This Oil Paint Guide aims to give a broad overview of some useful and interesting information about working in this medium. Oil paint is a special medium that gives beautiful results. With a bit of understanding of the structure, the best way to use it, how to modify your colour with oil mediums, and the options available you will be able to get the most from the time-honoured medium of oil painting. If you have any further questions please ask them by submitting a comment, underneath the post.
Contents:
What Makes Oil Paint So Special?
How Oil Paints Dry and the Fat Over Lean Rule
What is the Difference Between Traditional Oils, Water-mixable Oils, Alkyd Oils and Oil Sticks?
Same Colour Name, Different Colour
What Makes Oil Paint So Special?
Lustrous and versatile, oil paint has appealed to artists since the middle ages. Painters from Jan Van Eyck to Gerhard Richter have been drawn to its rich sheen and vibrant colour. Many oil paint recipes used by the world’s finest paint-makers have hardly changed for hundreds of years, because there’s no need – colour simply cannot appear any richer or more beautiful.
Paint impasto or paint in thin transparent layers!
How is Oil Paint Made?
Oil paint has been around for thousands of years; the oldest evidence of oil paint dates back to 650 AD, in the Bamiyan Valley Caves of Afganistan where the paint was used to paint Buddhist murals. The oil paint used here is thought to have been made using natural resins and gums as well as animal proteins.
It is thought that linseed oil has gained favour as the most popular drying oil since the 1400s due to the ease with which paint can be applied in layers of varying consistency; it’s versatility also makes blending and glazing easy. Linseed oil, like all drying oils, has a chemical reaction with oxygen which causes it to harden, encasing the pigment and helping to maintain colour vibrancy for hundreds of years.
Although there are still some naturally sourced pigments that have been used to make paint since prehistoric times and continue to be used today (including ochres and iron oxides), today’s oil paint manufacture uses a lot of synthetically developed pigments, such as Vermillion (made by mixing mercury and sulphur, heating it, allowing the mixture to re-condense and then removing and grinding the mercury) and Prussian Blue. It is vital that pigments used to make paint are stable: that they are lightfast and so will not fade; that they will not be broken down or damaged by solvents such as turpentine; that they have the right pH balance with the drying oil so that there is no risk of any acidity in the oil bleaching the colour; and that they are not susceptible to chemically reacting with any other pigments used in oil paint manufacture.
Each pigment has its own set of characteristics including particle size, transparency and absorbency. These characteristics determine what ratio of oil to pigment is used in the paint, and the extent to which colours are ground/milled during manufacturing. It can take up to several years for oil paint manufacturers to carry out sufficient testing and refine the process for getting the purest and most stable colours from their ingredients.
Dispersing the Pigment Evenly Into the Oil
Most oil paint manufacturers will have a machine called an ‘Automatic Muller’ – a machine that consists of two metal discs that sit on top of one another and move in a circular motion but in opposite directions, dispersing pigment evenly into a drying oil when they are placed in between the 2 discs. (NB: Artists that make their own paints at home are likely to use a non automatic glass slab and muller which requires the artist to thoroughly mix the pigment and paint on the slab in a continuous circular motion, using a lot more elbow grease!). Several samples are made, each with slightly different proportions of drying oil to pigment. These samples are then tested to find the best recipe: a small quantity is spread across a piece of card with a palette knife, while another small quantity is mixed with a little white so that the paint makers can compare the body colour of the paint as well as its tint. Once the best recipe is identified mass production commences.
Mass Production of Oil Paint
The quantities of linseed oil and pigment are multiplied by the same amount to ensure that the proportions of each are right for achieving the best colour. These are then put into the mixer; a big metal drum with an automated mixing device. The purest colours are made with a single pigment, however some paints are made with 2 or more pigments. The more pigments there are in a paint the harder it is to mix it and achieve vibrant colour mixes. However paints that are made with multiple pigments are done so to meet artist demands, usually to offer popular colours that can be used straight from the tube without need for any pre mixing.
The speed and duration of the mixing time will depend on the characteristics of the pigment, such as particle size and absorbency. Once the pigment is thoroughly dispersed throughout the oil it is then transferred to the milling device. Milling involves putting the paint through 3 spinning metal cylinders which will help refine the mix – removing any ‘clumps’ of pigment particles to even out the consistency even further. Again, the speed at which the cylinders spin, the amount of pressure, and how long the paint is milled for is all part of the recipe for each specific pigment – each has a different requirement. Milling can take anything from hours to days depending on the colour.
The batch of paint is then tested before it is packaged in tubes. First of all a spread test is conducted. This involves placing a specific amount of paint between 2 pieces of glass which are then squeezed together using a brass weight. If the blob of paint does not spread far enough then it is likely that the paint will need more milling. Secondly a dispersion test is conducted: a specific amount of paint is spread across a metal gauge which measures the size of the pigment particles; if they are too large then the paint will require more milling. The final test is the drying test. Each colour has a known drying time (anything ranging from 2 days to 2 weeks), so an amount of the paint is applied to a surface and assessed regularly by a technician to make sure it is drying as it should. If the paint passes these tests it is finally poured into metal tubes which are then labelled and ready to be distributed to art shops.
