Oil Painting Basics – What Every Beginner Needs to Know

Oil painting has been a favourite medium for centuries, chosen by artists from the Old Masters to today’s contemporary painters. Its rich colours, smooth blending, and versatility make it endlessly rewarding. However, it can also feel intimidating for beginners because of the range of materials, slower drying times, and traditional rules like “fat over lean.”

The good news is that once you understand a few simple principles, oil painting becomes a medium full of possibilities. Here are the essentials every beginner should know.

Understanding Mediums

Oil paint straight from the tube can feel thick and sometimes difficult to spread. That’s where mediums come in. A medium is something you mix with the paint to change its behaviour.

• Linseed oil is the most common and makes paint flow more easily while also giving a glossy finish.
• Solvent-based mediums (such as turpentine or odourless mineral spirits) thin the paint, making it dry faster and good for early layers.
• Mixed mediums combine oil and solvent, offering balance between flow, drying time, and transparency.

When you are starting out, it is best to keep things simple. Many beginners work with just linseed oil and a small amount of odourless solvent for brush cleaning.

Drying Times – Patience is Key

One of the defining features of oil paint is its slow drying time. A layer of paint may take days, even weeks, to become touch-dry, depending on thickness and the pigments used. While this can feel frustrating, it also allows for beautiful blending and gradual adjustments that are much harder to achieve with faster-drying mediums like acrylic.

If you need areas to dry more quickly, you can use a fast-drying medium such as Liquin. On the other hand, embrace the slowness when possible—it gives you time to stand back, reflect, and refine your work without rushing.

The Rule of Fat Over Lean

A phrase you will often hear in oil painting is “fat over lean.” This simply means that each new layer of paint should have slightly more oil (fat) in it than the one beneath (lean). Why? Because leaner layers dry more quickly, and fatter layers take longer. If you put a lean layer on top of a fat one, the bottom will still be drying and moving while the top has hardened—this can cause cracking.

In practical terms, start with thinner, solvent-based layers in the early stages, and gradually use richer, oilier paint as you build up. Think of it as a slow journey from sketchy underpainting to luminous, buttery final strokes.

Brush Care – Looking After Your Tools

Good brushes can last for years if treated properly, so it’s worth learning how to care for them from the start.

• Clean thoroughly after every session. For oils, this usually means rinsing first in solvent to loosen the paint, then washing with soap and lukewarm water.
• Never leave brushes sitting in solvent or water. This bends and damages the bristles.
• Reshape while damp and allow them to dry flat or upright with bristles facing up.

Synthetic brushes are affordable and forgiving for beginners, while hog bristle or higher-end brushes can give wonderful texture once you are more experienced.

A Few Final Tips

Oil painting rewards patience and curiosity. Start small, limit your palette to a few colours at first, and focus on building layers gradually. Do not worry about achieving a perfect painting straight away—every session with oils is an opportunity to learn.

If you would like to take your oil painting further, our Oil Painting Certificate Course offers structured tuition and personal feedback from experienced tutors. It is designed to help beginners build confidence with oils, understand traditional techniques, and enjoy experimenting with this timeless medium.

Oil painting may have a reputation for being complex, but its beauty lies in its flexibility. With a little patience, an understanding of mediums, and some care for your brushes, you will soon discover why so many artists fall in love with oils. Every mark you make adds to your experience—and over time, those layers of learning will build just as surely as the layers of paint on your canvas.

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