OIL PAINTING MEDIUMS -- CONFUSED?

Garden Study 9 x 12

Yes, it can be confusing when you've been painting for a relatively short time and you want to try a new technique using mediums. Your first instructor may have used one thing, but you find other artists using something entirely different. You go to the art supply store and become overwhelmed with the choices in front of you. What's not to be confusing?


Every experienced artist has their favorite medium for their favorite technique. For some artists, it may just depend on the final "feel" of the painting that you are going for. Others find a medium they like and stick with it. It is entirely up to you! It will take some knowledge and some experience, but it is worth effort!

Let’s look at what we have to work with - (just remember they are not the magic “fix” for your paintings).

Oil paint is formulated and intended to be used in a number of ways in and of itself. It doesn’t need anything added in order to do its job, but artists have experimented with and invented many mediums to modify the paint mixture for spreading and layering purposes, as well as for speeding or slowing drying times since the 19th century.

LINSEED OIL, TURPENTINE, & VARNISH:

When I first started painting, I was introduced to a mixed medium that has been around for at least 100 years. It was a mix of linseed oil, turpentine and varnish. This is an old fashioned mix that was used in different portions by different artists. Usually it involves mixing 1 or 2 parts linseed oil, 1 part varnish with 2 or 3 parts turpentine. Something like that. When you use a medium such as this it is important to remember the “fat over lean” rule of oil painting. That is to say, the under layers of your oil painting should be thinner, with added turpentine, and you don’t want to use too much oily mediums until the under layers are already painted. This is to help the layers dry properly. Remember this - its powerful odor is not always welcome in the house and may be an irritant for some artists.
Turpentine The best known thinner and cleaner for oil paints and brushes.

Low Odor Thinners An excellent substitute for turpentine, in all the areas mentioned above - without the smell! I use the the best quality that I can afford. The purest on the market is Gamblin Gamsol. Be sure to use artist grade. It is also excellent for cleaning brushes.

Linseed Oil After turps, probably the best known of the oil painting mediums. On its own gives colors a high gloss. Added to colors it produces a glaze effect. Slows down drying time. Compared to some oils, it can go a little more yellow over a period of time.

Prepared Oil Painting Mediums Varying from one manufacturer to another, a combination of white spirit and other oils to provide a ready-mixed, user-friendly paint diluent. A beginner could use this, instead of mixing their own combination of oils and other additives.

Stand Oil A faster-drying version of linseed oil. Reduces consistency of paint and brush marks.

Poppy Oil Walnut Oil/Safflower Oil For adding to lighter colors and white. Less inclined to yellow than linseed oil. However slower drying.

Alkyd Gel & Liquid Oil Painting Mediums Alkyd paint mediums can be added to conventional oil paints to speed drying time by up to 50%. Can also be used as a glazing medium. The glazing technique is where a translucent color is painted over another, dry color. The lower one glows through but is affected by the density of the top glaze. Creating misty or smoky backgrounds is a good example of a glaze.

Gloss or Matt Picture Varnish A spirit based varnish, equally at home on acrylics as well as oils. Dries to a gloss finish and will not yellow or bloom. Gloss and matt varnishes can be mixed to give a satin finish. Can be removed with turpentine or white spirit.

Retouching Varnish A thin varnish which can be painted over a touch-dry painting to 'lift' areas where the oil has sunk into the canvas, leaving dull spots. Can also be used as a temporary varnish, say for exhibitions, where thicker paint on a recently completed painting may take many months to dry through completely. Can be removed prior to, or left on underneath, the final varnish coat.

Damar Varnish Dries in a few hours with a satin - medium gloss. Removable.

NOW LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I’M USING RIGHT NOW

Brigitte Curt, one of my art teachers, uses her own homemade mixture that is A NON-TOXIC VARNISH. She teaches her students to use it as an underpainting, in a water color like technique. It has a wonderful luminous look and dries faster than anything I have ever tried. Because I like working wet into wet, it took some time to get used to it but now I love it. I can lay in my painting with a thin layer of luminous paint in luscious colors, and then dry brush with paint over the top, in just a few minutes. I can really make my painting shine by letting some of the underpainting show through in the finished painting.
Brigitte and Jim Smyth are coming to Sacramento on December 6th and 7th to teach at the Capital Art Center a landscape workshop. To see Jim and Brigitte’s works :

http://www.classart.org/


See Brigittes blog at

http://www.palettedreamer.blogspot.com/

Plein Air Study by Randy Blasquez