If you want to add an oil painting to the decor of your home, you may want to make your own painting. Oil paintings can include a vibrant color, great detail, and they allow the painter to add many layers of color.
Before getting started with painting with oils, one must first purchase the necessary materials. The most essential components are a canvas, pencils, oil paints, oil medium, various brushes, and a palette.
Other important components that are not absolutely necessary are a painting easel, drawing paper, an apron, jars for cleaning solutions, cleaning solution, rags or paper towels, and newspaper or old sheets for covering the table and/or ground.
To begin, it is best to first sketch the object or scene that you prefer to paint on to drawing paper until you know exactly how your painting will look. Before drawing on the canvas you may want to paint a light "wash" over the canvas with a light beige color to add more depth to the painting. From there, draw the scene with light pencil marks on the canvas until you have it exactly how you want it to look.
Once you have the drawing prepared, you are ready to paint. It is important to start with the most basic colors in the scene that you want to paint. Unlike water colors and other paint types, oil requires many different layers placed on top of each other. For instance, if you are painting a brown building, start with a basic brown and add more colors as you continue.
As you add colors, do not focus too much on the overall picture. With oil paintings, you can look deeply into the scene that you are painting to find all sorts of "hidden" colors. You may be surprised to find reds, blues, yellows, and greens in what appeared to be a brown barn.
An important note is to try to stay relaxed and paint fluidly. Detail is good, but with oils you can stand to make small mistakes. If you are spending too much time on one part, step back and look at the overall picture. It may look just fine.