By Team Mojarto
I’m just going to say it because it’s no use pretending that all’s fine while working with oil paints. Oil paints are the hardest to work with. Sure, acrylics and water colours have their own hardships but they are no match to the usage of oil paints which takes at least 5 whole years to dry properly.
Oil paints are sticky; they get everywhere; they don’t come off our brushes easily; not to mention one wrong move in the wet painting will ruin hours and hours of hard work.
But everything I mentioned here and more is worth it; because no matter what, the end product of an oil painting cannot be helped but admired. That’s the beauty of it. So, naturally as artists we tend to dive in head first to create oil paintings without minding the consequences and are happy doing so.
And to make your job of taking care of oil paintings easy, we’re here to provide a few tricks and tips which we’ve experimented with over the years.
1. Keep the oil paints off the sides of a framed canvas or if you have painted it in a sheet, keep a small border so when you need to shift it after painting or display it somewhere, you will be free to do so without disturbing the wet paint.
2. Oil paintings take a long time to dry and if you’re living in a humid and hot place, then it takes even longer. Once you’re oil painting is finished, make sure to carefully store it in a closed, cool place where it wouldn’t be bothered and let to dry in its own pace. The chilly the place, the better.
3. It is best to store the painting in a clean area but a city life doesn’t necessarily allow it. So, the next best option is to keep dusting it. Keep a light, soft stranded brush with you and dust it every time you find a speck of dust on top of the painting. The other reason why we shouldn’t allow dust on the painting is that, oil paints are extremely sensitive and the slightest hindrance can change the way it is supposed to turn out; colour wise and light wise.
4. Clear spray is sprayed on top of paintings to preserve the painting in all its glory. The spray works beautifully and also allows easy cleaning. However, it is best to wait for the oil painting to dry before you spray it with the Clear Spray.
5. No matter what you do, keep your oil paintings away from pointy objects. It doesn’t matter how strong the fabric or the oil sheet is; a sharp object on an oil painting can tear the whole craft.
