Oil Paintings

Oil Paintings Oil paintings are among the most beautiful and realistic, with their texture and depth bringing a photograph-like quality to painting. Oil paint is a simple mixture of pigment and oil, usually linseed, walnut, or poppy oil. It's slow to dry, which allows an artist to alter his or her work before the paint sets. Before oil paint was invented, artists used tempera paint, made from egg yolks. Tempera paint is a much faster drying paint and lends itself to be a very precise style of painting. When using tempera paint, you’ll use small brush strokes, in layers, because it dries so fast. It's also associated with classical art and, oddly enough, poster paint. Jan van Eyck is credited with inventing oil paint in the 1400's. Oil paints gave artists another medium for catching and reflecting light that would allow them to realistically imitate life. You'll notice that many oil paintings look a lot like a photograph. This realism would popularize oil paint until the 50's, when acrylic paint replaced it as the paint of choice for many artists.