This article is Aspect II, so if you have not nevertheless, browse Component I first! There I focus on 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 exploring their properties potential customers me to the medium I presently use and suggest, so it can be valuable to explain them here:
Fumed Silica (warmth-processed sand)
Fumed silica is an ethereal, feathery, powder dust created from granite sand. The particles have a large floor space and low mass, so when it really is mixed with paint or oil it requires on “thixotropic” qualities. This signifies when you blend it or implement strain it behaves like a smooth flowing liquid, but when you will not contact it, it holds its condition like a gel. I’ve utilised it by mixing it straight into my oil paint with a palette knife appropriate on the easel, and together with a small oil, it is really a wonderful way to lengthen the paint while trying to keep it transparent to make glassy glazes. The suitable way to mix it is with a muller, but I have loved the paste I can get just with the knife. Even so, there is an a lot easier way to use it which I am going to go over under.
To remember its attributes, continue to keep in intellect: Silica is clear! It really is sand, and that is what glass is produced of, so use fumed silica for clear glazes.
View my video demo for how I increase fumed silica to my oil paint right here
Chalk (ground calcium)
Chalk dust is the exact things little ones for generations have clapped out of blackboard erasers, and it is just as messy! I’ve utilized it by mixing it right into my paint, and it tends to make the paint “chunky”, dry, and straightforward to pile up into craggy impastos. I feel specified it really is probable the most important ingredient in any true “solution medium of the Old Masters”. Like fumed silica, you can also combine it much more properly and completely with a muller.
To bear in mind its qualities, keep in brain: Chalk is OPAQUE. Which is why we use it to write on chalkboards! So use chalk in your whites and light-weight-paint mixtures, to establish up chunky impastos, thrust 3D styles forward into the light, and basically catch the mild with brilliant peaks of texture.
Look at my video clip demo for how I incorporate chalk dust medium to my oil paint here
My Desired Mediums
And now is where we get to the superior part: The mediums I most remarkably advocate! It can be in fact really easy: They are just the dry solids I listed earlier mentioned, but conveniently mulled and tubed with linseed oil. Organic Pigments would make these mediums. They are quite basic and low-cost, and you could also make them very easily at home, but Organic Pigments has performed the do the job for me, and I favor to just open the tubes and start out portray.
Tubed FUMED SILICA Medium for Glazes:
Oleogel medium by Pure 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 work location of my portray with a makeup wedge (still left impression). Simply because it has solid particles combined into the linseed oil, it’s a great deal more secure than employing linseed oil alone, and it tends to make a truly wonderful clear glaze. Out of the tube it seems like a obvious gel, you can see it in the middle of my palette in the middle image. (Pure pigments also will make speedy-drying version named OleoRESgel, which I believe has alkyd added, so that may be a a excellent alternative for Liquin or Galkyd. And Organic Pigments lists all their ingredients on their labels and fact sheets.)
Tubed CHALK Mediums for Impastos:
Impasto putty medium by Purely natural Pigments
Impasto medium by Purely natural Pigments
Velazquez medium by Organic Pigments
These are 3 different proportions of the very same ingredients: Chalk dust combined with linseed oil. Impasto Putty has the most chalk, and it can be truly thick, almost like a dry peanut butter, and it varieties limited peaks when you “elevate off” the palette knife.
Impasto Medium is in the center, the regularity is extra like area-temperature butter, with medium peaks.
Velazquez Medium is my preferred, it’s a bit less chalk and more oil, and so you get lengthy ropey peaks, and the regularity is extra like a stretchy bitter cream.
All of them make it possible for you to pile up your paint into thick impastos that glance like old-master paint effects to me.
These chalk-dependent mediums also make it possible for you to stretch out the paint extremely slim, so I use it for my direct white underneath painting layer as nicely, the place I am utilizing the opacity and transparency of lead white paint to build a array of values in excess of the brown raw umber underpainting….
Enjoy my movie demo for mixing Oleogel and Impasto Putty into my paint right here
Watch my video clip demo for how I use Oleogel and Impasto Putty in my current painting
I will be sharing additional about creating a lead white underneath painting when I release my new portray video clip training course later this year: Glazing and Scumbling a Continue to Lifetime with ROSES. My on the internet video clip training course Glazing and Scumbling is a excellent introduction to the techniques I will be sharing in the additional innovative Roses system.
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I teach Alla Prima, Direct, and Oblique oil portray below on the internet, presented as entirely pre-recorded movie classes you can look at any time, like my Intro to Oil Painting which is ideal for rookies. I also give mentorship plans if you want help and aid while performing by the programs.
Your Inquiries about Mediums Answered:
These are more issues men and women asked me about mediums on social media that I could not in good shape gracefully into the article:
Do you use distinct mediums for plein air vs studio get the job done?
Doing the job 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 uncomplicated combination of 50/50 linseed and odorless mineral spirits.
Do you use diverse mediums for distinct grounds or supports, like chalk primed panel, or oil primed linen?
No, but I use different grounds for distinctive varieties of paintings: I use a chalk gesso floor on a easy challenging panel for Indirect painting, and I love RayMar’s oil primed linen panels for my direct and alla prima paintings. You can see my resources lists with inbound links to my advisable merchandise.
Why do some mediums make the paint remain tacky, and should you paint on a tacky layer?
If the earlier paint layer is tacky you are possibly employing much too a great deal oil – or perhaps other ingredients that are not drying rapid more than enough. A good way to gauge if your previous paint layer is dry enough to paint more than is the “thumbnail exam” – If you can make an indentation in your paint film with a business push of your thumbnail, you should hold out for it to dry more in advance of portray on it.
Can you combine distinctive mediums together?
As long as they are simple mediums, in all probability yes, but you should really be common with each and every component in your paint. I like to keep clear mediums and impasto mediums different, considering the fact that I use them for diverse needs in diverse areas of the painting.
Are some mediums additional dangerous than many others?
Solvents (paint thinner or mineral spirits or turpentine) are significantly worse for your health than any other component employed for painting, so do every little thing you can to limit your exposure to fumes.
Is Galkyd body fat or lean?
Fast-drying or slow-drying is much much more essential principle than body fat or lean. Alkyd mediums are fast-drying, so use it only in the lowest levels of a painting, or for damp-in-wet strategies, as in alla prima or plein air portray.
How do you stay clear of sinking in?
I you should not, I just are living with it! The dark locations of a portray seem lighter-price and “matte” in its place of glossy and dark since the oil is sucked into prior paint levels. The more layers there are, the worse the sinking-in results in being. I do “oil out” the spot I approach to paint into that day, but I go away the rest matte. When the portray is done and dry, I do oil out the full surface area as soon as to take a superior photograph of the portray, but later on I wipe that oil off with odorless mineral spirits and a make-up sponge.
When the portray has experienced many weeks or months to dry, I varnish it, and then all the wealthy glossy dim hues return.