First attempt with oils

I think this is great for your first attempt with oils, you have some lovely shadows in there 😀

Blimey, David, pretty good for a first attempt.

Wow David that looks so good for your first attempt at oils so well done!

Very good David. Very good.

This is a great start David, old paints or not.

I like the skin tones in this, and it's impressive for an hours work in oils. I think it's a good idea to 'play' for the first attempts, I don't know much about oils, I'll be watching your progress assuming you are continuing with oils. (I find it all too slow and messy...I'm envious of skilled oil painters.)

Lovely portrait David.

Like the shadows and general mood - colour-mixing isn't one of your problems, which will save a lot of time in future. There are one or two points one could make about a few of the shapes, but I suspect you had a little trouble getting the paint to flow - the hair's a little solid, for example. Nothing a bit more oil and a rigger or filbert couldn't put right. Cleaning the brushes - this is no one's favourite task, and certainly not mine: you've told me that you're one of nature's tidiers-up, not wanting to leave tools dirty.... I would suggest though that you don't need to clean the brush between different parts of the painting, or at least not compulsively. Giving it a wipe in kitchen roll is usually enough, or a swish in turps and then squeezing all the moisture out - unless you're going from, say, Pthalo Blue to a yellow or white ... then you need a clean brush or just a different one. It IS a fag, and a bore, to use a large number of brushes and be faced with cleaning the things when you've finished; but if you work in stages, and don't always feel you have to have your brushes surgically clean, you can save much time. Thought about using a painting-knife? Fantastically easy to clean, a bit heavier on the paint. And you tend to leave less paint residue on the palette, because you're scraping it off as you work. If my first oil had looked like this, by the way, I'd have been a happy boy. It, um - didn't. But it was fun.

Thanks for all your comments

Great start David, my first oil was nowhere near this good.

Wow, that's brilliant for a first attempt David well done.

A great first attempt, David.......the skin tones and shadows are superb.

Fantastic job for a first attempt David.