Sunrise over Cornfield

Sunset over Cornfield, oil on canvas, 8x10 inches. (Thanks to Cassie MacKay for the great photo reference)

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Oils vs. Acrylic

Oil paint... here is the first oil painting I have done in many years.  Despite our long time apart, oils were actually my first painting medium.  I have fond memories of sitting at my grandma Mackay's kitchen table with her oil paints.

Coming back to the present, I decided to start with water-soluble oils so I wouldn't have to worry about solvents.  I'm still on the fence ... oils vs acrylics?  Both have pros and cons.  So far here is my pro/con list:

Acrylics Pros/Oil Cons

• Quick drying allows for easy/timely varnishing of paintings before they are shipped out
• Due to the long drying time of oils (6-12 months to fully dry) - I'm not sure I would be able to varnish before selling.  Also, I am still trying to figure out how long to wait before I could ship them to new customers.  I think a month should suffice for the painting to be dry to the touch. 
• To the best of my understanding, acrylics shouldn't yellow over time.

Oils Pros/Acrylic Cons

• I love the slow drying time of oils - with allows for easier softening of painting edges.  Due to acrylics quick drying time, it's trickier to soften edges (i.e. can end up with too many hard edges in the painting).

I plan to continue experimenting with both oils and acrylic and let time help me decide which will be my primary medium.  If anyone has any thoughts on the oil vs. acrylic debate... drop me a comment below!