Impasto is a painting technique where you use thick paint to make bold, bumpy textures. You press or drag oil or acrylic paint onto a sturdy canvas or wood panel. The paint stays raised, so you can see each brush or palette knife mark. Artists have loved this style for hundreds of years. For example,…

Painting transparent glass with oil paints means showing how light moves through and bounces off glass, not just drawing the shape. You use old master tricks, starting with an underpainting in one color like burnt umber. This first layer maps shadows and dries in about seven days. Mixing warm and cool colors, such as yellow…

Oil painting has changed a lot over the years. One bold method stands out: the wet-on-wet or alla prima technique. This way, you paint fresh oil paint right on top of wet layers, finishing a painting in one sitting. Artists like Vincent van Gogh and John Singer Sargent made famous works with this method. Van…

Painting snow, ice, and frost with oil paint is a way to make winter scenes come alive. Snow painting means more than just using white—artists mix titanium white, yellow ochre, and a touch of color like permanent alizarin crimson or French ultramarine for real depth. Winsor & Newton Artists Oil Colour works best for mixing…

The gridding method is a simple way to get your drawing right in oil painting. Artists have used it for centuries, even Leonardo da Vinci (pretty cool, right?). The idea is easy: you draw equal squares over both your reference photo and your canvas. This helps you keep everything in the correct size and place.…

Impressionist-style oil painting means using bright colors and loose brushwork to show how light looks in real life. In April 1874, Paris saw the first Impressionist show with artists like Claude Monet, Eugene Boudin, and Camille Pissarro. These painters used special ways to paint; for example, they made “broken color” areas by dabbing on small…

Oil painting can feel like magic, right? You grab a brush, set up your canvas, and use old tricks to make landscapes pop with life. Underpainting is one of those tricks—famous artists like Titian and Jan van Eyck used it hundreds of years ago. It means you start by painting a simple layer in just…

Painting an atmospheric night scene with oil paints means showing how light and dark work together. Artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Leon Battista Alberti started using something called atmospheric perspective back in the Renaissance, all the way in the 1400s. It helps you show depth by making things far away look darker and bluer,…

Painting ocean waves with oil paints means you use thick, slow-drying colors on a canvas to make the water look real and full of energy. Ocean painting is an art style that shows light, shadow, and motion, often inspired by real places like Piha Beach near Auckland, New Zealand. This style has grown in popularity,…

Surreal oil painting means making art that feels dreamy and strange. You use your imagination to mix real things with fake ones, almost like in a dream. Artists have been doing this for more than 100 years! On December 10, 2024, Gareth Evans laid out some cool facts—he even updated the article on May 9,…