Oil Wash

Today's post is about the drawing technique called "oil wash". I always get asked about this process, so here you go. 

Why I love the oil wash technique:
- I love the simple and kind of antique feel of the drawing/painting.
- It is a quick process.
- It easily lends to great contrast between lights and shadow. Btw, sources with lots of contrast work best for this technique!
- It is fun and very hands on.
- It is a mix between an oil painting and a drawing which has many pros in my opinion.
- It is my favorite drawing technique hands down.

This is the first oil wash I did when I was introduced to the technique in Advanced Painting class my Junior year. An oil wash is done on a canvas board (stretched canvas doesn't work as well) with oil paint, copal medium, mineral spirits, a white t-shirt rag and a couple paint brushes. The first step is to do a pencil drawing of your subject on the canvas board. Be careful not to draw too darkly or to draw in areas of light because the pencil will show. After you drawing is solid, spray it with fixative so that it does not get washed away.
Typically, burnt sienna is the color of oil paint used for an oil wash, but because the burnt sienna can look so orange  by itself, you may want to mix some ultramarine blue or some burnt or raw umber with the burnt sienna until you get a color that you like. Adding the blue may also help darken the areas of shadow. I mentioned copal before, it is the medium that makes the oil wash work. It thins the paint and also quickens drying time. Mix the copal into your oil paint with a palette knife until it feels like soft butter. With a large brush, cover the whole canvas with the mixture. Next, begin taking out your light areas with a rag dipped in mineral spirits. You can rub off just a little bit of paint, or all of the paint back down to the white canvas. You are erasing out the light areas, leaving the midtones, and adding more paint to the dark areas.
Using the rag and brushes (for more detailed areas) dipped in mineral spirits is my favorite step in this process. You can work in large areas and very quickly see the form appearing. For darkening your shadows, use a brush and oil paint without copal in it.
You will find that using too much mineral spirits causes runs, but this can be used to create an awesome effect on the background. Experiment with the copal, paint, mineral spirits, rags, paper towels, brushes, fingers, anything! If you do not like what you have done on your canvas, wipe it off or add more paint and try something new. With this technique you have some very creative, quick options for backgrounds that can strengthen your composition.
The workability time for this technique is about one day, but that is not a problem because you will find that once you get your pencil drawing finished, you will only need maybe five or six hours to complete the piece. If you start in the afternoon of one day, you should be able to touch up those problems that your eye finds on a second look the next morning.

This is another oil wash portrait I did just this summer of another good friend of mine. The color difference is because I added more ultramarine blue into my burnt sienna paint. For those of you "non-artists" I'm sure you think it's just beautiful. But for those of you who are artists you may notice that it looks a little off, it's in the right eye and eyebrow (left side of painting). Too bad I didn't take the time to notice or fix it at the time, because now it's too late to fix. So my suggestion- Do the pencil drawing, and come back to it the next day with a fresh look and make sure it's all spot on. And then be careful to keep the integrity of the drawing when you apply the paint. When you come back to a drawing you always clearly see the issues with it, so take advantage of the fact and don't be lazy or rush!

-Julia