Other Ingredients
On occasion there are other ingredients in your tube of oil paint.
Beeswax is added to help the pigment stick to the drying oil and also help prevent the pigment from sinking to the bottom of the tube.
Driers are added to help speed the curing process (although most professional ranges avoid driers as they can impair the strength of the paint film)
Alkyd resin is sometimes added to add lustre and speed drying of the paint.
Drying Oils
A drying oil is a natural oil that oxidises when exposed to air, causing it to contract and harden into a solid layer. Linseed oil is the most common drying oil used in oil paint manufacture; however Poppy, Walnut and Safflower are all used as well. Each oil brings its own characteristics to the personality of the paint.
Linseed Oil is essentially the same as the flaxseed oil you might come across in your local supermarket, but it is not edible! The extraction methods used for artist’s linseed oil use petroleum which makes it only really suited for art purposes. Conversely flaxseed oil will have impurities in it that will cause a greater degree of yellowing over time. Linseed oil dries very thoroughly and so creates very stable paint. Both Refined Linseed Oil and Cold-pressed Linseed Oil are known to be used in oil paint manufacture. Which is superior is a case of personal preference; while cold pressed linseed oil has not undergone any chemical treatment and so is therefore often considered the more stable of the two varieties of oil, refined linseed oil is likely to have less impurities and so will have less tendency to yellow over time. Ultimately you can get varying qualities of both, but what paint manufacturers (and possibly you!) will look for is an oil with the least impurities; these oils will look clearest in the bottle.
Poppy Oil is a very pale, more transparent drying oil that is less likely to yellow than linseed oil. It is much slower drying than linseed oil – on average 5-7 days – which makes it ideal to use when working wet-into-wet. At one time Poppy oil was used in the manufacture of some whites but more recently the use of less expensive Safflower oil has become more common.
Walnut Oil has been used to make oil paint for longer than linseed oil and again is used to make whites on occasion, as it yellows less than linseed oil. As a result paler and cooler colours suffer less change as they dry. The film of walnut oil when dry is stronger than Poppy oil (though still not as strong as linseed) which makes it a better oil to use in the initial layers of paint. It is a great oil to use when painting detail and it has a similar drying time to linseed oil. Walnut oil paints have a rich, silken texture with refined handling which is thought to have helped baroque painters achieve wonderful effects when painting the ruffs of collars and other detail in opulent clothing.
Safflower Oil is also used to make whites in some brands because it is bright and clean with less tendency to yellow than linseed oil. It takes 2-3 days longer to dry than linseed so is recommended only for use in the final layers of a painting.
The difference between thinning and extending paint: Note the difference in appearance between adding solvent (middle) and adding linseed oil (right)
How Oil Paints Dry and the Fat Over Lean Rule
Oils can be extended with drying oils and thinned with solvent. The drying process is different to other paints; acrylics and watercolours dry as their water content evaporates into the atmosphere, while the oil in oil paint reacts with air causing it to solidify – this process is called oxidisation. In the meantime the solvent in the paint evaporates. While the evaporation of the solvent doesn’t take very long at all, the oxidisation process is very slow and never really stops. As oil paint oxidises it also contracts. If anything that dries faster is put on top of not-sufficiently-dry oil paint it is likely to crack. This explains why oils can only be painted over acrylics but never the other way around, and why oils should always be painted fat over lean: the more oil (or fat) in the paint the longer it will take to dry. Always put paint with more oil over the top of paint that has less oil in it (more diluted with solvent).
What is the Difference Between Traditional Oils, Water-Mixable Oils, Alkyd Oils and Oil Sticks?
Traditional oil paints are made using finely ground pigment particles suspended in drying oils, usually linseed but sometimes pale colours are mixed with poppy, safflower or walnut. The buttery consistency can be made more fluid by whipping the paint up with a palette knife once squeezed from the tube. Transparency, sheen, drying times and thickness can all be altered by adding mediums, available pre-mixed or made using drying oils and solvents.
A range of brush marks all made using the same paint – a range of tones can be achieved just by thinning a little with solvent or adding a little extra oil.
Water-mixable oil paints offer the charm of traditional oils with the added advantage of not requiring solvents for either thinning or the clean up operation. Water-mixable oils can be a little more stringy or fluid than regular oils, but for many the advantages vastly outweigh the disadvantages – no need for the heady fumes of solvents, and a much safer and easier clean-up operation with soap and water. Special water-mixable oil painting mediums are also available. It’s possible to mix water-mixable oils with regular oils but in doing so they lose their water-solubility.
Alkyd oil paints contain the same alkyd resin used in painting mediums to speed drying; a godsend for painters who have little time to spare.
Oil bars are also known as pigment sticks and are a mixture of pigment, oil and wax. Use them to draw straight onto canvas – a direct, tactile and expressive way of working. Marks can be thinned or made more fluid with solvent and oils, just like regular oils.
Oil Sticks are real oil paint mixed with a small amount of wax to form a stick. Because the part exposed to air will dry like any oil paint you will need to peel the dried skin of oil paint off the end and then you can draw with paint, or thin it or extend it just as you would with regular traditional oil paint.
Which Brand?
