One morning recently I was sitting browsing through an issue of artists and illustrators magazine and I just got the urge to get out my oil paints which I hadn’t used for quite some time.

After a bit of a search about I found all my gear and set out to do an oil study. I flicked through a copy of “Oils: techniques and tutorials for the complete beginner” by Norman long and chose to do a kitchen still life.

For this I went round my kitchen and picked out three, fairly plain, colourful objects and set up a small still life scene using tea towels and tablecloths for added interest in the background. As advised by the tutorial I lit the scene from one side and I also added something red to the left of the scene out of eye shot to add a little more red reflection to the left side of the metallic jug to balance out the colours.

I really enjoyed getting out my oil paints and having a go at this small study. The whole process took about an hour and a half so I found I’d finished a painting by 9.30 in the morning! Sometimes it pays off to just jump straight in when you get the urge to do something and take action before too much doubt creeps in.

I’d avoided doing oil painting for a while because of the mess and the clean up and because I considered oil painting a slow process, but this quick study showed me I could get results in just a few hours. The clean up process wasn’t that arduous and I used liquin as my medium which helps the oils to dry quicker whilst retaining a glossy finish.

I’m hoping to continue exploring oil as a medium in future projects.