If painting with oils, you need a solvent to clean your brushes and fine paintings. Of course, if you paint with water-soluble oil, then you need water for cleanup.
Turpentine is a standard solvent used to thin oil paints flow. You can buy turpentine at any art store or hardware store.
Some artists work with mineral spirits. This is also available at hardware stores. To save money, buy the largest available quantity and use a smaller container when you make your real painting.
Oil paint tube (ie, oil paint straight from the tube) can be difficult to manipulate. Some colors are more rigid than others and may be difficult to distribute evenly over your canvas.
A painting medium is a liquid solution that makes oil paint smooth and easy to manipulate. Addition of any of a number of different painting mediums changes the consistency of paint. Some media are meant to make the paint thinner for glazing and others are intended to make the paint thicker for impasto painting. There are ways to shorten or lengthen the drying time too.
The most basic means is regular turpentine. Add a little turpentine to thin the oil paint. Another method used is linseed oil, which makes the paint more fluid, but with time it also tends to yellow the paint. The most commonly used is a combination of turpentine and linseed oil, sometimes with the addition of a little Damar varnish.
Start experimenting with half and half mixture of turpentine and linseed oil. Linseed oil slows the drying process, so you may want to increase the proportion of turpentine. A good mix is three parts of turpentine to one part linseed oil.
Once you find the medium you like, mix a batch and store in a tightly closed bottle. As you paint, dip your brush in the mixture, then add a little paint, and then combine in your palette (mixing area).
Preliminary compositions can be drawn on the canvas with a thin turpentine wash, a little bit of paint and a lot of turpentine. A wash of turpentine evaporates very quickly, so you can quickly paint over it.
In general, the turpentine is used more for faster dry times and linseed oil is used more for the underpainting and initial layers . If you like strong, permanently visible brush strokes, you may want to use less medium. Dry brush is a technique which does not add any medium at all.
Special painting mediums are also available to change the oil painting in different ways. The most common are those that shorten or lengthen the drying time of oil paint. Review your art shop or the internet to see the available types of medium.
Oil Paintings should be varnished to protect from unwanted elements like dirt and toxins. Varnish is a clear solution from a resin and turpentine or some other solvent.
Depending on the thickness of the paint layer, it can take six months or more for an oil painting to dry. Meanwhile, the surface of the paint must be protected with a coat of retouching varnish. After the varnish is applied, the turpentine evaporates, leaving a thin protective layer. You can apply touch-up paint as soon as the paint feels dry to the touch.
Varnish should be applied six months after completing a painting. If painting with impasto-like strokes, you may have to wait as long as a year before applying the end layer.
Both types of varnish are applied in the same way. Using a wide flat brush, apply the varnish evenly with horizontal strokes. You can also use varnish to clarify dull dry patches in your painting.
About the Author:
Remi Engels, Ph.D., is a pencil portrait artist and oil painter. He is also the author of a popular Pencil Portrait Drawing Course. Get Your Free copy here: Remi’s Pencil Portrait Drawing Course while supplies last.
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Tips on Oil Painting – Solvents Mediums and Varnishes
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