Q:When do you decide whether you want to use oils vs acrylics? What do you like/dislike about each? I'm an oil painter and have long been prejudiced against acrylics but I'm starting to think I'm missing out simply because I was never taught how to use them.

non-stick-raven

I wish I could give you a reasonable answer to this question but it’s primarily a mystery even to myself. Though it sounds as if I’m dodging your question by sounding arty-farty, I have to insist it is based on “feel” more than anything else. Some images “feel” as if they should be in oils, and some as if they should exist as acrylics. Sounds silly, I know.

Part of this subjective equation is my comfort level with the media. I feel much more at home using acrylics, so if I’m working on a piece that has a hard and fast deadline associated with it I’ll prefer acrylics simply because I feel more sure that I won’t mess things up––and if I do, I have absolute confidence that there is no error, accident or flaw that I cannot correct seamlessly in that media. I don’t have the same confidence with oils. Thus, you see me using oils more often for sketches and quick loose studies than for finished works, though not always.

Hmm– upon reflection I have to say another consideration for me is the subject matter itself. Oils, being more malleable and slower to dry, seem ideally suited to paintings that feature a lot of water in them, for example. When painting stone and concrete, materials that are hard and have sharp fracture lines,etc., acrylics immediately come to mind.


MRW

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