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I was painting with oils around the age of ten.I also did colored pencil, in high school, as well as oil. After my children were born I still did a lot of colored pencil portraits, a few watercolors, many colored pen & ink drawings, then several years of egg tempera.
I got tired of the tiny little lines and the hard edges, and started doing pastel in the hope that it would loosen me up. Eventually I found pastel to be difficult to store, transport, and frame. Now that I have a studio and enough money to spend on painting supplies and good linen panels with lead primer, I find oil to be easier to work with.
It's easy to store, transport and frame. I have learned so much about how to use oil in the last two years that I now really love it. I never really knew how to use it properly until just recently. Many little details make a huge difference between success or failure in oil. I just never had any knowledge of what to do before the internet.
I have two favorite mediums. One is: two parts black oil, one part double mastic varnish, one part turpentine.
Second favorite is: three parts unrefined Loriva walnut oil, and one part siccative de Courtrai.
I make my own linen/canvas panels, primed with white lead primer from New York Central Art Supply.
When I do pastel drawings I use Wallis Belgian Gray paper and a variety of pastels, starting with Conte' pencils and going softer in subsequent layers. I do use a little Grumbacher workable fixative.
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