Tips for beginners: Handy Hints

Here are a few tips on ways I have found to make the oil painting experience easier, cleaner and less costly and wasteful.

1. Use washing up liquid to clean oil paint off yourself.

Remember that you don't need to use harsh White Spirit to get paint smudges off your hands. Washing up liquid (detergent) will work just as well. You could also buy these specially formulated, non-toxic wipes and soap to do the job (Right: Colourfull Art Wipes and Master's Soap)

2. Wipe your brushes before immersing them.

You'll find that using Artists' White Spirit or turpentine to dilute your colours and, particularly, DIY store White Spirit to clean your brushes in between colours, can get expensive. The liquids will quickly get muddy from the paint and eventually will be too saturated with paint, and no longer usable. To slow this process, wipe each brush on an old rag or piece of kitchen paper before you put it in the spirits, to get off the worst excess of paint.

3. Recycle your turps and White Spirit.

This is a way to make your spirits last much, much longer. When you come back to your painting ready to start work again, take a look at your jars of spirits. If you have left it overnight you will see that the paint sediment has sunk to the bottom, leaving clear liquid on top. It may be a little yellowy, but will be perfectly good for diluting any colour that isn't very pale or of course for cleaning brushes with. Gently tip the clear liquid on the top of the jar into another container - straining it through a coffee filter or piece of kitchen roll if you like to refine it further. Throw away the paint sediment left on the bottom of your jar and pour your reserved spirits back in.
You can even keep three jars on the go - leave the liquid you've skimmed off for a night and then follow the process again transferring it to another jar.

4. Use a 'tear-off' palette and save yourself having to scrape and clean of old, dried paint.

But to make each page last longer, use your palette knife to scrape off any patches of muddy paint you don't need any more, and give it a wipe with a piece of kitchen paper dipped in White Spirit. Otherwise you'll find that you quickly run out of space on your palette

5. Keep dust off your painting.

One problem I experienced is that dust tends to settle on a painting that's left out to dry and sticks to the paint. It's better therefore to prop your painting up to dry rather than leaving it flat. You could also buy one or two sheets of 'foamboard' or 'foamcore' from an art shop (below - it costs about £5-7 per sheet) and make yourself a flattish box just deep enough to contain a painting. Put the top on overnight and this will keep nearly all dust off your painting. Foamboard is ideal for such a purpose as it's easy to cut with a steel rule and craft knife and it's as light as a feather. Use PVA or wood glue to stick it together or just pin it with dressmakers' pins.

6. Don't squeeze too much paint out onto your palette initially.

Remember that colours like reds and blues tend to go an awful long way in a mixture - I've noticed that these are the colours I seem to waste most of. But out a tiny dab at first, and you can always add more as and when you need to.

7. Store mixtures of paint in miniature jars with water on top.

If you've mixed up a very large batch of a colour and want to keep it for a while, clean out a miniature jam pot or other condiment, and scrape the paint into it. If the paint doesn't reach the top of the jar, add a layer of water which will stop any air from getting to the paint and beginning the oxidization process. You can just pour this off when you are ready to start painting with it again.

See also:
Oil Painting Tips: Materials
Oil Painting Tips: Techniques

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