All brands of oil colour are intermixable. Traditional oil paints are classified as being either ‘Professional’, ‘Artist’ or ‘Student’ quality, with a couple of exceptions that straddle these classifications. Price and the name of the range usually indicate the paint’s quality.
Professional paints pack in as much pigment into the oil as possible. Pigments are ground to a precise particle size that optimises the visual qualities of the colour, and then milled carefully into the drying oil binder. Occasionally the pigment to oil ratio is so great that the weight of the pigment sinks to the bottom of the tube, causing the binder and pigment to separate (this can be rectified by stirring the contents of the tube with a straightened paper clip). This allows the unique characteristics of the pigments to have a greater influence on the behaviour of the paint – properties such as sheen, transparency, tinting and staining capacity. These vary from colour to colour and contribute to the dynamism that can be achieved on your canvas. Professional paints comprise a greater number of single pigment colours; colours look purer, more luminous and are easier to create vibrant mixes with. On the website paints that are classified as ‘Exceptional’ at jacksonsart.com are generally considered Professional quality.
Artist quality paints have a little less pigment in the mix but are usually made using very similar processes as professional paint. The characteristics of each pigment are maintained but with less intensity than the professional paints. Paints that are classified as ‘excellent’, at jacksonsart.com are considered Artist quality.
Student quality paints have less pigment in them in order to keep production costs down, and may have added fillers to make the paints more uniform in tinting strength, viscosity and covering power. Driers are often added to slow drying pigments so that all colours dry at the same rate – the differing drying times of colours in professional and artist ranges can be a surprise for painters that have upgraded from student paints. Combinations of less expensive pigments are sometimes blended to replace the most expensive single pigment colours (these have the word ‘hue’ in their colour name). Colours may appear more chalky than Artist and Professional colours, and the choice is sometimes more limited and conventional. However, the affordability of student grade paints make them a popular choice for painters who are new to oils as well as those who need to stick to a budget. Paints that are classified as ‘good’ at jacksonsart.com are considered Student quality.
Same Colour Name, Different Colour
It’s worth noting that paints with the same colour name but made by different manufacturers may look different. This can be down to different pigments being used or differences in production methods – one brand may use different binders or fillers to another brand, and they may mill the paint differently too. Most oil paints (and certainly professional and artist grade brands) will list the pigment codes on their label, but again, if there are multiple pigments in the paint there is no guarantee that the quantities of each pigment will be the same in the different tubes. Ensuring the pigment codes match may not guarantee that the paint will look the same as it is squeezed out, but at least how the paints mix with other colours will be similar. Finally, colours may even have subtle differences within the same brand. Colours are made in batches and although manufacturers will try to match batches with what’s been made before as much as possible, if the pigment itself is slightly different (maybe as a result of being sourced from another location) then this will result in subtle differences in the batches of paint produced. If colour matching is of absolutely vital importance (as it would be if you were a picture restorer or if you were painting a highly detailed work) then we would always suggest you test the appearance of the paint on a separate panel prior to using it on your work in progress.
What Mediums Do I Need?
There are more oil paint mediums on the market today than ever, giving you the opportunity to work with paint that has the exact qualities that you’re after. Here’s what you can do to modify your paint with oil mediums:
Increase Transparency
All mediums extend colour and therefore increase transparency. If you’re looking to keep the drying times nice and slow to allow for blending, add a little drying oil such as linseed, stand, poppy, walnut or safflower oil. The more you add and the thicker you apply it the longer the drying time, which can be anything from overnight to months. If it’s too thick there’s a risk of the top layer wrinkling, caused by the paint on the surface contracting at a faster rate than what’s underneath. Linseed oil is amber coloured and pourable like double cream, Stand oil is linseed oil that has been thickened through a special heating process, and is particularly treacle-like in colour and consistency. It’s very useful in glaze mediums. All varieties of linseed oil will give a yellow tint to pale mixes. Poppy and Safflower oils are both much paler than linseed oils and are often added to pale colours as they hardly tint colour at all, but they do tend to take even longer to dry. Walnut is also used with paler colours, and is faster drying than poppy or safflower. It dries with a more flexible paint film which means it’s great to use if you are layering colours. Alkyd resin mediums, such as Liquin or Jackson’s Fast Drying Oil Painting Medium will speed drying. Glaze mediums are specially formulated to increase transparency and gloss for glazes that layer beautifully. Solvents such as turpentine or Zest-It dilute rather than extend paint, so add a little of either to your medium to stop your paint becoming too gloopy. Household white spirit is too abrasive, can kill the vibrancy of paint and is not recommended for oil paint mediums. Remember too that some colours are naturally more transparent than others and that nearly all colour charts will specify the transparency of each colour in their range.
Alter sheen
When used neat, oils usually dry with a subtle velvet sheen. Adding one of the drying oils or an alkyd medium such as Jackson’s Fast Drying Oil Painting Medium will increase gloss. For high gloss glazes try adding a small quantity of Dammar or retouching varnish to your medium, or try our pre-mixed Jackson’s Glaze Medium. Beeswax mediums will reduce or keep gloss at the original level of the paint. Adding a little more artist’s solvent to mediums will also help to bring down the shininess!
