Covering the canvas with linseed oil

You can paint smoothly either by covering the canvas with linseed oil and applying the paint without using medium, or by making sure the paint goes on smoothly by brushing out the texture as you go. I prefer to cover the canvas with oil first. That's how some portrait artists work and it's how I paint portraits. It's amazing what happens using this technique. If you paint in oils the work takes ages to dry and this can be an advantage because you can come back the next day or so and make corrections, or even start all over again.