Adventure into Oils

Being without my art supplies has been a very interesting experience. Thing is, I'm an artist the same way I'm a writer. It's akin to breathing. Take away my supplies and it's like I'm breathing with a bag over my head. I can still do it but it gets hot and stuffy and is very frustrating.

My intention was to arrive and get my art supplies over within the first week. This didn't happen but I had two available canvases and I figured this was a great opportunity to delve into oils.

"You'll love oils!"

"Once you use oil, you'll never go back."

"Working with oil is the most amazing thing."

When I first began to paint it was an independent endeavour. I am a self taught acrylic artist, although I have a pretty strong background of painting with fast drying colours from growing up in my big old lovely house in Inglewood. My mum taught ceramics and as a result I was surrounded by the knowledge of how to work with water-based paints.

The reason I chose acrylic was, honest to goodness, because acrylics were the cheaper choice when I went to buy my first few tubes. Admittedly, I didn't like the actual act of painting when I did my first few attempts. I felt like the work was never quite what I wanted, not showing up like I saw it in my head. I had a lot to learn about light and shadow and a lot to learn about the consistency of the paint and how to prepare and work with it.

I believe I've come a long way since my initial dabbling with acrylic on canvas. I've come to love the challenge of blending something so quick drying. I feel it's a skill I'm mastering and a way of working with paint I really enjoy.

Oils blend easily. Oils stay wet enough and for long enough that you can mix and smear and create beautiful blurriness between the lines. As far as blending goes, oil can't be beat.

But it smells really strong and the smell began to get to me. It also requires chemically things to keep the paint workable, which adds to the smell and increases the cost. It took me twenty minutes to clean the single brush I used, which was still a bit stained although definitely has remained re-usable. And then I had this canvas with this gooey mess on it that didn't dry for three days. Three days and I didn't feel I'd painted it that thick!

Maybe I didn't give oils an adequate chance. Perhaps I just need my proper range of supplies at my fingertips. Or perhaps I don't need to like them because I found a medium I like and I gave oils a chance. Like oysters. I tried it, didn't like it and rather than knowingly try something I've pretty well determined doesn't satisfy me, I'm going to move on. I don't think of it as 'going back' because such a thing isn't really possible. I'm just moving forward with new knowledge about myself, my art and the materials I choose to use and why I choose to use them.

I have two beautiful, fresh canvases and a brand new pack of twelve Acrylic paint tubes ready to go. I've chosen the next two tarot cards I want to do and I've got two other blank canvases of a slightly smaller size on which I want to do a self-portrait and another Buddhist piece. I've got the beauty of a winter London rain outside to inspire me and Elbow, Chicane and Dido on the stereo as I work.

Who could ask for more?