Beginner's Guide to Oil Painting

I decided to keep up my theme of favorites to introduce myself a bit to you all. This post is no different. Today I wanted to discuss art. I tried to figure out which “favorite” I would talk about… my favorite artist? My favorite art piece? But finally settled on my favorite medium to use… oils. I absolutely adore oil paints. They are forgiving, bright, creamy and relatively easy! I’ve completed a few pieces now but I have a million more ideas brewing. I tend to keep everything (including my fashion & interior design ideas) in a very happy color palette. I lean towards pink [a lot of pink], mint green, lavender, turquoise, light yellow and peach/coral. I love to take old, donated paintings and paint over them to give them new life. I add things; remove things in a way… whatever it takes to reignite the creativity in the piece. It’s very similar to redecorating a room. You see the setup, the original concept, and then you update it, decorate it. It’s a lovely process and I will be sure to include a step by step here the next time I start one!

As I stated before, oils are very forgiving. I find people are quite intimidated by them but some basic beginner’s information makes all the difference in the world. Here are some beginner’s tips for those of you that feel like experimenting:

1.       Oil kits tend to have lower quality paint. This means that you lose the thickness of the paint and it tends to go on the canvas less smoothly and much thinner. Invest in some individual tubes of paint. They are pretty small (except for the white) so they will not take up too much room and you really just need the following colors to start… white (large tube), alizarin crimson, cadmium red, cadmium yellow, ultramarine, yellow ochre, burnt sienna and raw umber. These colors will allow you to do almost anything you want!

2.       It does not take much paint on your palette so be reserved. I recommend using no more than about a dime size of the paint. Now, the reason for this is that you rarely use straight paint. You either mix it with other colors or you mix it with white. I am always quite liberal with my white paint, starting with a nice ping pong ball sized dollop because you will use it for various color combos. 

3.       Mix your paints from dark to light. For example, take a third of your dime size amount of ultramarine. Add a good nickel size helping of your white and mix it with your palette knife. Then take a third of this amount and add more white… do you see what I mean? Give yourself gradation. You will only need a smidge of your darkest color and just a bit more of your very lightest… the hues in between will need more because you’ll use these to do most of your coverage.

4.       Start painting with your darkest colors and work your way towards the highlights. You don’t need to cover your full canvas in the darkest of your colors. Just hit the areas that are going to remain the darkest. Then you can begin the coverage of your canvas by the medium value. Play with it though; if you feel that spots need some darkness, don’t be afraid to add it. Keep in mind though that it’s a harder to darken big areas then it is to lighten them.

5.       Turpentine is your friend. Its first job is to act as paint thinner. If your paint is not going on smoothly, dip your brush in the turp, dry it out a bit on your paper towel and then try again. Feel free to play with it, the more turp you have on your brush, the thinner your paint. The most important thing to know though is that turpentine is your eraser. As long as your paint is wet, you can dunk your brush in the turp, smear it over the areas you don’t want [be careful, it runs!] and then wipe with paper towel.

There ya go, the basics of using oils! If you decide to try them, please leave me a comment to let me know how it went or let me know if you have any questions!

Let's Get This Started

It was suggested that I begin my blog, The Retro Rambler, by telling you about myself but I’ve found that I cannot. I can’t tell you who I am because I don’t quite know yet and that’s okay. I am 26 years old and still trying to find myself; I know 60 year olds that are too. I come from two very different types of people; I am half Hispanic on my mom’s side with a huge, loving, LOUD family. On the other hand, I am also half Middle America, not so loud, not so huge, white, but just as loving family on my dad’s side. They met in Denver while my mom was finishing up her degree. What brought them together was creativity and it’s a gift I feel they shared with me. As you can imagine, they come from two different worlds. My dad grew up on casseroles and Tolkein novels while my mom lived off beans, chile and dancing to Waylon Jennings. My dad’s side of the family is pretty reserved and my mom’s family is chaotic. Both sides of my family are polar opposites and I love them equally for that. I was luckily enough to come from two lines of creative souls, from painters to carpenters, graphic designers to quilters. They all taught me how to appreciate the beauty in aged architecture, retro fashion, modern lines and really good food! 

I have also been blessed with an opportunity to experience a variety of places and cultures. I lived in Ruidoso, New Mexico for most of my life which was immediate exposure to a large Hispanic culture, as well as a beautiful narrative of Native American traditions. Post-graduation I found myself living in 7 different states over a 5 year span, from the Southwest to the Northeast; not to mention the amazing places I got to explore in between. 

In addition to the family differences and cultural experiences, I have found that being a Millennial causes its own chasm. I remember the world before everyone owned a cell phone, when you had to watch the TV guide channel to know what was showing and your computer (if you were lucky enough to have one) came in a cow print box. However, I’m also part of the generation that catapulted technology. We are the front runners now. This leads to a lovely divide in most of us, myself included. We find ourselves homesteading to get back to our roots but we better be able to post pics of our hard work to Instagram! We battle between rustic design and chic Manhattan apartments. We want to MAKE things but damn, IKEA has some great stuff. We want a simple life but we’re not sure how to handle a life without a really yummy non-fat latte at every turn. 

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t know who I am, you may not know who you are and that is fine! We’ll be on the adventure together. I want to show you what I know and teach you the things that I have learned. I want to show you where I’ve been and where I want to be. I may still be learning but I can tell you that art, writing, interior design, fashion and food will always be the places I find myself.