artists: oil or acrylic

[swedishcelt 0]

Do any of you paint? I've been taking it back up as a treat to myself. Which do you like most and why? I went from watercolor to acrylics but am sort of 'discovering' oil. They're smelly but I can paint all day, go to sleep and wake up and still paint off the same palette.

[Nightingale 0]

Oil can get very expensive.

[flyinchicken 0]

Yes oil is a decadent medium. Just watch your brushes, take VERY good care to wash them well as it destroys them quickly.

"Diligent observation leads to pure abstraction". Lari Pittman

[swedishcelt 0]

I think I am hard on my brushes but I don't really buy sable anymore as my cat likes to take off with the expensive ones and eat them...

[flyinchicken 0]

LOL cats are the same everywhere. My lil buggers often run wild with my make up brushes if I leave them within reach.

"Diligent observation leads to pure abstraction". Lari Pittman

[lisamariewillbe 1]

Ive been playing around with both water and arcrylics. I am scared to use oils, but I like the idea of the paint lasting longer. My problem with oils would be that I suck and sucking at oils is more expensive then sucking at water colors or arcrylics

Sudsy Fist: i don't think i'd ever say this
Sudsy Fist: but you're looking damn sudsydoable in this

[jimmytavino 16]

Quote

Do any of you paint? I've been taking it back up as a treat to myself. Which do you like most and why? I went from watercolor to acrylics but am sort of 'discovering' oil. They're smelly but I can paint all day, go to sleep and wake up and still paint off the same palette.

The problem i had found with oils, is ironically the very benefit which you point out.
If the paint on the palette is still maleable then so is any paint which you recently added to the canvas. i found some paint seemed to take over 24 hours to dry.

So I use only acrylic in order that i don't smudge , or smear anything on the canvas after i have completed it....It seems to dry real quickly...and if I hit it with my hand, at least it stays ok.

jmy

[pinkfairy 0]

I never got into oils because of the solvents, but I did some acrylic for some time.

You can use something called "retarder" to mix with your colors that makes them take longer to dry. That can help for mixing or blending colors into each other on the canvas, but will not enable you to use the same palette the day after.

And I don't really know if acrylic is healthier either, with all those weird chemicals. And real mineral pigments, like cadmium reds and yellows.

Now I'm more into photography, photoshop and Illustrator, and if I get the urge: watercolor.


Edited for spelling.

Relax, you can die if you mess up, but it will probably not be by bullet.

I'm a BIG, TOUGH BIGWAY FORMATION SKYDIVER! What are you?

[JumpinJules 0]

as a part of my required classes for my art ed major I had to take 2 painting classes (I draw, throw pottery, work in found objects... but do not paint... it's frustrating!) Anyway... for the painting 1 class, I HATED it! That is, until we got to work with oils for the last project (a self portrait) up until that time we were working in acrylics, and I have to say I think I threw everything from the majority of that class, except for the self portrait. Acrylics change color as they dry, and they're waxy... oils on the other hand blend BEAUTIFULLY, and let you achieve more realistic colors. Sure, it takes longer to dry... but how many times have you worked on a piece until bed time, and then when you went back to look at it again you saw something that needed changing? Basically, it depends on what type of painting you're doing. If you're doing realism, or are interested in experimenting with blending/properties of the paint, definitely oils. Take a look at Mark Rothko ... his abstract paintings of basically blocks of color are beautiful... the way he can get about a million different shades of the same color could only have been obtained through oil paints.

Into the great wide open/ under them skies of blue/ out in the great wide open/ a rebel w/out a clue.....

[swedishcelt 0]

I checked out Rothko, the colors were interesting though I have to admit that much of the abstract genre is lost on me. It will sometimes take me longer to figure out a color than to paint the actual image. I can understand the fascination with color.