I have painted with acrylics for years and am about to venture into oil, what will I encounter? I like to do splatter paintings on canvas and have no idea how this will work with oil art, I'm open to suggestions, please?

I admit I haven't exactly been trying to sell anything, but for what it's worth I doubt most people wanting to buy a painting ask first if it's oil or not. Just the average person passing by a seller who has a stand up at some craft fair, anyway, is going to be interested if they like what they see and can afford the painting. I do know this... oil and acrylic or drastically different, and do not always lend themselves well to the same techniques. I work in acrylic and I don't see why it should matter. I have to believe that people expect certain types of paints to be used for certain techniques. Acrylic can be adapted to other paint styles, but there are styles that only work with acrylic, or work best with it. I use an air-brush thinner to create what is almost a wash, usually using filberts and dagger shaders, and layer on my color, and there's no other medium I know that would allow me to do that without removing paint each time I add.

oil vs acrylic is an art snob thing nothing more. There are a lot of differences between oil and acrylics, smell, cleanup, drying time, color change are just a few. The best place I know for your answer is www.wetcanvas.com its an artist forum for all mediums and artists of all skill levels

If you like to splatter paint, try house paint. It worked for Pollock.

You can expect longer drying time for one thing.

oh yeah! to clean, soak your brushes in a paint cleaner and then clean using liquid dishwashing soap, a launderer's soap called Fels Nappa, or baby oil. Baby oil will help to keep your hands from drying out. also, don't let your brushes soak too long, or you'll ruin them; clean them as soon as your done. you don't want to ruin an expensive brush.

i've never really used acrylics, only oils and water colors. like choko-ale said, for splattering you can thin it down using a lot of things like linseed oil, linquin, or any sort of paint cleaner, turpentine or mineral spirits being the smelliest and more toxic, or gamsol, being much cleaner and safer to use. any time i've splattered with them, i don't get a lot of consistency--some parts will be blobby, others runny. if i use a lot of linseed oil, i get some nice drips. if you want to go for all out violet splattering, maybe you should put your paint down, let it dry for a bit (a few hours or a day; it won't be completely dry for 6 months to a year), then swab your brush or rags in turpentine/mineral spirits, and sling it all around. gamsol isn't quite as effective as the smellier, unhealthier options; i'm not sure why. another thing you can do instead of straight up splattering is experimenting with rubbing down your painting with rags, paper towels, plastic bags, etc. and then painting over areas. you can also get some nice drips by incorporating spraypaint into your oils. so far when i've done this the spray paint and oils have worked nicely together. oils, like acrylics, can be really toxic depending on what you buy--a color or a hue. you might want to use gloves or a mask while painting depending on your ventilation. they're wonderful for blending. you can use any amount of thickness or thinness, and since they take forever to dry, you can always go back and make changes. natural hair brushes are better for oils, synthetic brushes for acrylic. natural brushes are way expensive, so if you can settle for a really good synthetic brush made primarily for oils, that'd be good. oils can be really messy if you're not careful, showing up on your favorite sweater when you least expected it, so be careful. all in all, they're great for just about anything you want to do, even mixed media. when they dry, they don't turn into a solid plastic like acrylics, so it's good to seal them with an oil varnish--keep them clean and protected. just write any time you have any specific questions and i'll tell you what i've experienced.

I too have painted with acrylics for many years and the reason might be something that you haven't considered. You will be using chemicals instead of plain old water. I have asthma and the solvents used with oils would probably kill me, also, cleaning up is a heckava lot easier with water than turpentine. That being said, let me walk you through what to expect. You can do spatter painting but you will need to do it on the horizontal. Easel painting/spatter would probably run. Use turpenol instead of turpentine as it dries faster. Orange oil binds quicker and solider than the traditional oils and there is always the option of using drying agents. The best thing that you can do to get a real good heads up is go to www.dickblick.com (dick blick art supplies) where they list and explain the purpose of everything they sell. You should get a good idea of what you need and how much it will cost. Oh, don't forget, you'll need new brushes too. Good luck to you and many happy hours of painting!!

I also use acrylics, and poster-paint (not sure of english name) and find oil painting to be way to slow drying. I`m not splashing, but I`m sort of impatient. Guess it`s the same with splashing, that you need it to dry quickly.

Oils are thicker, so I don't know if you'll be able to splatter oils. You can thin it with a bit of solvent, but if you over do it it will become translucent which is not as cool unless it's the effect you're looking for. I wouldn't use oils for that, but well, you could always try and tell us how it went!