Oil Paint Drying Time On Wood

Artist oil paint on untreated wood will react to the wood and over time the wood will start to rot and deteriorate.

Oil paint drying time on wood.

The amount of oil used in your painting and the oil to color ratio is also a very important factor in the drying time of your paints. If you re using oil based paint on indoor trim doors and cabinets the recoat time differs from water based paint. Paints made from linseed oil can speed your painting s drying time significantly and they re easily found at most art supply stores. However you would not want to paint on plain wood or metal without good surface preparation and a sealer and primer coat of gesso first.

Recoat time for oil based paint. A flat surface such as board ensures the paint is evenly dispersed and dried. Linseed oil paint dry time faq. Oil based paint may feel dry two to four hours after it s applied.

The less the amount of oil used as in the thinner the paint layer is the faster it will dry. Oil paint on textured canvas tends to dry more slowly as thicker globs of paint fill the crevices of the canvas. Dry time depends on ambient temperature access to ventilation how open the wood grain is how absorbent the substrate is and how thick the paint is applied etc. On a properly prepared wood or metal surface oil paint will dry the same as on canvas.

As you can see there are many methods of speeding up drying time for oil paintings. Look for paints made with linseed oil. This is one of the reasons why oil paint is so widely used by artists. Applying the linseed oil paint with a rag to avoid brush strokes can reduce dry time too as you apply thinner coats this way.

Because of this you have much more time to manipulate oil paint on your canvas before it dries. Oil paint is inherently slow drying compared to the other painting mediums such as acrylic watercolor or gouache paints.