Oil
painting is a distinct genre of painting where drying oil is applied as paints.
Timeless possessions of arts, oil paintings down the ages are visual
documentations of the history culture and lifestyle of the yore. With the
moving courses of time new styles and techniques have made way into the
paintings making them more enriched and versatile. Modern Oil
Paintings is also very popular in the modern times. The modern artists and
connoisseurs admire them and innovate new ideas from them.
Various
types of oil were used to create oil paintings. Linseed oil, poppy seed oil,
sunflower oil and walnut oil were used commonly. The painters mixed the oils
with the pigments with great dexterity and precision. Pine resins and
frankincense were applied to bring a glossy effect on the paintings. Generally
the paintings were carved on a canvas. But in some cases the paintings were
framed out in paper sheets, cardboards, linoleum and wooden panels. Animal glue
and gesso were used to coat the panel paintings. Modern gesso is a combination
of calcium carbonate and polymer acrylic. It is used to increase the absorbency
of the primer coat of an oil painting. Animal glue saves from the harmful acid
effect of the paints.
In
oil paintings the outline of the subject of a particular painting is first
carved out on the canvas. Then pigments are mixed with oils to prepare shades
of colors. Pigments having cobalt, manganese and lead were used in the early
days to increase the drying process. The oil colors are then applied on the
painting in the form of layers. With the advent of oil painting tubes the
painters have been freed from the hazards of mixing oil with pigments.
Painting
in layers is the conventional method of oil painting. This is done to enhance
the effect of colors and bring perfection into the painting. First the
"underpainting" is sketched out using thin coats of paints like the
turpentine paint. The layer is let to dry up. After this several layers of oil
paints are applied consecutively letting each layer to dry up completely before
applying the next layer. It can take several weeks to months to dry an oil
painting completely. After the work is sealed by the artist varnish is applied
to bring the shining effect.
Oil
paintings have been influenced by various styles of art namely renaissance art,
figurative art, folk art, abstract art, contemporary art and modern art. The
themes of the paintings were collected from various facets of nature, figures
of animals and human beings, modern architectures and every day life. The
inherent self of human beings and the various human moods and psychologies are
also captured into bold lines and colors in the modern oil paintings. Raphael's
'La donna velata' (1516) Titian's 'The Rape of Europa'(1562), Leonardo da
Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' (1503-1506), Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night'(1889),
'Sunflowers'(1889) and 'Wheat Field With the Crows' (1890), Claude Monet's
'Water Lilies', Salvador Dali's 'The Persistence of Memory' ( 1931) and 'The
Metamorphosis of Narcissus' (1937) are legendary oeuvres of oil painting that
inspire awe and veneration to the votaries of arts from time to time.
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