Now oil painting is essentially a medium that uses a pigment processed through the drying medium of oil. More generally it uses canvas as a surface. In fact canvas and oil are the most celebrated surface and medium in the world. Oil paintings thrive on using canvas made from linen or cotton and the modern painters unlike painters from the past use the texture of the canvas to contrast the oil paint.

Figurative oil paintings are a more modern representation of the art form. It uses figures as an expression of human emotions. The contours are given a wide range through the use of oil. In fact, figurative oil paintings are many layered. The under layering is done through turpentine oil. Figurative oil paintings use the innate expression of human form to come with the right kind of emotional mix.

Canvas used for such paintings are coated with primer. This is because cotton tends to stretch a lot in natural forms thus stretching the contours of the figure. Nude and semi-nude portraits rely heavily on proportion. In the event of undue stretching, the figures get distorted. Most of the original figurative oil paintings are supplied mounted on a non-reflective glass. Artworks can be framed or unframed depending upon the needs established by a painter’s work.

Figurative oil paintings have been a rage. The work of oil on canvas through bold strokes from a hog’s bristle and soft strokes from miniver usually helps in putting acute symmetry in place. This helps a painting attain just the right kind of spirit. Figurative oil painting is a niche genre that has been established relatively late on the scene. At the same time, experimentations were being done even in the renaissance period.

In those times, oil medium was prepared by boiling a mixture of linseed and resin. This resulted in creating the right kind of varnish. The figurative oil paintings made through this were passed through many layers. The oil paintings do not dry very quickly and hence the creators of figurative oil paintings need to be very perseverant. A shade applied over existing shade can mar the effect completely unless it dries out.

Figurative oil paintings can be subtly erotic and tastefully sensual. Anatomical precision is sought more than anything else while making these kinds of paintings. A connoisseur can very quickly find the loopholes for such paintings if there are any.

The difficult part in searching the mistakes is that you have to wait till the painting gets dried up as damages will take time to appear. Cracking can occur if the painting takes longer time to dry. Sinking is one of the most destructive and common effects you can see in an improper oil painting. This happens when the oil from the paint evaporates too fast and makes the layer sink into the above layer. You require oiling out, which is a process to rectify this defect. It doesn’t create only cracking on the painting surface, but also generates blotchy and uneven finishing on the painting.

The main reason of a dull finish in the painting is the improper ratio of drying oils in paint and solvents. Generally, it happens when the amount of solvent is more in the painting. Make sure to use prime oil paint for avoiding this kind of sinking effect in your art work. The good news is that the oiling out process is available to regain the sheen of your painting surface. In this process, all the mediums like in-seed oil, are rubbed on the dull areas. If you apply this process gently, then you will surely get the sheen on the surface of your painting once again.

Cracking is one of the defects you generally find in oil paintings. This defect occurs because the bottom layer of the painting contains more drying oil as compared to the top layer. In case the top layer contains too many solvents then it will dry very fast and become more brittle than bottom layer. To avoid this defect make sure you apply the paint properly on all the layers and give proper time to them to dry.