This submit is Component II, so if you have not however, examine Component I 1st! There I talk about oil mediums, solvents, and the mediums that I Will not use or advise.
Good, Particle-Centered “Mediums”
Technically these are additives, not mediums, but discovering their properties sales opportunities me to the medium I now use and advocate, so it really is handy to explain them listed here:
Fumed Silica (warmth-processed sand)
Fumed silica is an airy, feathery, powder dust created from granite sand. The particles have a massive surface area space and reduced mass, so when it truly is mixed with paint or oil it requires on “thixotropic” attributes. This usually means when you combine it or implement pressure it behaves like a soft flowing liquid, but when you you should not contact it, it holds its shape like a gel. I have utilised it by mixing it directly into my oil paint with a palette knife ideal on the easel, and alongside with a minimal oil, it really is a good way to increase the paint whilst retaining it transparent to make glassy glazes. The appropriate way to blend it is with a muller, but I have loved the paste I can get just with the knife. Having said that, there is an less difficult way to use it which I am going to protect underneath.
To remember its houses, preserve in intellect: Silica is clear! It’s sand, and that is what glass is built of, so use fumed silica for clear glazes.
Watch my video demo for how I insert fumed silica to my oil paint right here
Chalk (floor calcium)
Chalk dust is the identical stuff kids for generations have clapped out of blackboard erasers, and it is just as messy! I’ve employed it by mixing it straight into my paint, and it tends to make the paint “chunky”, dry, and quick to pile up into craggy impastos. I come to feel sure it is really likely the major component in any real “solution medium of the Aged Masters”. Like fumed silica, you can also combine it more effectively and thoroughly with a muller.
To remember its attributes, hold in thoughts: Chalk is OPAQUE. That is why we use it to write on chalkboards! So use chalk in your whites and light-weight-paint mixtures, to build up chunky impastos, thrust 3D shapes ahead into the light, and basically capture the mild with shiny peaks of texture.
Observe my video demo for how I incorporate chalk dust medium to my oil paint here
My Most well-liked Mediums
And now is in which we get to the great component: The mediums I most very advise! It truly is essentially really uncomplicated: They are just the dry solids I outlined earlier mentioned, but conveniently mulled and tubed with linseed oil. Organic Pigments helps make these mediums. They are very straightforward and low-priced, and you could also make them quickly at home, but Purely natural Pigments has finished the function for me, and I like to just open up the tubes and get started painting.
Tubed FUMED SILICA Medium for Glazes:
Oleogel medium by All-natural Pigments
I use Oleogel by mixing it into my paint correct on the palette with my palette knife, and I also use it to oil out my doing the job location of my portray with a makeup wedge (remaining impression). Due to the fact it has good particles blended into the linseed oil, it really is much a lot more secure than applying linseed oil alone, and it would make a genuinely gorgeous clear glaze. Out of the tube it seems like a apparent gel, you can see it in the middle of my palette in the middle picture. (All-natural pigments also would make speedy-drying variation called OleoRESgel, which I consider has alkyd additional, so that may possibly be a a wonderful substitute for Liquin or Galkyd. And Organic Pigments lists all their substances on their labels and fact sheets.)
Tubed CHALK Mediums for Impastos:
Impasto putty medium by Purely natural Pigments
Impasto medium by Normal Pigments
Velazquez medium by Organic Pigments
These are 3 distinctive proportions of the identical elements: Chalk dust combined with linseed oil. Impasto Putty has the most chalk, and it is really truly thick, almost like a dry peanut butter, and it forms shorter peaks when you “carry off” the palette knife.
Impasto Medium is in the middle, the regularity is more like room-temperature butter, with medium peaks.
Velazquez Medium is my favored, it can be a little bit a lot less chalk and additional oil, and so you get very long ropey peaks, and the regularity is more like a stretchy bitter product.
All of them make it possible for you to pile up your paint into thick impastos that seem like aged-grasp paint effects to me.
These chalk-based mediums also permit you to extend out the paint pretty slender, so I use it for my direct white under portray layer as well, the place I am using the opacity and transparency of guide white paint to develop a range of values more than the brown uncooked umber underpainting….
Watch my movie demo for mixing Oleogel and Impasto Putty into my paint listed here
Enjoy my online video demo for how I use Oleogel and Impasto Putty in my present portray
I will be sharing additional about producing a lead white less than portray when I launch my new painting online video training course later this year: Glazing and Scumbling a Continue to Lifetime with ROSES. My on the web video clip program Glazing and Scumbling is a excellent introduction to the methods I am going to be sharing in the additional state-of-the-art Roses study course.
Indication up for my mailing list to be notified as soon as the new on the web video course is produced!
I teach Alla Prima, Direct, and Indirect oil painting right here online, presented as absolutely pre-recorded online video classes you can look at any time, together with my Intro to Oil Portray which is perfect for rookies. I also offer you mentorship applications if you want assistance and aid while doing the job by way of the classes.
Your Questions about Mediums Answered:
These are much more queries men and women requested me about mediums on social media that I could not suit gracefully into the put up:
Do you use distinctive mediums for plein air vs studio function?
Functioning en plein air or even alla prima in the studio, I locate I am racing towards time so I use just a person medium, a easy combination of 50/50 linseed and odorless mineral spirits.
Do you use unique mediums for distinctive grounds or supports, like chalk primed panel, or oil primed linen?
No, but I use diverse grounds for distinct sorts of paintings: I use a chalk gesso floor on a easy tricky panel for Oblique portray, and I love RayMar’s oil primed linen panels for my immediate and alla prima paintings. You can see my resources lists with back links to my recommended products and solutions.
Why do some mediums make the paint keep on being tacky, and must you paint on a tacky layer?
If the previous paint layer is tacky you are probably using much too a lot oil – or possibly other components that are not drying quickly plenty of. A superior way to gauge if your prior paint layer is dry ample to paint around is the “thumbnail test” – If you can make an indentation in your paint film with a business press of your thumbnail, you need to wait for it to dry additional right before painting on it.
Can you blend various mediums with each other?
As lengthy as they are straightforward mediums, most likely of course, but you must be familiar with every single ingredient in your paint. I like to keep clear mediums and impasto mediums individual, since I use them for distinctive purposes in distinctive parts of the portray.
Are some mediums much more dangerous than many others?
Solvents (paint thinner or mineral spirits or turpentine) are far worse for your overall health than any other ingredient employed for portray, so do everything you can to limit your publicity to fumes.
Is Galkyd fats or lean?
Quickly-drying or slow-drying is significantly far more crucial theory than unwanted fat or lean. Alkyd mediums are quick-drying, so use it only in the lowest layers of a portray, or for moist-in-wet strategies, as in alla prima or plein air portray.
How do you steer clear of sinking in?
I really don’t, I just dwell with it! The darkish regions of a painting seem lighter-value and “matte” as an alternative of glossy and dark mainly because the oil is sucked into earlier paint levels. The extra layers there are, the worse the sinking-in turns into. I do “oil out” the region I program to paint into that working day, but I leave the relaxation matte. When the portray is carried out and dry, I do oil out the complete surface the moment to get a very good picture of the painting, but later on I wipe that oil off with odorless mineral spirits and a make-up sponge.
When the portray has experienced numerous months or months to dry, I varnish it, and then all the rich glossy dark colours return.
