{"id":1410782,"date":"2020-08-14T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2020-08-14T08:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jacksonsart.com\/blog\/?p=1410782"},"modified":"2026-09-21T13:33:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T12:33:05","slug":"how-oil-painting-mediums-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jacksonsart.com\/blog\/2020\/08\/14\/how-oil-painting-mediums-work\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to Oil Painting Mediums"},"content":{"rendered":"

An oil painting medium is designed to alter the viscosity, surface finish, or drying time of oil paint<\/a>. Knowing when and how to use a medium will help you to control your paint, add variety to your mark-making, and broaden your technique by giving you more paint possibilities. Mediums are a mixture of just a few ingredients. It can be a combination of some or all of these: a drying oil, a solvent, a resin, and a siccative. Understanding the basics of how each ingredient behaves will help you to choose the right medium and to produce structurally sound artworks that are going to last. Vincent Gordon takes us through how oil painting mediums work to modify: 1. Viscosity, 2. Surface finish, and 3. Drying time. He then gives a good overview of the main components of oil mediums<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Oil Painting Mediums<\/h2>\n

by Vincent Gordon<\/small><\/p>\n

1. Painting Mediums to Alter the Viscosity of Oil Paint<\/h2>\n

Modifying your paint with a medium can vastly change the handling properties of the paint. If we consider oil paint to have a buttery consistency lying somewhere in the middle between liquid and stiff, then by adding the right painting medium you can take your paint either way, towards very fluid or very thick.<\/p>\n

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Oil paint straight from the tube has a buttery consistency. Some brands are stiffer and some are softer.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n