Painting the Traditional Way – Part 4 – When Should You Paint the Background in Oils? by Damian Osborne   After painting ‘the Dead Layer’ in the previous post, and refining the anatomy of the figure, I had to start on painting the background. But when should you paint the background in oils?   When should you paint the background in oils? Sometimes, depending on the composition of the painting, it may be necessary to paint the background in oils before the main subject or the foreground objects. If you paint the background before the foreground, you are able…