I haven’t worked with oil paints since I created my final piece for a GCSE art exam, back in school. I created a painting of a corset, for a project called “spirals”. Oils were a great medium for this subject, as I was able to blend the colours to create a depiction of silk on the canvas. I really enjoyed working with this medium at the time, but when I went to College I was absorbed by other mediums, such as gouache and charcoal. At University, our workshops mainly consisted of the use of acrylics, where I first created a landscape. I continued to practice with acrylics throughout my whole time in Aberystwyth. However, recently I have been curious to see what my work would be like using oils.
Oils are a great medium, as they take a lot longer to dry, meaning I can blend and move paint around the canvas. However, this means that it prolongs the time it takes to paint, as I have to wait for the layers of paint to dry. Because of this, I started several oil paintings at once and swapped between them, whilst waiting for paint layers to dry.
Dash Cam Series
I decided to use oils to create a small series, using my car’s Dashcam as reference material for paintings. When driving, I always spot potential compositions for artwork, but I am unable to stop and take a picture. My Dashcam, however, is continuously on during these journeys, and it’s footage would eventually be deleted. I decided to look back at these recorded journeys, to see if the camera had picked up any of these scenes I had been drawn to. The camera had, and although they weren’t great quality, I was inspired to use these images as reference material.
Working with oils again has been really enjoyable, and I will continue to use them in my studio. Although, I am hoping to create more work out on location over the summer, in which I will use acrylics (I find that they are much more suited to working quickly). 😊
Adalia Mynett 