When applying oil paint, you primarily use brushes. Different brushes are made from selected synthetic or natural fibers to achieve varied effects. Brushes may be made from miniver, which is squirrel fur, and used for finer details. The size of the brush also affects the detail on the painting. For instance round brushes are pointed and used for detail work, while bright brushes, which are flat ferrule brushes with short length bristles usually made from either mongoose or sable, apply broad swaths of color. Siberian kolinsky and fitch from the polecat are other examples of natural fibers used to make painting brushes. You can use a palette knife, which is a flat metal blade, for mixing colors, direct painting, or removing paint.
The first process of painting is selecting your painting surface. A variety of painting surfaces such as linoleum, pressed wood, wood panel and cardboard are available. However, the most frequently used oil painting surface is canvas. Many famous paintings, for example "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo Da Vinci, were painted on panels. Though panel is a good painting surface, the thickness and weight of the wood limits the size of the painting. Canvas, on the other hand, is stretchable; therefore the size can be adjusted depending on what the artist intends to paint. Transporting canvas is also easy because you can roll it back to a convenient portable size. You can use canvas made from either cotton or linen.
Artists prepare a wooden frame known as a stretcher or strainer to mount the canvas on. You can adjust a stretcher frame, while a strainer is fixated and rigid. You then staple the canvas firmly to the edges of the frame to give the painting stability. Applying a size or ground assists in isolating the canvas from the acidic qualities of paint. Priming the canvas also prepares the surface to accept paint. In previous centuries, artists applied subsequent layers of chalk, gypsum or barium oxide after sizing with rabbit skin glue. Modern-day artists, however, use gesso, a ready-to-use ground, for priming canvases.
Before you paint you need an outline of what you are going to paint. Draw the outline accurately on the canvas to set a guideline for you to paint against. Draw the outline using a brush with few bristles to produce accurate and clear outlines. Use darker shades of paint to draw the outline. Black oil paint is usually preferable when sketching an outline on the canvas.
Use thinners to dilute paint and also to clean palettes and brushes. Turpentine is the most commonly used solvent, which also maintains the texture of oil paints. Using low-odor solvents in a well-ventilated room protects you from harmful fumes. Get the right solvents for artwork from an art supply store, because solvents from a hardware store cause yellowing of paintings. Mixing the solvent and paint in equal proportion prevents overdilution. You can use mediums to increase gloss and transparency, dilute color, avoid overthinning and reduce the time the paint takes to dry.