Alter drying time
Drying oils (linseed, stand, walnut, poppy, safflower) will slow drying times, while alkyd mediums (Liquin, Galkyd mediums and any fast drying oil painting mediums), artist’s solvent (turpentine, Zest-it, Shellsol, Gamsol, Sansodor, oil of spike lavender) and driers such as cobalt (found in siccative) will speed drying. Many oil painting mediums available are made of a mixture of solvent, oil and resin and are designed to subtly increase gloss, give a workable consistency and dry faster than neat oil paint. It’s possible to alter pre-mixed mediums – reduce sheen and speed drying times by adding a few more drops of solvent, or increase gloss by adding a bit more oil. You can also make your own mediums by combining drying oils with solvents. A couple of drops of siccative, dammar or retouching varnish all speed drying and increase gloss when added to painting mediums. Siccative should only be added in very small quantities (10% of the paint mixture) to ensure that the paint doesn’t dry so fast that it cracks, and it’s best to avoid mixing so much solvent into your paint that it forms the majority of the overall recipe – this is because it breaks the paint down and very dilute layers of oil paint are much more fragile as there is not enough oil to harden to a firm layer.
Thicken or thin the paint
Make your oils pourable by adding linseed oil and solvent in near equal measure (a touch more oil than solvent). If you want your oil paint to have a treacle texture and gloss try adding stand oil. Liquin Impasto or beeswax based mediums will thicken the paint even further without layers wrinkling or taking a lifetime to dry. To learn more about how to thicken or thin your paint it pays to try a little bit of this and a little bit of that – add a little solvent, a little oil, try more or less paint in the mix… so long as you stick to the ‘fat over lean’ rule (always apply mixtures with more oil in them on top) you can’t really go wrong.
Gloss, Satin and Matt Varnish
Varnish
Solvent based varnishes will alter sheen and protect oil paintings. Varnish is made of natural or synthetic resin crystals dissolved in solvent. There are 2 main types of varnish.
- Retouching varnish – for touch dry paintings. It is more dilute and forms a thinner layer than picture varnish. It is fast drying and will unify the sheen of your picture and give the surface some protection if you need to show it before it is fully dry (complete drying of the paint usually takes many months). Spray retouching varnish dries more reliably. Later, after the painting is fully dry, simply clean the surface of dust and apply picture varnish on top of the retouching varnish.
- Picture Varnish – for fully dry paintings (depending on the thickness of the paint, the support the paint’s applied to and the atmosphere, it can take anything from a week to a number of years for a painting to be sufficiently dry for varnishing). Contains more resin and when dry forms a much less porous and inflexible layer. Picture varnish is naturally gloss – matting agents or beeswax are added to make matte picture varnish. Spray varnishes are available for thin coats, otherwise varnish is best applied with a brush.
How to Varnish
Click here to read Julie Caves’ advice to how to varnish your painting.
Hi,
Thanks for the article:)
I’m new to oil painting. Concerning the fat over lean
Rule; I use oil to make workable and turps to thin.
I wondered- when using a medium to make drying time
quicker, do they contain fat, oil? Just so I know where i
am with fat content. If I add some fast drying medium,
has that reduced fat content or is it the same as
normal oil? So I know how much fat/oil needs to be in
the next layer on top when glazing. Sorry for lack of
understanding.
Thank you
Liam
Hi Liam
Don’t worry, it’s a really good question!
The reason fat over lean matters to make a sound construction: you want each layer to dry more slowly than the one before. A dried layer seals the layer underneath it, preventing oxygen reaching it so it stays soft inside.
Fast drying medium either contains alkyd resin or alkyd and Cobalt driers/siccatives.
I asked this question of an expert many years ago who said alkyd resin counts as fat. But it never made sense to me. I have read more since including this excellent article by the chemistry & art knowledgable Howard Oakley – https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/eclecticlight.co/2015/02/01/fat-over-lean-understanding-oil-paint/amp/
If the idea is to have each layer dry before it gets sealed in by the next layer drying, then anything fast-drying counts as ‘lean’. If you are using fast drying medium and painting in layers then it would be a good idea to add less and less medium for each layer.
So if you paint 3 layers-
Your first could be touch dry the following day to paint layer two. That second layer might take two or three days to dry enough to paint on and the next layer might take fours days to be touch dry.
I found this a helpful video, even though it is about watermixable oil, the fat over lean rule still applies: https://youtu.be/pMz5vuG0FhI
I hope that helps!
Thankyou for the quick reply.
That makes a lot of sense, which iam still
thinking over:) I will make a trip to the art shop for
a medium, and experiment with some drying times.
Thanks for advice and video links.
Will most likely post again soon.
Take care
I would like to draw upon Cobra watermixable oil colour
surface. Is that possible with oil-sticks?
I have used an acrylic pen, called POSCA, when I worked with
acrylics. Is there something simular to that, in oil?
Bh
Nanna
Hi Nanna,
Yes it’s possible to draw over the top of Cobra Watermixable Oil Colours with an oil stick. Oil sticks are made of oil paint that has been moulded into a stick and encased in a thin layer of wax. The quality of the drawn line can be like a crayon, but the texture can be smoothed over if you apply a thicker layer. The quality of POSCA is very different – a flatter, more graphic look. I think you’ll find it interesting to try it out and see the differences.
