Master Your Mediums: A Guide for Oil Painters: PART II of II

This write-up is Aspect II, so if you have not but, read Section I to start with! There I go over oil mediums, solvents, and the mediums that I Will not use or advocate.

Stable, Particle-Based mostly “Mediums”

Technically these are additives, not mediums, but discovering their properties potential customers me to the medium I presently use and endorse, so it is really practical to explain them in this article:

Fumed Silica (heat-processed sand)
Fumed silica is an ethereal, feathery, powder dust produced from granite sand. The particles have a massive surface area place and reduced mass, so when it really is mixed with paint or oil it will take on “thixotropic” attributes. This implies when you mix it or apply stress it behaves like a soft flowing liquid, but when you really don’t touch it, it holds its shape like a gel. I have employed it by mixing it immediately into my oil paint with a palette knife proper on the easel, and along with a very little oil, it’s a great way to increase the paint when trying to keep it clear to make glassy glazes. The proper way to blend it is with a muller, but I’ve liked the paste I can get just with the knife. On the other hand, there is an easier way to use it which I’ll protect down below.

To bear in mind its qualities, maintain in mind: Silica is transparent! It truly is sand, and that is what glass is produced of, so use fumed silica for transparent glazes.

Observe my video demo for how I include fumed silica to my oil paint in this article

Chalk (ground calcium)
Chalk dust is the similar things small children for generations have clapped out of blackboard erasers, and it is just as messy! I’ve used it by mixing it right into my paint, and it can make the paint “chunky”, dry, and uncomplicated to pile up into craggy impastos. I truly feel selected it truly is probably the major component in any genuine “magic formula medium of the Aged Masters”. Like fumed silica, you can also blend it far more appropriately and extensively with a muller.

To bear in mind its homes, keep in intellect: Chalk is OPAQUE. That’s why we use it to create on chalkboards! So use chalk in your whites and mild-paint mixtures, to create up chunky impastos, drive 3D shapes forward into the mild, and literally capture the gentle with bright peaks of texture.

Check out my movie demo for how I increase chalk dust medium to my oil paint in this article

My Most popular Mediums
And now is the place we get to the excellent section: The mediums I most highly recommend! It can be essentially really straightforward: They are just the dry solids I outlined above, but conveniently mulled and tubed with linseed oil. Normal Pigments would make these mediums. They are incredibly uncomplicated and cheap, and you could also make them quickly at home, but Organic Pigments has performed the function for me, and I prefer to just open up the tubes and commence painting.

Tubed FUMED SILICA Medium for Glazes:
Oleogel medium by Purely natural Pigments
I use Oleogel by mixing it into my paint appropriate on the palette with my palette knife, and I also use it to oil out my performing area of my painting with a makeup wedge (remaining image). Due to the fact it has reliable particles combined into the linseed oil, it can be substantially extra stable than using linseed oil alone, and it tends to make a actually wonderful transparent glaze. Out of the tube it seems like a very clear gel, you can see it in the center of my palette in the middle image. (Normal pigments also makes quick-drying version termed OleoRESgel, which I consider has alkyd extra, so that may possibly be a a wonderful replacement for Liquin or Galkyd. And All-natural Pigments lists all their elements on their labels and point sheets.)

Tubed CHALK Mediums for Impastos:

Impasto putty medium by Natural Pigments
Impasto medium by Normal Pigments
Velazquez medium by Natural Pigments

These are 3 distinct proportions of the identical substances: Chalk dust combined with linseed oil. Impasto Putty has the most chalk, and it truly is truly thick, nearly like a dry peanut butter, and it varieties quick peaks when you “lift off” the palette knife.

Impasto Medium is in the center, the consistency is far more like space-temperature butter, with medium peaks.

Velazquez Medium is my most loved, it is really a little bit much less chalk and a lot more oil, and so you get extended ropey peaks, and the consistency is extra like a stretchy sour cream.

All of them allow you to pile up your paint into thick impastos that look like aged-learn paint results to me.

These chalk-based mostly mediums also allow for you to stretch out the paint really skinny, so I use it for my guide white below painting layer as properly, wherever I am utilizing the opacity and transparency of guide white paint to generate a assortment of values more than the brown uncooked umber underpainting….

Look at my movie demo for mixing Oleogel and Impasto Putty into my paint here

Look at my movie demo for how I use Oleogel and Impasto Putty in my recent painting

I am going to be sharing more about generating a lead white under portray when I launch my new painting video training course later on this year: Glazing and Scumbling a Nonetheless Existence with ROSES. My on line video program Glazing and Scumbling is a fantastic introduction to the approaches I am going to be sharing in the more superior Roses program.

Sign up for my mailing checklist to be notified as soon as the new on the net online video program is launched!

I educate Alla Prima, Direct, and Indirect oil portray here on-line, available as completely pre-recorded video clip programs you can enjoy any time, which includes my Intro to Oil Painting which is best for beginners. I also offer you mentorship packages if you want help and assistance when performing via the courses.

Your Inquiries about Mediums Answered:
These are additional questions persons requested me about mediums on social media that I could not fit gracefully into the write-up:

Do you use various mediums for plein air vs studio perform?
Operating en plein air or even alla prima in the studio, I obtain I am racing against time so I use just one particular medium, a straightforward mixture of 50/50 linseed and odorless mineral spirits.

Do you use different mediums for distinct grounds or supports, like chalk primed panel, or oil primed linen?
No, but I use different grounds for different varieties of paintings: I use a chalk gesso floor on a smooth tough panel for Indirect painting, and I like RayMar’s oil primed linen panels for my direct and alla prima paintings. You can see my elements lists with links to my encouraged items.

Why do some mediums make the paint remain tacky, and must you paint on a tacky layer?
If the preceding paint layer is tacky you are likely applying as well much oil – or perhaps other components that are not drying quickly enough. A great way to gauge if your prior paint layer is dry more than enough to paint about is the “thumbnail take a look at” – If you can make an indentation in your paint film with a company press of your thumbnail, you really should wait around for it to dry a lot more just before portray on it.

Can you mix distinctive mediums alongside one another?
As long as they are easy mediums, most likely yes, but you should be acquainted with each and every component in your paint. I like to hold transparent mediums and impasto mediums independent, considering that I use them for different applications in distinct pieces of the painting.

Are some mediums more harmful than other people?
Solvents (paint thinner or mineral spirits or turpentine) are much worse for your well being than any other component utilized for portray, so do all the things you can to limit your publicity to fumes.

Is Galkyd fats or lean?
Speedy-drying or slow-drying is significantly much more critical principle than extra fat or lean. Alkyd mediums are quickly-drying, so use it only in the cheapest layers of a portray, or for moist-in-moist methods, as in alla prima or plein air portray.

How do you stay away from sinking in?
I never, I just dwell with it! The dark parts of a painting seem lighter-worth and “matte” in its place of glossy and dim since the oil is sucked into preceding paint levels. The much more levels there are, the even worse the sinking-in becomes. I do “oil out” the area I prepare to paint into that day, but I depart the relaxation matte. When the portray is finished and dry, I do oil out the total floor once to take a excellent photograph of the portray, but afterwards I wipe that oil off with odorless mineral spirits and a makeup sponge.
When the portray has had several months or months to dry, I varnish it, and then all the wealthy glossy dim hues return.