Tips on Oil Painting – Solvents Mediums and Varnishes
October 21, 2009 by admin
Filed under Visual Art
Remi Engels, Ph.D. asked:
If you paint with oils you will need a solvent to clean your brushes and thin your paints. Of course, if you paint with water soluble oils then your solvent will be water.
Turpentine is a standard solvent used to thin ordinary oil paints. You can purchase turpentine in any art supply store or hardware store. In some cases, the kind of turpentine you buy in a hardware store may be fresher because of the shorter turnaround time.
Some artists work with mineral spirits. These are also available in hardware stores. To save money, buy the largest available quantity and use a smaller container when you do your actual painting.
Tube oil paint (i.e., oil paint directly from the tube) can be difficult to manipulate. Some colors are stiffer than others and may be hard to evenly distribute over your canvas. To solve this problem, artists often need to mix their tube paints with a so-called painting medium.
A painting medium is a liquid solution that makes the oil paint smoother and easier to manipulate. Adding any one of a number of different painting mediums changes the consistency of the paint. Some mediums are meant to make the paint thinner for glazing and others are meant to make the paint thicker for impasto painting. There are also mediums to shorten or lengthen the drying.
The most basic medium is regular turpentine. Adding a little turpentine thins oils paint. Another frequently used medium is linseed oil, which makes the paint more fluid but, over time, it also tends to yellow the paint. The most commonly used medium is a combination of turpentine and linseed oil, sometimes with the addition of a little damar varnish.
Begin by experimenting with a half-and-half mixture of turpentine and linseed oil. Because linseed oil slows down the drying process, you may want to increase the proportion of turpentine. A good mixture is three parts of turpentine to one part of linseed oil.
Once you find the medium you like, mix a batch and store it in a tightly sealed jar. As you paint, dip your brush into the medium, then add a little paint, then mix them together on your palette (mixing surface).
Preliminary compositions can be drawn on your canvas with a so-called thin turp wash, i.e., a little bit of paint with a lot of turpentine. A turp wash evaporates very quickly, so you can quickly paint over them.
In general, the more turpentine you use the matter the finish will be and the more linseed oil you use the glossier it will be. If you like robust, permanently visible brushstrokes, you may want to use less medium. Dry brush is one technique where you do not add any medium at all.
Special painting mediums are also available that change the oil paint in different ways. The most common are those that shorten or lengthen the drying time of the oil paint. Check your art supply store or the Internet to see the available types of mediums. All medium bottles will show instructions on how best to use the particular medium.
Oil paintings must be varnished to protect them from undesirable elements such as dirt and toxins. Varnish is a clear solution made from a resin and turpentine or some other solvent.
In art-supply stores you will see two major types, retouching varnish and picture varnish. Depending on the paint layer thickness, it can take six months or more for an oil painting to dry. In the meantime, the surface of the painting needs to be protected with a coat of retouching varnish. After the varnish is applied, the turpentine evaporates, and leaving a thin protective coat. You can apply retouching varnish as soon as the paint feels dry to the touch.
Picture varnish contains more resin than retouching varnish. It should be applied about six months after you complete a painting. If you paint with impasto-like brushstrokes, you may have to wait as long as a year before applying the final coat.
Both types of varnish are applied in the same manner. Using a broad, flat nylon brush, apply the varnish evenly using horizontal strokes. You can also use retouching varnish to brighten dry dull patches in your painting.
If you paint with oils you will need a solvent to clean your brushes and thin your paints. Of course, if you paint with water soluble oils then your solvent will be water.
Turpentine is a standard solvent used to thin ordinary oil paints. You can purchase turpentine in any art supply store or hardware store. In some cases, the kind of turpentine you buy in a hardware store may be fresher because of the shorter turnaround time.
Some artists work with mineral spirits. These are also available in hardware stores. To save money, buy the largest available quantity and use a smaller container when you do your actual painting.
Tube oil paint (i.e., oil paint directly from the tube) can be difficult to manipulate. Some colors are stiffer than others and may be hard to evenly distribute over your canvas. To solve this problem, artists often need to mix their tube paints with a so-called painting medium.
A painting medium is a liquid solution that makes the oil paint smoother and easier to manipulate. Adding any one of a number of different painting mediums changes the consistency of the paint. Some mediums are meant to make the paint thinner for glazing and others are meant to make the paint thicker for impasto painting. There are also mediums to shorten or lengthen the drying.
The most basic medium is regular turpentine. Adding a little turpentine thins oils paint. Another frequently used medium is linseed oil, which makes the paint more fluid but, over time, it also tends to yellow the paint. The most commonly used medium is a combination of turpentine and linseed oil, sometimes with the addition of a little damar varnish.
Begin by experimenting with a half-and-half mixture of turpentine and linseed oil. Because linseed oil slows down the drying process, you may want to increase the proportion of turpentine. A good mixture is three parts of turpentine to one part of linseed oil.
Once you find the medium you like, mix a batch and store it in a tightly sealed jar. As you paint, dip your brush into the medium, then add a little paint, then mix them together on your palette (mixing surface).
Preliminary compositions can be drawn on your canvas with a so-called thin turp wash, i.e., a little bit of paint with a lot of turpentine. A turp wash evaporates very quickly, so you can quickly paint over them.
