My Love-Hate Relationship With Oils

I've been using oil as my main medium for 7 years now. I love it for being thick and creamy, can create textures easily, the effects on the strokes, takes days to dry, and proven to last for centuries. I also hate it for the same reasons lol.

I love it for being thick but at the same time, I hate it too. I love my paintings to be covered entirely by paint. The advantage is that with only one layer, it is already thick enough (in my own standards). The thing that I don't like is that I have to be careful with applying it because it will be thick enough that if I made a mistake, I will need to wait for it to completely harden before I could correct the mistake.

What if you just use a thinner to dilute the paint?

I don't like the smell. Chemicals used along with oils have a horrible smell. It is extremely harmful to your health that you need to have a well-ventilated area when using it. When I first tried using oils, I remember someone beside me used turpentine. I was 15 and knew nothing about it so I didn't complain or anything. about 15 minutes later I noticed I was having a hard time with breathing and needed to go outside for some fresh air. So yeah, never going back to that experience and since then I only just use linseed oil, sometimes with no linseed oil at all.

But okay then, just wait for oil to dry/harden?

I'm losing that patience. XD One of the reasons I have worries with making a mistake is because I know it will take me days before I could correct it. And I think that's what's missing in my process. I need to have ease and I need to stop worrying.

Why not just use other mediums

I have been planning to shift to acrylic paint as my main medium for years now. Acrylic is water-based, non-toxic, nose-friendly, can dry easily, and is plastic-ish. These are the things that I like. The reason why I'm not shifting to it yet is because they are completely different. I don't know, to me, they are completely black and white in my opinion. I have tried other water-based medium but I have no problems with them. Maybe it's cos I'm trying to do the same techniques that I do with oils. Other artists are fine with it, but personally I still can't find my own way to tame the beast lol.

Another reason is cos acrylic isn't proven to last for a century yet. Well, of course, I want my works to last for centuries. But who knows, it might still last. We have technology anyway.

My main point, I will switch to acrylic because it is easier for my style which involves a lot of layers. I will go crazy with the 'freedom' for sure.

Also, that's a work-in-progress photo of what I'm painting now. I am still using oil, and I am quite pissed that I have to wait for it to harden (that's why I'm writing the post now lol) that's why it's also really messy now. Pretty sure my shadow is incorrect but who cares. XD

And yeah, I posted the study here before. The idea came from the toilet :P