Let us know how you get on!
Lisa
what kind of primer would i used for a canvas that is going to
take water mixable oil colours? water or oil based?
Thanks
Hi Clara
Thanks for your question. You can use either!
Acrylic primer can be applied directly to your canvas. We recommend applying a couple of thin layers (2 or 3 is best). The resulting finish will be smooth but with a little tooth. Once it is dry (leave for a few hours at least) it’s ready to be painted on.
A couple of layers of oil primer will result in a smoother surface – the paint will move on the surface more easily than on acrylic primer. Do not apply oil primer directly to unprimed canvas or wood; you need to first seal the surface. Rabbit skin glue is the traditional way of doing this, but actually a layer of acrylic primer or acrylic medium will do the job and be a lot less smelly! We recommend applying a layer of GAC400 followed by a layer of GAC100, although a couple of layers of one or the other is likely to do the job as well. Then apply your primer over the top, (again, 2-3 layers is best).
Is one better over the other? The answer is no – they’re just different. It’s worth giving both priming methods a go on 2 different canvases to see which you prefer.
Lisa
Very informative article!
I have a question as im a relative beginner with Oils that you may be able to help with…
I work mainly with the wet on wet method so im not overly concerned with working fat over
lean so use the same paint to medium ratio for most of my work. To save time I would like to
pre mix all my oil paints with medium and store them in airtight containers. Ideally Id like it
to have a drying time of a couple of days also. I tried with with alkyd but it hardened up in a
few days and ruined my paints!
Anyway the question is can you recommend a suitable medium for my requirements?
Hi Cameron
Thanks for your message and for reading the article.
It’s a good question! The thing with oils is that as soon as they are exposed to air they start to harden. Alkyds would surely speed that process up so you should have a longer open time if you used linseed oil. Poppy and Safflower oils take even longer to dry so may be better for your needs.
I would have a go with these oils and see if they stay open long enough for you…hope this helps!
Lisa
Hi …. i would like to know the proportions to mix oil medium
with turpentine and linseed oil…or shall I use other items??
I will be expecting for your answer. thank yoou
Hi Dora!
The great thing about mixing oils and solvent is that you can mix to any proportions really, although if there is substantially more solvent (turps/white spirit) than oil (paint or linseed oil) then the mixture will start to break down. If you like to work with watery dilute paint you don’t need to add any linseed oil, just add a little solvent. If you like your paint to be fluid and translucent but not watery then add 1:1 ratio of oil to solvent. If you like your colours to be more saturated and have a thicker consistency you could work with the paint neat, or with a bit of added oil. I don’t want to prescribe a specific painting medium because it depends entirely on how you like to paint. 🙂 Experiment and see what you like. If you want your paints to dry faster I would suggest trying to mix a bit of fast drying oil painting medium, or liquin, or galkyd into your paint, instead of linseed oil. Hope this helps but please let me know if you have other questions!
Lisa
I think there is a misguided information about the
‘Professional’ and ‘Artist’ grade paints in your article. Only
Jacksons carry ‘Professional’ grade paint not the other
manufacturers. When you say ‘Artist’ grade paint carry less
pigment , then MH, W&N, Old Hollad ect artist paint are of
low quality than that of Jacksons Professional grade.
Hi Jojo,
Because all the different manufacturer’s call their products different names, we categorise them all into ‘Professional’, ‘Artist’ and ‘Student’ to set a standard and communicate what quality each range of paints is. Our categories are found on our website and in our catalogues. Michael Harding, Winsor and Newton and Old Holland all produce Professional grade paint.
Many thanks
Lisa
Hi is it ok to mix linseed oil based paint with safflower based
oil paint? For example sennelier with mike harding? Many
thanks in advance
Hi Shahin,
When the paints are wet, yes it is fine to mix them. Just be aware that the drying time may be slower if you are used to working with linseed oil paints (and faster if you are used to using only safflower oil paints). If you are layering one over the other unmixed, just be aware that safflower is slower drying so should be placed on the top layers.
Many thanks
Lisa
Are there other surfaces you can use for oil painting?
Hi
Oil paints adhere best to surfaces with a slight degree of absorbency.
Natural materials such as wood, cotton and linen need to be sized and primed to be suitable for oils, so that the oil when wet cannot sink into the fibres of the substrate and cause it to rot/deteriorate.
Synthetic materials are best abraided /sanded if possible so that paints will adhere to them.
If there is any particular material you are curious to paint oils on to just let me know!
Many thanks
Lisa
hi
which brand of water based oils is
considered professional? thanks
Hi Adam,
The Daniel Smith and Holbein ranges are high-end Water-mixable oils, with Jackson’s, Cobra and Winsor and Newton closely following.
Many thanks
Lisa
Hey! I was wondering – is it considered
a dry medium?
Hi Jay,
I’m sorry I don’t follow your question – is what a dry medium?
Please explain and hopefully I can answer!
Lisa
Can you cold pressed Avocado oil as a
medium in oil painting?
Hi Angela
Thanks for your questions. Unfortunately Avocado oil is not a drying oil, so therefore it isn’t suited to oil painting.
