MATERIALS & METHODS - Painting - Oil Painting
Characteristics - Painting Methods & Techniques - Materials and Equipment - Work Space & Storage - Manufacture of Pigments - Protection of the Picture
Because of the oil's flexibility, heavier applications of oil paint do not crack, as do egg tempera or distemper colors. Therefore a greater range of textural effects, from thick to thin and from rough to smooth, becomes possible in the oil technique.
The film flexibility of oil paint allows the building up of layers of paint, one over the other, permitting the artist to paint over parts of the picture, adding further subtlety or unifying the disparate elements in the painting. Oil paintings can become more complex than can pictures painted in older techniques, as the artist adds layer on layer of compositional modification.
Oil paint dries to a tougher, more scratch-resistant film than does egg tempera, distemper, or encaustic, and it is less likely to be damaged by water or moisture than is egg tempera, distemper painting, watercolor, or pastel. [p. 55]
[Kay, Reed. The Painter's Guide to Studio Methods and Materials. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1983.]
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