Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are suspended with a medium of drying oils. Oil paint enables both fusion of tones and crisp effects and is unsurpassed for textural variation. Certain differences are also visible in the sheen of the paints depending on the oil. Painters often use different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. Oil paints are applied with brushes or a thin palette knife, usually onto a stretched linen canvas.