Here is my oil painting of a timber wolf, titled “Wolf on the Glacier”. Many years ago, I had experimented with oil paints, but this recent painting is my first venture into oil paintings after 25 years. I enjoyed the composition, especially since it was a whole-body compositions. However, using oil paints was particularly challenging in creating a large painting. This wolf is 22″x30″.
The differences between oil paints and watercolor paints, are many. The first difference is that oil paint remains wet, while the artist is working on the painting. So, one must be aware to not put one’s arm or hand on the brush work, while moving across the image. Most oil painters use a mall, a long handled rod with a padded bulb at the end. the artist rests on end on the easel, and holds the other end in the opposite hand, while resting the painting hand on the supported rod. This allows the artist to have a steady hand while painting, without touching the wet canvas. This does work well in theory, but in actuality, as a water colorist for the past 40 years, I am used to touching the painting, while I am working on it. No matter how often I remind my self, I constantly end up putting my arm on the painting. So I end up covered in oil paint.
Another difference is that the oil paint is toxic, as are the solvents required to use the paint, and clean up with. Just having an open container of turpentine in the studio will poison the air, and can cause serious health problems. So, it is really essential to have an air cleaner. One with a charcoal filter to clean the air. And using good painting techniques, not putting the brush in ones mouth, not eating while painting, not putting ones fingers in ones mouth, and not, for goodness sake, smoking while painting!
Most of these important safety measures are easy to do. And if one wants to paint with oils, it is necessary to adhere to a good work technique, which does not expose the artist to dangerous fumes, or dangerous pigments which contain heavy metals.
These heavy metal pigments include Cadmium yellow, Cadmium orange, Cadmium red, Cobalt blue, cobalt violet, and white pigment with lead. Most classically trained oil painters, insist on using leaded white paint for priming the canvas, a dangerous practice.
Another way that oil paint differs from watercolor paint, is that the bushes are completely different. Water color uses small soft round brushes, usually made of sable or a combination of sable and synthetic bristles. Oil uses flat hogs bristle brushes, and some round brushes. Since oil paint is thick, and water color is thin, that changes the way one brushes the paint on. Oil painters like the ability to endlessly move the paint around, until they get it the way they like. Watercolor is a one brush stroke at a time style. The paint drys almost immediately, so you must get it right the first time. There is no going back to change it. Nor can one manipulate the paint endlessly. I really like that about watercolor. I do not like the way oil paint is so squishy, and movable.
So, I have to say that I found oil paint much less satisfying than watercolor. Oil paint smells bad, takes too long to dry, and its toxic. I am able to achieve very similar effects with watercolor.
So for all of the above reasons, I am sticking with watercolor as my most preferred medium. I will also use Acrylics on canvas, again with the same visual results as with oil paints. In my opinion, it is not necessary to risk one’s health using toxic materials, when there are alternatives that achieve the same , or even better results.
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