Many thanks
Lisa
I want to gild on top of a palette knife oil
painting i done. I have tried and put the
size over parts to be guilded but the leaf
is sticking to the other parts of the
painting and not sticking to the sized
parts. Don’t know what im doing wrong.
Any advice please?
Hi Kelly,
Gilding over oil paint is a bit tricky, as it takes a really long time for oil paint to cure fully, and as it continues to dry the paint shrinks. Gold leaf size would dry faster and so it may become brittle over time. However if you wish to try it despite this, I wonder if the paint you are working over is still tacky? Is it possibly still drying? And did you use any mediums in the paint when you put it on the canvas/panel?
Many thanks
Lisa
Hello, I have used walnut oil alone for a
few of my paintings & also used
traditional linseed oil/turpentine mix for
a long time. But working with turpentine
mixed oil is difficult. I was wondering if I
can mix walnut oil and stand oil to use
as a medium? Thank you.
Hi Niki
Thanks for your question. Yes it’s fine to mix walnut oil and stand oil to create a painting medium. We’d love to hear your experiences of working with it!
Best wishes
Lisa
Hi Lisa
I’m looking for an effective stopping-out
medium for oil painting that be brushed
onto selected areas of a dry base coat.
When a further layer of oils are painted
on top, the stopped out areas should
remain unchanged, whilst none stopped-
out areas take the colour/characteristics
of the newly applied layer. In essence, to
perform a similar function as traditional
masking fluid has with watercolour.
To best illustrate what I mean, Maurice
Cockrill RA used it in his later work.
These are big paintings and whatever
he’s used has maintained the
brushmarks of it’s robust application as
opposed to the less spontaneous finish
that masking tape/adhesive film would
give
Thank you
Hi Paul
I had a quick look as I didn’t know his work. On the RA website they say Cockrill uses a method of “layering and cutting back, using latex and acrylic”.
Watercolour masking fluid is latex. So it sounds like he might be doing something quite similar. Although I can’t find any more information about it, apart from artists discussing it saying masking fluid beads up on oil, they can’t get it to stick. Perhaps he mixes the latex with acrylic in some proportion to allow it to brush on but still be removed later. Both acrylic and latex are water-soluble, so you should be able to mix them together. It sounds like an interesting experiment, to try different proportions of latex and acrylic until you have a masking medium for oil painting. If you try it please let us know how it goes!
Latex on the Jackon’s website.
Hi
What would be the best medium to use
to make your oil paint fluidity, as run
down the canvas.
Thanks
Hi,
Diluting lots with solvent such as turpentine or artist white spirit would make it most watery, if you want your paint to run down the canvas but maintain an ‘oilyness’ then add linseed oil.
Hope this helps.
Many thanks
Lisa
Hi,
can you please recommend a ratio of
Linseed oil to Alkyd? linseed oil has a slow
drying time and alkyd dries too fast for me
so I was wondering if I could mix the both
but after reading countless websites I am
confused and can’t find the exact ratio I
could use. I found one stating 4parts linseed
to 1part alkyd, I’d appreciate your advice on
this. Also if I mix the both, i’d have to very
careful with the fat over lean rule?…
Thanks
Hi,
So long as you mix the two thoroughly you can use linseed oil and alkyd mediums in any proportion. In order to ensure the layers of paint get ‘fatter’ rather than ‘leaner’ as the painting progresses, just ensure the layers of paint themselves are thicker as you progress, or use less solvent as you go along (you may not be using any solvent at all anyway).
Hope this helps
Lisa
Hello.
I would like to know which professional
grade paint would cause little to no
yellowing over time. I was also thinking
of using safflower oil to use with the oil
as a safer alternative and was wondering
would this also cause less yellowing? Or
perhaps you can recommend a better
solvent to mix with the oil? I really would
love to get into oil paintings and I prefer
the overall smoothness and look of oils
over acrylic.
Thank you
Hi Rochelle,
All of the professional oil paints would be classified as causing little to no yellowing over time as those paints use the purest drying oils and highest quality pigments.
Safflower oil is known to yellow less than linseed oil, and there are whites in some professional grade paints that are made using safflower oil to minimise yellowing.
Drying oils (linseed, safflower, walnut etc) can be added to paints to increase transparency and allow them to flow, but they’re not usually called ‘solvents’. The term solvents is usually used for oil paint dilutants such as Zest It, white spirit or turpentine – petroleum or natural resin distillates that can be used to clean oil paint from brushes or make oil paint mediums more ‘watery’ in their consistency.
Hope that all makes sense.
Best wishes
Lisa
Hi Lisa I have a question regarding preparing
surfaces for painting. I prefer to paint on
boards and apply three coats of acrylic
gesso followed by a coat of acrylic paint for
a toned ground. This works fine when I’m
painting in acrylics but I’ve found it a bit
smooth now I’m trying out oil painting en
plein air. I’ve tried liquitex clear gesso as a
coat on my acrylic ground which gives the
surface tooth. Is this a reasonable way to go
or am I storing up future problems? I
suppose a better solution might be to
prepare boards with muslin surfaces and
tone that as my ground colour? Any
thoughts?
Hi Tim,
Thanks for your question, both options would work. You won’t have any problems if you use acrylic as a group for oil painting, so long as the layers of acrylic and gesso are fully dry before you start painting.
