Oils v's Acrylics #2

Four months into my new adventure of using oils and I'm still undecided whether I prefer them to using acrylics. Looking at the end results and comparing paintings done in each, there is not a great deal of difference. I notice the difference mostly in the skies I paint, clouds especially. It's only one real difference that I see but it's an important one. Most of my paintings have skies in them, so it's worth making the switch if only just for that. I'm finding that the paintings done in oils are more luminous but less 'brash'. Brighter yet softer.

When working wet into wet, it's possible to blur the edges of things, a technique almost impossible in acrylics. This would have to be done using dry brush after the background is dry and the finish would look less subtle than with achieving this effect in oils.

The thing I don't much like with oil painting is the drying time. In the past when I used oils, I used quick drying medium but I didn't like the shiney effect it left on the surface. this time round I'm using just pure oil paint with only a very small amount of white spirit for the first layer. This is obviously slowing down the drying time so I'm having to work on three paintings at a time. Even though with acrylics I didn't like the stress of having to use up the paint on my pallett too quickly, the advantage was that I could just concentrate on one painting at a time. I felt more 'connected' with each piece and I think this made the paintings work better on an emotional level, if this doesn't sound too ridiculous! I find myself flitting from one mood to another with the content of each piece I'm working on in oils and my energy is more scattered. Plus I have to keep changing the music I'm listening to which doesn't help the flow atall!

I won't give up just yet though, I'm quite happy with my recent work so all is not lost.