Watercolor and oil painting reproductions have always had a friendly competition with one another in the art world. At the same time, many replica paintings and painting reproductions use oil paints as their medium of painting. However, many still prefer watercolor for their first painting.
Both of these color methods have their pros and cons. While oil paints require more drying time, watercolors, on the other hand, don’t impart brightness to the canvas. Art reproductions generally prefer oil paints over watercolors, but many hand-painted portraits still go for watercolors.
Dive deep into the world of colors and explore what works the best for you- Watercolors or Oil Paints? After reading this segment, you will know precisely whether it’s a classic oil painting or an original watercolor painting that you should buy next.
What are Oil Colors?
As the name suggests, oil paints are painting colors that contain oil. It’s not that oil is used to paint the canvas. Instead, oil is used as the agent to carry the pigment with which oil painting reproduction is completed. The working principle of oil colors contributes to the fact that it dries slowly after being put on the canvas.
After some time, the pigment remains on the canvas, but the oil dries up. One of the most important characteristics of oil paints is the drying time. The oil paints will never immediately dry straight away, and meanwhile, you will have the time to correct your mistakes if you made any while applying them.
The oil used to curate such vivid oil painting colors are extracted from linseed oil. Then, various pigments are added to the oil so that the pigments, when applied to canvas, cast an oily or glossy kind of impression, which makes them more malleable, bright, and effortless to work with.
If you have an oil painting that is way too dense, then it should be. But then, there are many ways to water it down for its swift application on the canvas. To do so, turpentine or some white spirit is added to the oil paint to achieve its dilute version.
What are Watercolors?
From beginners to avid painters, everyone uses watercolors. They are a special kind of paint consisting of pigments combined with a water-based solution. Like oil paints are mixed with pigment, similarly, in watercolors, pigments are spread over the canvas with the help of water.
It imparts some unique features which are different from that of oil paints. There’s no doubt that water evaporates faster than oil and its drying time is quicker. That means it is more effective and has a smaller room for error.
Watercolors use water as their base, making their results look dimmed and dull. You will never get bright and vivid paintings if watercolors are your palette medium. Oil paints, in this respect, have much liveliness to offer to their canvas, making it all glossy and sharp.
Drying Time
The superlative dominance of oil paints which makes its artist’s first choice is undoubtedly its long drying time. However, no artist won’t make mistakes while oil drawing, and this is where oil paints allow you to constantly tweak to make your art piece the way you want.
It almost takes oil paint to dry, from six months to a year for complete drying. Firstly, the drawing such as painting reproduction will dry off from its surface, and then the layers underneath will start to lose their wetness. The only problem you are likely to suffer while handling oil paint is storing your artwork. You cannot keep the artwork outdoors because dust particles might cling or what if an insect gets stuck over the paint.
On the contrary, since water is the base for watercolors to mix the paints, water has a quick evaporation rate, making its drying very fast. But, while using watercolors, there should be no chance of making mistakes because you won’t have the means to correct them as long as the paint is not stuck to the canvas and there is more color on the palette. You can add some more water strokes and mix it well on the canvas for easy mixing.
Cost, Expenses, and Longevity
Being the most durable and the most exciting of all the colors, oil paints are the most expensive. High expenses for oil paints are also due to the quality of ace pigments used with the oil. These pigments increase the overall budget for purchasing oil painting colors.
Watercolors so far are the least expensive option amongst the two. The reason is that water-based solutions are trouble-free to make because their ingredients are cheaply priced, and it uses the universal base, water, as their medium. Also, watercolors don’t demand additional equipment for their application. Some brushes, a nice canvas, and some rough pieces of cloth are all you need to get set go.
When you take into account the longevity, as well as durability of the two, oil colors, do get some brownie points. They are perhaps the most long-lasting kinds because they prepare to set the canvas for about a year. But, once they are fully embossed in the canvas, they make sure it’s worth the wait.
On the other hand, watercolors are not as long-lasting as oil paints. Although they can last for years, there has to be sheer hard work in preserving them, and proper care must be taken to ensure that watercolors paintings don’t get damaged. Factors such as humidity and the quality of pigments determine how well watercolors can survive the test of time.
The Bottom Line
Reach out to buy the best oil paintings from the 1st Art gallery. You will fall in love with their elusive and elaborate collection, from the best artists to the pre-eminent art gallery reproductions.