Achieving a flawless finish in oil painting can seem daunting, but there's a technique that elevates your work to new heights: "oiling out." This process not only improves adhesion and creates an even glaze but also enhances the structural integrity of your painting, ensuring its longevity and brilliance.
What is Oiling Out?
Oiling out involves applying oil paint medium to a partially dried layer of paint and then carefully wiping it off with cheesecloth. This simple action yields significant benefits:
Improved Adhesion: The oil acts as a bridge between layers, creating a stronger bond for future paint applications.
Even Surface Shine: Oiling out creates a smooth surface that enhances the flow and blending of subsequent paint layers.
Enhanced Structural Integrity: A well-oiled surface prevents cracking and flaking, ensuring your painting lasts for generations.
Our Proven Technique: Achieving Stunning Results
Our meticulous oiling out process has yielded stunning results in our extensive collection of oil portraits, including a celebrated series on President Carter In both the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery and the Carter Library..
Application: Generously rub Winsor Newton Oil Painting Medium onto the paint with a bristle fan brush for about 5-7 minutes. This creates a uniform and smooth surface, allowing the oil to penetrate the dried layers.
Gentle Removal: Using 100% cheesecloth only, gently wipe off any excess oil, leaving behind just enough to create a subtle sheen and enhance flow, which will even out the shine when you are applying the final varnish when you complete the painting.
Preservation Techniques for Oil Paintings
Maintaining and preserving oil paintings is an essential aspect of art conservation, ensuring that our masterpieces not only endure but also retain their beauty and integrity over time.
The first step in preserving your oil painting is ensuring it is clean before applying a final varnish. This meticulous care not only enhances the appearance of the artwork but also allows the final varnish to adhere properly.
We recommend using surgical rags (less lint) if the painting has been sitting for long periods and Gamasol to gently remove dust and dirt from the surface. Then Use 100% Cheese Cloth and Gamasol for a final cleaning before Oiling Out or Varnishing.
Variables Which Affect Drying Times of Pigments
Understanding the variables that influence drying times is crucial for avoiding potential damage to your painting. Factors such as the type of paint (e.g., earth tones), the thickness of the paint layers, and environmental conditions like humidity play a significant role in this drying process. For instance, paintings exposed to high humidity might take longer to dry compared to those in arid climates.
Humidity Effects: My experience with managing drying times is highly dependent on regional climate differences. In regions with high humidity, such as Georgia, items may take longer to dry. Whereas locations with lower humidity, like Arizona, will be shorter.
Why Oil Out?
Your painting will go through stages known as "Sunken-In" and in this stage, you lose the vibrancy of the color. At this time it is hard to match the vibrancy when the dry paint has a different appearance than the wet paint. This Oiling-out Technique brings back the luster of the painting.
During the painting process, your paint may rest for a while and you may not work on it for a month or two, during this time the oil painting starts to get a little harder and slicker, and therefore the next layer does not want to adhere and stick to the painting. Though it may appear to grab the paint - years later it is possible for it to flake off because aheasion was not 100%. that is why it is very important to watch your painting and protect each layer and the adhesiveness of each layer by Oiling-Out.
Another step which has helpes me tremendously is after completely the painting i wait for 3-4 weeks then oil out. at that time i start a count down and wait for the final varnish 6 months later.
When you Oil-Out it evens out the shine. Therefore, when you do the final varnish, you'll have one even coat and a much more beautiful final appearance..
Varnish Choice
When selecting varnish for your oil painting, we prefer Gamblin Varnish "Gamavar" due to its glossy appearance is less glossy than most varnishes and has UV qualities which we believe enhance the artwork more than a matte finish.
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