Why Oil Paint?

Oil Paint was invented in Italy and Greece.  It was invented in the 15th century.  When oil paint was first created, it was a mixture of different types of pigment, and egg.  Jan Van Eyck was very important in the development of oil paint.  He was one of the first people to mix oil paint with pigment.  When he used this medium, and people saw his paintings, they thought it was brilliant.  Oil paint trapped light, and the intensity of the colors and the pigment was much more then tempera paint.  He used this technique because he wanted to make his paintings look very realistic and oil paint helped him achieve this goal.  Unlike the tempera paint, which dried quickly, and was very "plasticky", oil paint dries quickly and makes it so that you can re-work painting, and sections of your painting so that you can have them reach ultimate perfection.  Also, you can paint over colors without losing the color completely behind it.  You can make oil paint thinner or thicker, depending on the mediums you mix in.  Oil paint is a very popular choice in mediums now because artists can re-work their painting numerous times, and you can completely paint over things, or thin the paint so that the color can still shine through another layer of paint.  Oil paint is a medium of perfection.