Hannah Rachael Hudd

For a long time now, I’ve wanted to try painting with oils but was put off by the fact that it seemed to be far more technical and logistically complicated than working with acrylics. As I don’t have a dedicated studio space where I can paint (yet!), it can be difficult to find a spacious, well-ventilated area to work in and somewhere to leave the pieces out to dry where they won’t gather dust etc.

As well as the logistical considerations, my painting style is naturally quite haphazard – I rarely plan my abstract pieces in advance and like to just play, experiment and see what happens. This approach works well with acrylics – as they dry relatively quickly and are easy to layer. However, my online research revealed that this probably wouldn’t be the best method to attempt with oil painting. The articles that I read and the online tutorials that I watched, all explained that to successfully paint with oils, it’s important to respect the Three Golden Rules…Fat Over Lean, Thick Over Thin, and Slow Drying Over Fast Drying.

Despite all this, my curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to give it a whirl.

I’m still very much in the experimental stage of trying to work out how oils work and getting to grips with the Three Golden Rules – but have been enjoying my initial foray into the world of oil painting!

I’m not quite ready to abandon the acrylics just yet and am already planning my next art adventure exploring ink drawings and watercolours… but will continue playing with oils to see if I can master some of the techniques.

I think Whoosh! is my favourite attempt at oil painting so far – it has metallic gold and silver touches so catches the light and changes throughout the day and evening.

Blazing Skies was an attempt to move away from my obsession with blues and greens and explore new colours! The composition is all off – but it was fun to play with using the oils to create different effects.

Lastly, Scotland – so named because when I turn it around it reminds me of the top of the map of Scotland – was an attempt at applying the oils with a palette knife.

What do you think? Comments welcome 🙂