the word “need. " I love digital painting; don’t get me wrong. I have honed that craft for so many years that I am getting comfortable with it. However, the amount of screen time I encounter daily is starting to take a toll and makes me more prone to doom scrolling.
With oil painting, I hope it will slow me down, help me take my eyes off screens more, and aid in gradually reducing my screen time. It will kickstart my return to traditional art, allowing me to doodle more and not remain stuck in the complete illustration bubble all the time. Additionally, I’m more prone to migraines, so my brain will thank me immensely for the reduction in screen time!
Now, some studio safety I had to figure out
In oil painting, you can’t just go into it all nitty gritty and be all set to start painting. There are many products used by artists to create an oil painting. These mediums include:
Solvent to clean your brushes
linseed oil
galykd
and more
However, I had to completely reduce the number of mediums I used while oil painting. The main reason is that a lot of oil painting mediums are toxic if you don’t have a well-ventilated space, plus they are highly flammable. I live in an apartment with my fiancé and a dog, I can’t have all that lying around.
So I had to improvise. I do not use liquid mediums at home; I only have gels: Galykd gel and solvent-free gel, which increase transparency and speed up the drying process. I also researched a safe oil paint for the apartment and ended up choosing the Gamblin 1980 collection. According to Gamblin’s studio safety page, their paints don’t emit fumes and are solvent-free. However, some colors, particularly the cadmium yellows and reds, still come with a warning on the tube.
Therefore, I do open the large windows in my office when I paint and have been using those sparingly. As it’s getting warmer outside, we’ll be doing that more often, anyway.
Gamblin 1980 oil paints, solvent-free gel, palette knives, and a little hope.
How has painting been so far?
So far, I’ve been loving every part of the process again. It’s feeling like a muscle I haven’t exercised in a long while. What I am getting used again the most is the drying process. I have to take my time and let things dry, so it gives me a week or two break from the piece before I can go back in and build upon it. That’s giving me more opportunities to be patient, rather than getting the result I need in an instant on my iPad.
One thing I decided to do for this as well was to go in rough and build from there. What I mean is I didn’t sketch on the canvas all that much. I did make a thumbnail of what I wanted and did a quick underpainting to block out where things go. But, I am keeping the piece loose, not a rigid plan to follow.
It’s helping me keep the fun of it all. Sometimes I have a giant plan on a piece and it gets overwhelming as I go, to the point where I stop and have a hard time picking it back up. So, why not go loose with it and just see what happens? Add things down the line, scrape off, and start again, all of it!
Underpainting Sketch
Painted in the sky and the base of the trees
Final Thoughts
I’m excited to see where this piece will take me, and how much change it’ll bring to my normal routine. I hope that this painting process will help break me out of the digital mold more often and get back into just doodling with traditional mediums, whether small or even large like this oil painting I started.
I’ll be sure to give an update down the line on how this is going. If you’re interested, consider signing up for my biweekly newsletter for my cozy gaming and book recommendations, short stories based on my art, and to hear about my journey as an artist.
Thanks for reading!
