I have bought six new paints - nothing out of the ordinary for a painter. For me, however, this is a very special event for which I have been preparing for months. For some time now, I have been studying oil painting again, specifically the Alla Prima technique. What I'm finding increasingly annoying about acrylic paint is that I'm actually forced to paint in layers because the paint dries so quickly. For my further development goals, however, I would like to have more freedom and options for applying the paint. I believe that the alla prima technique with oil paint, in which the colors are usually applied to the still wet surface in one session, could give me more creative freedom and thus better suit my personal painting technique. At least I would like to try to find out with a few tests.
I am not completely inexperienced in oil painting. However, the last time I painted with oil paint was over forty years ago and unfortunately I can no longer fall back on that experience. Back then, I stopped using oil paint because the strong smell of turpentine and the use of solvents for cleaning brushes increasingly bothered me. Today, there are alternative paints that are odorless and there are even professional-quality oil paints that can be diluted with water. This means that nothing stands in the way of switching from acrylic paint back to oil paint.
Actually, I thought it would be wise to postpone this big change until my spring exhibition is over, especially as I should be able to create some more paintings that are worth exhibiting by then. Lately, however, I've been in the middle of the changeover in my mind and I realize that I don't want to wait any longer. And so I am plunging into the new territory of alla prima painting with oil paints, full of enthusiasm but also with a bit of risk.