The Van Eycks have traditionally been credited with the discovery of oil painting. However, it is widely believed by many that oil painting evolved from earlier periods. Early works on the art and technique of painting give recipes for cooked and sun-bleached oils and drying oils. Cennino Cennini's manual on art is an enlighting guide to methods and techniques of the Renaissance period. Northern European artists tended to use oils with pigment before the southern European artists and by the 16th Century most easel painting was produced with oil paint. Before that, paintings had either been frescos, painted onto the wet or dry plaster of walls, or egg tempera paintings done on a wooden surface or panel. The use of primed canvas stretched on a wooden frame meant that a large painting became transportable. When dry, the canvas could be unpinned from the stretcher and the wooden stretcher frame collapsed. The painting could be dispatched, or taken from the studio, to the customer and re-assembled at its final location.
The convenience of a superb range of artist materials, including paints, brushes and canvases produced by art manufacturers, especially by Winsor and Newton, means that today we can concentrate on the art of painting our pictures, knowing that the experience and needs of artists over the centuries have gone into the formulation of reliable, high quality products that greet our eyes when we visit our local art shop.
 |
| Oil Paintings |
Many of my art correspondence course and art holiday course pupils have become highly proficient oil painters, gaining great satisfaction from the medium. Whilst oil paints are suitable for the 12 to 80 plus age range, it is possible for younger people to use them, but would suggest it be under the supervision of a parent or teacher due to the slower drying time of oil paint compared to water colours or water-based paints.