Nov 11, 2025

One Year Reflection on Oil Painting

I was just realizing the other day as I was planning out my next piece...I've been painting in oil for just over a year now! It was around this time last year that I decided to give it a serious go and see if my watercolor brain could switch over to oil.

I needed more flexibility with my available time to paint, which was during nap time - and if my five month old daughter woke up early from her nap and I was in the middle of a watercolor painting, I would have to walk away and my painting would dry, making it hard (and almost impossible) to go back and pick up where I was or make adjustments.

The slow drying time of oil is what made me seriously consider it last year, whereas before I just got frustrated with the stickiness of the paint, how long it took me to mix colors, and the "backwards" (to me) process of painting dark to light when I was used to going light to dark in watercolor.

Well....I'm so glad I gave this medium a serious chance.

This was my very first oil painting at the beginning of November 2024, and I was so proud of this I immediately framed it and hung it on my gallery wall in my studio. There were moments of frustration I distinctly remember while painting this because it was a completely different way of painting than I was used to, but I pushed through and wanted to learn more after I finished this piece.

As much as I enjoyed the last several years of painting in watercolor, and that discovering watercolor opened the door to becoming an artist, I've had more personal satisfaction with my art practice in the last year painting in oil. The flexibility of the medium allows reworking and correcting of areas to get the right shapes and lights/darks, I can complete paintings over the course of a few sessions if I only have small chunks of time, and most importantly, I'm having more fun. And I'm thrilled with the work I'm now producing.

Don't get me wrong, oil has its frustrations and moments where things just aren't working, and I've wiped off paint from quite a few panels in this past year! But I think painting in oil has improved my skills as an artist and changed how I look at and observe nature. I'm more attuned to how small abstract shapes make up larger forms and the changes in colors and shifting of light, more-so than I ever was when I painted in watercolor.

Will I go back to watercolor? Of course! But I'm just having way too much fun and momentum right now with oil painting :)