Oil Painting

In this session on the 5th of November we were asked to use oil paint to draw the still life that we were presented with. Materials used during this session include; oil paint, hog hair brushes, low odour solvent and cartridge paper. Techniques that were also used throughout this session were painting and perspective. At the start of the lesson we were shown by Chris how to use the oil paint as I was one of many that hadn't used this material before and were unsure of have to use it and what its qualities were like. I had learnt that we shouldn't use water to clean the brushes as the oil in the paint doesn't mix with the water causing it to separate and that means its unusable. After getting a demonstration of how to use the paint effectively, we went off and started to paint the background colour before we started painting the still life. Using the hog hair brushes we painted our page liberally with the brown paint that we had mixed ourselves. After allowing to dry we then started painting the still life, I had decided to paint it straight away and not use pencil as it would be hard to erase the mistakes where as if I make a mistake with the paint I could use the rag and wipe the paint away.

Throughout the session I found it quite hard using the paint and understanding how it mixed and applied, so I would definitely practise at home to improve my skills and understanding of the material. Areas of my work that i think worked well would be use of the hog hair brushes. I think that I applied the paint well as it was my first time and I made sure the paint was the right consistency when applying the background colour, as if it had any texture to it then this would change the outcome of what I painted onto it. Areas of my work I think didn't work well would have been the accuracy of the shape. I think this because I found it hard trying to keep the shape of the painting to an accurate size and to what it was meant to look like.
To extend my skills I will practise at home using items that I can find around the house and arrange them which then will able me to extend my skills with this material. I could also look at what I have drawn in the past and recreate that but with the different material.