Many thanks
Lisa
Can I use water mixable stand oil with
tradition oil paint? I have been unable to find
an answer to the question and would be so
grateful for your answer. I bought the water
mixable stand oil by mistake. many thanks.
Hi Dawn, yes you can! If you use a lot the oil should retain its water-miscibility, however if you’re using more paint than oil then it would be besst to dilute/wash with solvent, rather than water.
Hope this helps
Many thanks
Lisa
Hi Lisa! I have lot of questions. what is the
difference between using oil as medium
and using turpentine as medium? if
turpentine can change the consistency of
a paint then why do we need an oil? why
can’t we use only a thinner for changing
consistency? Is it only because difference
in the final finish of the painting or drying
time or texture preference or is there
anything more? if a diluent/thinner does
dilution then what does a medium/binder
do? how adding a medium and a thinner
change the consistency of the paint
chemically? If thinner can be used as a
medium can a medium be used as a
thinner?
sorry to bother you. I appreciate your
reply. Thank you!
Hi Jen,
Thanks for your questions. Here’s my answers…
Q:What is the difference between using oil as medium and using turpentine as medium?
A: Oil is what binds the pigment powder used in oil paint – essentially, the liquid component of oil paint. If you add more oil as a medium, you are effectively adding more binder – the paint retains its glossy sheen when dry, and becomes more transparent as the pigment is dispersed across a greater volumne of liquid.
Turpentine breaks oil down – it is a dilutant, or solvent. It is thinner than oil and so your paint mixture will become runnier if you add turpentine as a medium; if you add lots it can become almost watery in its consistency. Furthermore, the dried paint layer will be more susceptible to flaking, or appearing matte if you add a lot of turps, because you are breaking down the adhesive binding qualities of the oil in the paint.
When oil by itself is too gloopy, it can be a great idea to mix your paint with a medium that is composed of both oil and turpentine, thus avoiding the risk of your paint becoming too diluted.
Q: If turpentine can change the consistency of a paint then why do we need an oil?
A: For the reaons stated above, however, if you use turpentine in small quantities you don’t necessarily need to also use oil. So long as the paint has greater oil content to turpentine content, you will be working with a paint that has the ability to dry with strength and durability.
Q:Why can’t we use only a thinner for changing consistency?
A: As above, you can, but it is advisable to ensure that the oil content of the paint is greater than the turpentine content to guarantee that the paint layer is strong and durable when dry.
Q: If thinner can be used as a medium can a medium be used as a thinner?
A: Oil is too thick to be decribed as a paint thinner, and it’s adhesive qualities would make ‘medium’ a better term to describe a drying oil such as linseed oil. If you’re thinking of a thinner as being something you might clean your brushes with, then yes you can use oil to clean your brushes, and it will help prevent your brush hairs from drying out. Non drying oils such as vegetable oil can be worked into brush heads loaded with paint to make the paint more workable/flexible and this can be a good non toxic way of removing paint from your brushes at the end of a session; rinse in veg oil and blot with rags, and end by rinsing in soap and warm water if you want to finish the job off thoroughly.
I hope I have answered all your questions above, but do let me know if you need further information.
Best wishes
Lisa
Can I use stand oil on its own as a medium,
if I want to work wet-on-wet for a long time?
Hi, yes absolutely you can.
Many thanks
Lisa
Hi Lisa,
So much great info here.
My question would be which is the best
medium to add to oil paints to create
atmospheric, layered glazes For large areas
please? And how long would they need to dry
between each layer? I am used to working
with acrylics and new to oils so any help
would be much appreciated. Many thanks,
Jo
Hi Jo,
You can use a few different mediums for glazing – Jackson’s and Roberson both offer glazing mediums – https://www.jacksonsart.com/search/?q=glaze+medium+oil – These are made with traditional oil painting ingredients such as linseed oil, cobalt driers and natural resins. Roberson offer a matt and gloss glaze medium. Drying time depends on how thickly the layer is applied, and the humidity/temperature of the room, but for a thin layer of glaze that is more medium than colour, it should be touch dry after a day, after which you can work over the top. For oil paintings to dry fully though, can take weeks/months/years, especially if the finished painting is made of several layers of paint.
If you want to work with something that is touch dry within an hour or two, you might want to glaze with an alkyd- based medium such as Liquin, Jackson’s fast drying medium, or Gamsol’s Galkyd. Alkyd resin is a synthetic alternative to natural resin and dries quickly, but may appear slightly more yellow. Galkyd and Liquin come in several different consistencies to suit different working methods.
Galkyd – https://www.jacksonsart.com/search/?q=galkyd
Liquin – https://www.jacksonsart.com/search/?q=liquin
Jackson’s Fast Drying Medium – https://www.jacksonsart.com/search/?q=jacksons+fast+drying+oil+painting+medium
Many thanks
Lisa
which siccative is the best for titanium
white+refined linseed oil paints
Dear Goga,
Thanks for your question. I suggest just one or two small drops of cobalt siccative. Please handle this with care as it is very toxic.
https://www.jacksonsart.com/roberson-cobalt-siccative-250ml
Many thanks
Lisa
Hi..im very new to oil painting.
