NGM Blog Central - How to Paint—Crudely—with Oil - National Geographic Magazine

When photo editor Susan Welchman and I were asked to produce a page (above, right) on the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, our first thought—as always—was "What's the picture?" Oil-covered birds? Too predictable.
"Susan," I said, "why don't we make our own oil spill?"
I was only half-joking.

What I meant was why don't we photograph the goopy crude itself? Then you'd really see what those birds endure. Susan agreed, so I ran out and bought black acrylic paint to test the idea. Meanwhile, photo researcher Mary McPeak ordered a liter of crude fresh off the tanker in New Jersey. A few days later, the shipment arrived at our offices in Washington, D.C., along with pages of HAZMAT safety and disposal instructions.
In our photo studio, photographer Becky Hale snapped away while I drizzled the oil onto a sheet of formica. Gasoline-like fumes filled the air. (Apparently we weren't wearing the proper face masks. Sorry, HAZMAT.) The crude, thicker than molasses, oozed out in long stringy beads, which slowly melded together like the molten T-1000 in Terminator 2.
Over the course of an hour, we made about 30 “oil paintings.” Only one was straightforward enough for the final design. That's the way creativity works around here. An idea might be great; it might be terrible. You just don't know until you get your hands oily.

—Oliver Uberti

Here are some of our more abstract paintings:

Oilgallery