There is a reason that oils are considered the king of paints.
And for me that reason is the sublime, buttery texture.
The malleable, juicy, softness.
And it is these characteristics that make me fall in love with oils over and over again.
Over the last twenty years I have worked in every medium available and have tried pretty much every brand, constantly searching for that holy grail of a product, a product that I can believe in, a product that I can trust.
I found it with Winsor & Newton Artist Oil Colours.
The rich pigment quantities put these oils in a class of their own and now with a whole raft of oil mediums at my disposal the ability to alter the paint substance has never been easier or more exciting.
My main little ally when it comes to oil painting is Mr Liquin, that universally adaptable medium for speeding up drying and creating fluid strokes.
But where do you start with an army of mediums that perform every task imaginable from Safflower Oil that slows drying times, Blending mediums for helping to give your work that antique look, and for when you are feeling like a true old master Cold Pressed Linseed Oil for mixing with your very own ground pigments?
Adding any one of these mediums and oils will transform your paint, your strokes and your work.
Add more than one and a whole new painting experience awaits you.
I am often better known as a mixed media artist even though I have also always painted with oils particularly outside on location.
The main attraction for my mixed media work was always that I could flick, spatter, and drip the paint, this is something that I considered I simply couldn’t achieve with oils.
I was wrong.
Using the mediums, particularly Liquin I was able to create a semi translucent ‘melted jelly’ consistency of oil paint, which is an absolute joy to flick, spatter and drip, I found that I could also mix in found ephemera, sand and bits of seaweed with the Oil colour Gel mediums, again this worked a treat.
I slowly realised that I could perform a mixed media painting using the historic king of paints.
Now of course all of my talk of adding seaweed, sand and bits of old tat will horrify the purist artists out there, but then again I thrive on excitement, I thrive on the unexpected and I thrive on challenging myself and my materials.
For my painting I choose one of the worlds most iconic landmarks, and one that is only one mile from my home, St Michaels Mount.
