Linseed Oil as Medium

[George O'Hanlon]

Linseed oil is perhaps the best medium to use in oil painting, because it is simple and besides, linseed oil is usually part of the paint in the tube.

All drying oils -- whether used to grind pigments or used as painting mediums -- will eventually crack. Alkyd resins eventually crack. It is part of the aging process and is unavoidable. The only thing we can do is to use the best materials available, construct our paintings soundly and use rigid supports. If you use flexible supports, for example, your paintings will crack sooner than if you had painted on rigid supports. When using other substances besides oil as painting mediums to build your paintings, you are risking poor formulation, because that is what you are doing (paint formulating) when mixing other substances with oil colors. Few artists I know are good paint formulators. It is for this reason perhaps that we see so much inconsistency in the use of resins in artists' paint, although may resins, such as alkyds, have a good history of use in architectural and industrial paint. When incorrectly used, any paint material may cause problems, but when correctly used, as is evidenced in commercial paints, they provide benefits.

[Robert Garrett]

do you disagree with the use of walnut oil as a medium?

RG

[George O'Hanlon]

Walnut oil can be used as a medium with good effect.

[Paul Rhoads]

...but you are suggesting that the ideal paint layer would consist of pigment and a single drying oil?

[George O'Hanlon]

Keeping the paint layer simple, such as pigment and oil, is the best practice but not always possible.

[J.A. Borgesse]

I am presently using NP Low Viscocity Heat Bodied Oil to obtain a leveling or enamel-like effect. More specifically, I wish to use this oil in an all oil mixture with varying portions of Epoxide, Sun Thickened, and Pale Grinder's oil. Would the High Viscosity Heat Bodied oil produce a more pronounced leveling? Also, in such all-oil mixtures, which viscosity Heat Bodied Oil would be most appropriate or practical?

[George O'Hanlon]

The higher the viscosity the bodied oil is the greater the polymerization and hence the more pronounced the leveling and flow out of the oil.

Bodied oils are excellent for oil painting mediums, because they are less prone to yellowing than unbodied or untreated oils.

[ 05. May 2010, 08:49: Message edited by: Admin ]

[sander]

George, thanks for confirming my observations. It seems to me that your NP High Viscosity bodied oil is also among the lightest in color just as it comes.

[ChrisB]

George,
Currently I using OMS and Walnut oil as mediums. I chose Walnut for its less yellowing reputation.

Knowing full well that different oils achieve different effects in painting ...

Of all the oils you sell, if you had to recommend ONLY ONE type of Linseed oil to start with as a general all purpose medium for a beginner - what would it be? (example: Low Viscocity Heat Bodied Linseed, etc.)

Thanks
Chris

[George O'Hanlon]

Originally posted by ChrisB:
Of all the oils you sell, if you had to recommend ONLY ONE type of Linseed oil to start with as a general all purpose medium for a beginner - what would it be? (example: Low Viscocity Heat Bodied Linseed, etc.)

Chris,

Any recommendation would depend upon what you are trying to achieve (at least, generally speaking) with your painting medium? Is it thin paste paints? To increase flow and leveling? To increase gloss of the paint surface?