My question is walnut oil..I have “100 percent walnut oil”
that I have used for wood, purchased at a hardware store..I
have always kept it in refrigerator, it is not racid. Can this
be used to add to my oil paints
hi PJ,
Walnut oil from a hardware store may be less pure than artist’s walnut oil, and so as a result may have a tint of colour and may continue to yellow over time once you have worked with it. I would check the label and see if it suggests how pure the oil is and what its recommended uses are. If you are not too concerned about the longevity of your finished painting, then there is no reason not to use walnut oil with your oil paint.
Many thanks
Lisa
when painting subsequent layers on dried
pain t is it best to add medium to the paint
or oil the canvas just before painting the
next layer, i ask because my new layers wont
adhere to the previous dry layer.
Hi Jenny,
Thanks for your question. Occasionally the dried paint layer resists the subsequent layers of paint if they are thin. However if you gently abrade the surface the paint should adhere. I have found that if you lightly rub the surface with a putty eraser it helps the subsequent paint layers.
Many thanks
Lisa
Hi I’m using Artisan water based oil
paint for a commission for which I need
to speed up drying time. What should I
use if I don’t want to change consistency
and gloss of paint too much?
Hi Gina
There are fast-drying mediums made for water-mixable oils that you add to the paint, but there is nothing you can do to speed up the drying time after you have painted.
There are more fluid mediums that will make the paint flow better without needing to add water Fast drying Mediums. There are also some thicker mediums in a tube that should be a similar thickness to the paint, since you don’t want to change the consistency Quick-Dry Mediums.
=
I have written an article on WMOs that you might find interesting.
Water-Mixable Oils: Vibrant Colours, Easy-Cleanup and They Needn’t be Sticky
I am painting large areas of black oil paint
and they are taking a lot of time to dry.
They need to be really dry before I paint
colour next to them. I have an idea that if I
underpaint the black areas with black
acrylic I can then thin the oils with artists
white spirit or zest it and these areas
would then dry quicker without affecting
the density of the black. Is this so, and if
it is, how much thinners do I need to add
to have a significant effect on drying time
Hi Jon,
Thanks for your question. It’s true, you could apply and underpainting in acrylic which will dry more quickly than oils. Thinning oil paint will speed drying but it will also make the surface more matt, so if you thin it out with lots of solvent it may appear with a different sheen to other oil-painted areas on your painting. The influence of the solvent can vary depending on what solvent you are using and the brand of the paint, and the pigment used too. But the difference in drying time will be noticeable so long as the difference in the consistency of the paint is noticeable. The other approach you could try is adding a small drop of siccative to your black paint – siccative helps to speed drying dramatically and is very toxic so use with care. But it is highly effective in speeding the drying time of oil paint!
https://www.jacksonsart.com/robersons-60ml-siccative
Many thanks
Lisa
I am mostly an oil painter, however, I am
recently exploring claybord, and would like
to lay an abstract background using alcohol
inks. Once fully dried would it be possible to
lay a very thin layer of transparent oils over
the top. If not is there a (transparent)
sealant I can use that would double up as
base to apply the oils. Thanks so much
Hi Clare
Oils can be painted over any fixative or varnish, but you will want a fixative that doesn’t disturb the alcohol inks. So you will want a water-based varnish or a non-alcohol based varnish. Krylon Kamar spray varnish is recommended for alcohol inks because it won’t disturb them if they are fully dry, at least 24 hours. The problem with the fixatives is I think they all contain alcohol which would make spots on your alcohol inks as it dissolved parts with the droplets.
Another consideration is that alcohol inks are made with dyes, not pigment particles, so they are not very lightfast. So a UV protective spray would be helpful. Since most contain alcohol, you will need something to seal the inks first. So it would be a 2-step process: Krylon Kamar spray to seal the ink and then use a UV protect spray. I would recommend Lascaux UV Protect.
That said – I think you could paint directly on them with oils as the oil paint doesn’t have alcohol in it. Unless the ink is loose on the surface and can be wiped off by the action of the paint brush, it shouldn’t be re-activated. As always when trying a new technique, experimentation is key. I would make a small sample of the inks, let them dry 24 hours and try painting directly with oil and see if they smear, if not you are good to go. But you won’t be able to then spray the UV Protect spray on top of the oil paint until it is fully dry, after six months or so. So you might want to do the two sprays anyway, just to make sure any exposed part of the alcohol painting that is left after the oil painting is done, doesn’t later fade away.
Hi Lisa
I have been doing some experimenting
with oil paint and solvent on canvas. I
paint expressive large brushstrokes on
the canvas and then I pour solvent (
archival) on the canvas so I can move
the paint around and create textural
effects. Using a wipe and move motion I
move the paint across the canvas and it
becomes more fluid and loose. Once I
am confident on the effects I let it dry
and the solvent evaporates. After a few
weeks it is dry. Will my colors fade? And
Are they permanent. Can I also put a
Gambling satin varnish to protect the
painting?
Hi Stella,
Lightfast pigments will stay lightfast even when diluted, but if the paint is entirely broken down by solvent it may be fragile on the surface of your canvas as the binding properties of the oil may have been lost. Applying varnish to the top would be a good way to secure the colour where you want it, using a soft varnishing brush.
Many thanks
Lisa