Paintings as such from the ancient times are considered to be a mode by which artists express the beauty which they feel around themselves and thus they present it according to their interpretations. Oil paintings have proven to create a tremendous leap in the creation of the art that looks much realistic and people just groove into the beauty of the oil paintings which have an extremely realistic appearance.

An imaginative and a good artist uses oil paintings as a medium to enhance his piece of work which is created based on his imagination or out of the interpretations which he might have drawn from the objects viewed. A good artist along with his set of oil paintings can add a life to the objects he paints, especially painting on a canvas gives the paintings a three dimensional look. A good and an imaginative artist can make any paintings renowned by adding a pinch of emotion with just a stroke of a brush to the paintings which might be depicting victorious events or the scenic beauty of nature. Artists have this admirable ability to add life to the objects, thus the different interpretations which the artist draw makes us visualize the inanimate objects in a new way.

Now for instance let’s consider a ship which is fighting a terrible storm, an artist possesses the ability to portray the intensity of the nature and thus making us to imagine the fury of nature by viewing the painting. Oil paintings have provided extremely realistic appearances that have added a color to the imaginations of the artist. In 1500A.D the artists made the discovering of making colorful paints by mixing ground natural pigments by using vegetable oil took place. The drying oils which were utilized in the early days were walnut oil, poppy oil, hempseed oil, castor oil and linseed oil. These oils acted as varnishes for protecting the images and thus it helped in the protection of the paintings from damage caused by water. Thus oil paintings are considered as one of the best medium to put into light the frozen thoughts and provide a realistic view to the paintings.

Solvents are added to oil paints for temporary change, they are designed to work in a way such that they evaporate consistently and completely as the oil paint dries. (Technically, the more correct term is diluents, as not all are solvents, but it’s not the term very commonly used.) Solvents are also used to soften resins, making mediums, cleaning up, and also for cleaning brushes. It is very essential to use solvents in a well-ventilated room and you need to remember that they are flammable (catch fire easily).

Turpentine is the traditional solvent used in the oil painting. It’s actually based on tree resin and has a very fast evaporation rate, releasing harmful vapors. It could also be absorbed through healthy skin. Try using only artist quality turpentine as the industrial variety you will find in hardware stores probably contains impurities; it needs to be colorless, like water. It is also known as spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, genuine turpentine, English turpentine, distilled turpentine; double rectified turpentine, or even simply turps.

Mineral spirits is based on pure petroleum and has a moderate evaporation rate, releasing harmful vapors. It is not absorbed through healthy skin like turpentine. Mineral spirits is less expensive than turpentine. Mineral spirits is a stronger solvent than odorless mineral spirits, also called as white spirits.

Odorless mineral spirits is based on petroleum and has a reasonable evaporation rate. It is again not absorbed through healthy skin. It’s quite expensive than normal mineral spirits as it has had some of the harmful perfumed solvents removed. Good brands include Turpenoid, Thin-ex, and Gamsol.

Tip: Test the quality of a solvent by putting a little on a drop of paper and to let it evaporate. If it doesn’t leave any resident, stain, or smell, it needs to be good enough for oil painting.

Resins are used to increase the shine of oil paint, reduce the color, reduce drying time of a medium, and add body to drying oils. The most used one is a natural resin known as Damar that should be mixed with turpentine as it would not thoroughly dissolve when mixed with mineral spirits. Damar could also be used as a varnish.