I just finished the first coat of my oil painting! And it was very easy!
I spent so long obsessively preparing and reading that when I finally got started I knew pretty much what I was doing, and everything went smoothly. So smoothly in fact, that this first single-coat underpainting alone is one of my best ever pieces! Hope it doesn't go downhill from here...

One very useful piece of advice I used was to embrace the nature of the paint, and use it to my benefit - taking advantage of the amount of time it stays wet, heaping it up and pushing it about, instead of being it's hostage and freaking out because it's a bit less than pinpoint precise (at this stage anyway) when compared to a sharp pencil or pen. I guess this painting is going to be all about the layers... if it fully dries and I can manipulate the next layer in a similar way... wow! I'm having to plan ahead with this artwork - not used to that.

It was actually relatively fun, because unlike acrylic or water-colour, corrections were easy, I didn't have to hurry about drying, and it was very fluid. I was dubious about hog's hair brushes - and the use of flats. When I was a kid at school I usually used rounds, and only really used flat brushes when I was trying to make chunky visible strokes. Well today I learnt how to use a flat in a more interesting way - with the edge, the corners, etc. And I also found that they were good for coverage. I also found my pallet knives really useful. In the past I only had one and it was sort of tokenistic, but this time they had a point.

Apologies for sounding like a moron, but all this is new to me, and I'm discovering it as I go.

I can now see why oil is considered a good medium, it does have some great benefits! It's even easier to clean my brushes properly, unlike with other fast drying paints! It's all about knowledge, resources and preparation. I suppose there is indeed a case to argue it's in some ways a more ' professional ' medium.

Now, I just hope I don't lose it when I apply the next layer! Plus, I'm gonna have to wait, because it needs to be dry...