In general, the more turpentine you use the matter the finish will be and the more linseed oil you use the glossier it will be. If you like robust, permanently visible brushstrokes, you may want to use less medium. Dry brush is one technique where you do not add any medium at all.
Special painting mediums are also available that change the oil paint in different ways. The most common are those that shorten or lengthen the drying time of the oil paint. Check your art supply store or the Internet to see the available types of mediums. All medium bottles will show instructions on how best to use the particular medium.
Oil paintings must be varnished to protect them from undesirable elements such as dirt and toxins. Varnish is a clear solution made from a resin and turpentine or some other solvent.
In art-supply stores you will see two major types, retouching varnish and picture varnish. Depending on the paint layer thickness, it can take six months or more for an oil painting to dry. In the meantime, the surface of the painting needs to be protected with a coat of retouching varnish. After the varnish is applied, the turpentine evaporates, and leaving a thin protective coat. You can apply retouching varnish as soon as the paint feels dry to the touch.
Picture varnish contains more resin than retouching varnish. It should be applied about six months after you complete a painting. If you paint with impasto-like brushstrokes, you may have to wait as long as a year before applying the final coat.
Both types of varnish are applied in the same manner. Using a broad, flat nylon brush, apply the varnish evenly using horizontal strokes. You can also use retouching varnish to brighten dry dull patches in your painting.
Things Required to Make Oil Painting Easier
Ben Jonson asked:
The process of painting with varnishes is popularly known as oil painting. Varnishes are a combination of oil like the linseed oil with the resin such as pine resin. Other than linseed oil, oils like poppy seed oil, walnut oil and safflower oil. Oil paintings provide extremely versatile color combinations. For a thick coat oil paints can be used in impasto, which is a textured application where the marks of the paint brush remain visible. They can even be used for a thin layered image like glazes.
Here are some oil painting tips which will make your painting experience more enjoyable and disciplined.
• First the selection of a non porous palette is of vital importance; it would be extremely useful if he would place it in the same order as you paint so that it could be dipped instinctively thus constituting a good flow of painting . Always pour a good amount of whites. Arranging the colors at the end of the palette is considered as good practice thus providing space in the center for mixing.
• It is always suggested to invest in a good set of brushes because cheap set of brushes often tend to lay their bristles. Sometimes it extremely becomes difficult to clean the brush, then it would be suggested that you mix some thinner along with some liquid soap, the brushed can be dipped and then it could be wiped with a newspaper.
• At times it becomes a major chaos to find the right combination of colors to get a lighter combination or a darker shade. The commonly used colors come from the spectrum viz; red, blue, violet, orange, yellow, green. The chaos would be easily solved once we become aware of the properties of colors value ,intensity ,temperature and hue .Intensity or purity of a color indicates how bright or dull the color is For example when orange is directly used from the tube it has higher intensity. On the other hand value of the color refers to the darkness and the lightness of the color. Colors vary in temperature from warm yellows to cool violets. Hue is the synonym of color like apple and cherry are shades or hues of red . Ivory black can be avoided to be used for underpainting or outlining as it dries much slower than the rest of the oil paints.
• To avoid cracks in the painting always follow the fat over lean i.e.; the proportion of oil should be increased for each additional layer because the lower layers penetrate the oil of the layers above, thus causing cracks.
• It is much preferable that the oil paintings should never be dried in the dark this will constitute to the formation of a thin film of oil raised above thus yellowing the paints.
The process of painting with varnishes is popularly known as oil painting. Varnishes are a combination of oil like the linseed oil with the resin such as pine resin. Other than linseed oil, oils like poppy seed oil, walnut oil and safflower oil. Oil paintings provide extremely versatile color combinations. For a thick coat oil paints can be used in impasto, which is a textured application where the marks of the paint brush remain visible. They can even be used for a thin layered image like glazes.
Here are some oil painting tips which will make your painting experience more enjoyable and disciplined.
• First the selection of a non porous palette is of vital importance; it would be extremely useful if he would place it in the same order as you paint so that it could be dipped instinctively thus constituting a good flow of painting . Always pour a good amount of whites. Arranging the colors at the end of the palette is considered as good practice thus providing space in the center for mixing.
• It is always suggested to invest in a good set of brushes because cheap set of brushes often tend to lay their bristles. Sometimes it extremely becomes difficult to clean the brush, then it would be suggested that you mix some thinner along with some liquid soap, the brushed can be dipped and then it could be wiped with a newspaper.
• At times it becomes a major chaos to find the right combination of colors to get a lighter combination or a darker shade. The commonly used colors come from the spectrum viz; red, blue, violet, orange, yellow, green. The chaos would be easily solved once we become aware of the properties of colors value ,intensity ,temperature and hue .Intensity or purity of a color indicates how bright or dull the color is For example when orange is directly used from the tube it has higher intensity. On the other hand value of the color refers to the darkness and the lightness of the color. Colors vary in temperature from warm yellows to cool violets. Hue is the synonym of color like apple and cherry are shades or hues of red . Ivory black can be avoided to be used for underpainting or outlining as it dries much slower than the rest of the oil paints.
• To avoid cracks in the painting always follow the fat over lean i.e.; the proportion of oil should be increased for each additional layer because the lower layers penetrate the oil of the layers above, thus causing cracks.
• It is much preferable that the oil paintings should never be dried in the dark this will constitute to the formation of a thin film of oil raised above thus yellowing the paints.
