There are no hard and fast requirements for any creative endeavor. Oil painting is no exception. Any artist will tell you to find your style, dive in, and do what feels good, whether you’re painting with oil, acrylic, or watercolor mediums.
There is no rule on how many coats/layers are necessary for an oil painting. The base coat may have only two, but eyes or flower petals may have ten or twelve. Additional coats/layers add the details of beautiful oil paintings. However, in oil painting, two coats or layers are the minimum number needed to achieve deep, rich color, texture, and detail. Extra layers add depth and dimension to the finished work. The two-coat method is Alla Prima, which translates to “at first attempt”. It’s often called direct painting or wet on wet.
I will explain some of the basics of layering in oil painting and an alternative technique that requires zero drying time between layers. So let’s start, Does Oil Paint Always Need Two Coats? We will go by the rules first, pass through the amount of time you should let your painting dry between layers, and more about the style.
Table of Contents
Rules for Adding Coats of Oil Paint
As with any creative process, there are basic rules
regarding the medium you use to paint. Oil painting has three rules on adding coats or layers. Follow these layering rules to reduce the risk of your oil paint cracking during the drying process.
- Fat over lean – When layering or applying additional coats of oil paint, each layer must be more flexible, thicker, and slower in drying than the previous one. This is accomplished by adding more fat or oil to the paint.
- Thick over thin – Keep the lower layers of your painting thin and fast-drying, and apply thicker layers to the upper layer. Thin layers on top of thick ones will eventually flake off.
- Slow drying over fast drying – Oil paint dries through a chemical reaction called oxidation and not by evaporation like water-based paint. Try and avoid applying a fast drying layer over a slow drying layer because the paint might crack.
Remember, the goal here is to apply thinner oil paint on the bottom layers and thicker paint as you lay on the subsequent layers. This way, the thicker layers of paint will remain more flexible and intact as the thinner layers dry.
Drying Time Between Coats/Layers
Because oil paint contains an oil base, it dries much more slowly than acrylic and watercolor paint. To avoid muddy color mixing, you need to allow some drying time between coats or layers of paint.
Note that drying could take several days. Fortunately, you have some level of control over the speed in which your oil paint dries. While chemical elements, air flow and weather conditions affect drying times, they can often be manipulated to speed up the drying process.
The drying time between coats/layers is determined by several factors. Some of them include the following:
- Oils – The addition of more oil or fat to an oil paint base is a common practice used to slow down the drying process and offer a bit more control over the paint. Cold-pressed linseed oil is the fastest drying oil.
- Solvents – Solvents have several uses in oil painting. They are used to clean brushes and painting supplies as well as thin the paints. Add a low odor, artist mineral spirit to your supply list.
- Air Flow – As oil paint dries, it takes oxygen from the air. As such, working in a well-ventilated room will enable the oil paint layers to dry more quickly.
- Weather – Weather impacts oil paint drying time. Drying an oil painting in a warm, dry (low humidity), well-circulated (slightly windy), sun-filled room will accelerate the drying time between layers.
The balance of oils, solvents, air circulation, and good old weather is the science behind determining oil paint drying time. Generally, you should expect drying between layers to take anything between a day to several days.
The drying time between layers/coats is the primary reason oil painting can be a very long process. That said, patience is a virtue, and you will need to find yours. If you paint too soon, on a layer that is not dry enough, the coats may crack and the paint smears, leaving you terribly unhappy and disheartened.
However, suppose patience is not one of your many virtues. In that case, there is an oil painting style that does not require a lot of patience. What’s more, you can complete it in a single sitting!
Alla Prima Style – Wet on Wet
The Alla Prima painting style is also called direct painting or wet–on–wet. This technique is perfect for those who love to play fast and loose with a brush and paint and want to finish a painting in as little as half an hour. Alleluia!
This painting technique focuses on color block painting and lets the details be damned. It was a favorite technique of both Van Gogh and Monet. If these painters are too much of a stretch, how about this famous Alla Prima painter – Bob Ross. If it’s good enough for these three, it’s good enough for me.
Excellent examples from each artist are widely copied today by artists at different levels. For instance, Van Gogh’s most famous Alla Prima painting is Starry Night. Monet’s beautiful Water Lilies painting is quite inspiring, plus it’s done in the Alla Prima technique. Also, Bob Ross made his mark on the world with this wet–on–wet method featured in the solitude of the Northern Lights.
Final Words
Oil painting is a beautiful mastery of light and shadow, detail and dimension, patience and bravery. Don’t let these heady words scare you from this medium. Oil painting is also very forgiving and allows for plenty of re-dos.
In oil painting, the layering technique allows you to fine-tune the details, thereby creating deep contrasts and dramatic lights. Conversely, the Alla Prima technique will let your wild painter beast out of its cage and indulge in the freedom. Both methods are good for the soul.
So ready your paints, solvents, oils, canvas, and brushes and immerse fully into this timeless medium.
Sources
- Wayback Machine: The Oil Colour Book – Winsor and Newton
- Art In Context: How Long Does Oil Paint Take to Dry? – A Guide on Drying Oil Paint