Waiting for paint to dry…

There are a number of famous quotes about paint drying. In 1959, Geoffrey Warren of the Los Angeles Times wrote that a theatrical presentation of The Shrike was "as exciting as watching paint dry" and in 1969, sports announcer Red Barber warned that, due to the dominance of pitchers over batters, baseball at that time was "as exciting as watching paint dry."

Oil paints can take many hours, days or even weeks to dry depending on the conditions, such as temperature, whether it is indoors or outdoors and if one uses a alkyd based medium with the pigment. If the paint is too runny it will trickle down the picture, so a slightly thicker consistency to ink is required. I find that with a more solid coverage, with a little bit of spirit thinner to help the paint to flow, it can take up to one week to dry. With more spirit it takes about 1 - 2 days to dry.

Some artists wait for each layer to dry before working the same area again, while others paint wet-on-wet. This method requires the use of thinners (sometimes mediums) and not overloading the brush. Also, you need to ensure that there is enough paint on the brush, so that one doesn’t apply it forcefully. As a general rule, one paints fat over lean, as well as dark to light. Starting with the thinner layers. 

To thin your paint, you simply dip your brush into thinner before mixing the colour. For an effective wet-on-wet painting, the paint will need to have a slightly creamy sort of ink consistency.  The thinners help prevent the paint from getting stiff to work. It is best to thin your paint slowly using your best judgement to determine when the paint has reached this stage. You will get to know how much with each colour as you get more experienced. Each colour will vary – but let us not get into density and viscosity here!

- Painting in my studio

Although I often paint wet-on-wet, I also let the paint dry before going onto the next stage, to prevent the colours from becoming mucky and smudgy. This approach allows for crisper and finer details. Also, the paint quite often needs to be built up in layers and the colour underneath can show through, depending on the opacity of the hues being used.

I find that when working on a bigger painting I will move onto different areas of the picture, whilst the aspect that I have just finished is drying. This means I do not have to wait so long to make progress, however, I do take regular breaks to stand back and look at my work with fresh eyes.

I am more of a 'Sur - realist' painter rather than an impressionist, where the paint is often applied loosely, thickly and very quickly. I therefore really enjoy and appreciate working with oil paint, as it slows one down and enables thinking time; to respond to the picture as I progress. Its like a conversation - an intuitive process that helps to avoid overworking.

- Preparatory sketches for oil paintings

When working on medium to smaller oil paintings, I find that I have to leave them to dry before going to the next stage. When this happens, I get on with something else, such as doing preparatory sketches for further paintings or go out plein-air sketching (subject to the weather and daylight), or I produce drawings in Indian ink or in pencil and watercolours. On other occasions, with any upcoming exhibitions, I do my admin, get pictures framed and ready for delivery. This can involve quite a lot of time and work.

- plein-air sketches