How long does it take oil paints to dry?

I used my oil paints on Oil canvas and it's been an entire day and they are wet as if i just barrely painted itHow long does it take oil paints to dry?
I have heard that deep down, thick impastos like Van Gogh produced over a hundred years ago STILL have not completely cured. 6 to 12 months are the ';on the street'; estimate for most oil works before you varnish though. I do portraits and I paint real thin with glazes over thin underpaintings. I go back to the client and varnish at 6 - 12 monts. If you mean when do you paint over your massed in color, I usually wait until it is dry to touch - usually a couple of days. I also add dryers like Liquin or Quick Dry to enhance drying time. When it is completely dry to touch you can spray the canvas with retouch varnish or just ';oil it up'; with linseed oil or a medium so that the colors you add on top merge in with the dry stuff and look like you blended it in wet on wet. That way it doesn't look like the new layer was ';cut out and glued on top';. It merges in and becomes one with the work you did underneath. Dang, there's a lot to learn in the art process....How long does it take oil paints to dry?
From my experience I would say that it depends on how much linseed oil you mix in with the paint. The more oil, the thinner the paint is, but the longer it takes to fully cure. It could range in time from 6 months to 1 year under ideal conditions of temperature and humidity. I suggest you wait 1 year before using any kind of varnish over the painting.


I have seen some impatient artist use a handheld hair dryer to speed the process along, but too much of THAT can also cause the canvas or board to dry unevenly or even warp out of shape.


It's for these reasons that I switched to water based paints years ago....but that too causes problems with the paint drying too quickly.
It can take upwards of a few weeks for it to be dry to the touch. Set it somewhere out of the way like on a shelf in a closet where nothing is bound to rub up against it accidentally (like a fluffy, white haired cat in my real life lesson)





Otherwise, be patient.
It can take 6-12 months for oil to completely dry, it allows you to make changes and the colors can take on a life of their own. Museum oils are not technically dry.
forever and a day....

web hosting forum