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When I was fifteen years old my mother took me to an oil painting class with her.  I had drawn as a child but had never painting.  I was intrigued with what I could produce with color and took up oil painting.  Because of a busy schedule with my schooling and part time work I didn't have a lot of time to paint but I always enjoy it when I could set aside some time to do so.  Over the next few years I did several paintings - most of them fairly large.  I was even asked to do a commission painting of Mt. Rainier for someon whom saw and liked my work.

 As I grew older, married, and had several children I no longer had time to paint.  I had a large family and a small house with nowhere to keep wet oil paintings out of reach of little fingers, so painting was out of the question.

In 1988 I attended an art show featuring the watercolor paintings of Stan Miller and knew I had to learn to paint in the wonderful medium of watercolor.  It was the perfect solution to my problem of space for drying paintings.  I could paint, blow dry the work I had done, and put the painting out of the way of little people.

There doesn't seem to be the respect in the art world for watercolor paintings that there are for oils.  Watercolor painting is not usually taught in art schools unless it is touched on in classes that focus on experimentation in different mediums.  Robert Salazar, co-chair of the painting department at Maryland Institute College of Art who says he can't remember when a watercolor class was taught had this to say: “My supposition is that watercolors—how should I say this in a way that doesn’t sound completely pejorative—is seen as something for little old ladies, not to insult little old ladies.  The type of painting encouraged at the school is “grittier, dirtier, faster, more assemblage-like, and watercolor doesn’t allow that. With watercolors, you need to be more patient, more in control.”

Personally I like both types of paintings equally.  I love the richness of oil paintings and I feel equally as strong about the vibrancy of watercolors.  I am not sure who painted the paintings below but the one on the left is in watercolor and the one on the right is oil.

There is a freshness and vibrancy in the watercolor painting and a richness in the oil painting featured above.  Watercolors are transparent and allow the white of the paper to shine through whereas oils are opaque.

The history of watercolor painting dates back perhaps to cave paintings.  The early Baroque painters used watercolors usually for their sketches and German painter Albrecht Drurer is thought to be one of the earliest advocates of watercolor painting.  He painted several wildlife, botanical, and landscape paintings in watercolor.  Below are two of his watercolor paintings.

Oil paints were used for Bhuddist paintings sometime between the fifth and tenth centuries but didn't gain popularity until the fifteenth century.  By the height of the Renaissance oil painting had pretty much replaced tempera painting.

Pigments are mixed with a binding oil of some kind such as linseed, poppy seed, or walnut oils to create oil paints.  The drying time of an oil painting is usually one to three weeks whereas watercolor paintings usually dry within one to two days.  

One of the most famous oil paintings is that of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci.  The painting is believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506 but Leonardo may not have finished it until several years later.  Speculation is that it is a portrait of Lisa Gherardini and was painted on a white Lombardy poplarpanel.  The painting is on permanent display at the Louvre in Paris, France, where is has hung since 1797.

Both oil painting and watercolor painting have long, rich histories and whether you prefer one over the other I hope you will take some time to enjoy both styles of painting.  I am sure you will find something in each medium that you can admire.