Getting started with oils

Hey Darren,  I like to thin oils with turpenoid.  Doesn't attack paint and is easy to work with.   And oils blend really well.  Oils take an eternity to dry so plan for that. 

Thanks John,

what's turpenoid please? Is it just synthetic turpentine?

regards

Darren

'Material' rather than 'technique' related, but if you're talking artists' oils rather than just oil-based paints, I'd suggest maybe going a step above the 'cheapo' starter sets.

The difference in artists' oils tends to be the quality and size of the pigments -- and if you go just a step above the bargain ones, there's less chance of ending up with blotchy colors or visible flakes in your carefully-applied glazes, filters and dry-brushing.

Sadly, the voice of experience here. 

Thanks. I bought a couple of tubes of Abteilung 502 - 'Smoke' & 'Burnt Umber'. These should do nicely. 

dazzjazz

Thanks John,

what's turpenoid please? Is it just synthetic turpentine?

regards

Darren

 

I don't know about it's makeup,but it's in the same section as the artists oils in your craft stores,Windsor and Newton is a popular brand.

Odorless Turpenoid is odorless, completely. Unless your sniffer is way more sensative than mine. The makeup is listed as highly clear refined odorless petroleum distillates according to the label,or  spirits in the art world.. My experience with odorless mineral spirits is that it's not quite truly odorless. My experience with Weber odorless Turpenoid is that it's void of odor. In terms of use in paint, they work the same. But in cleaning brushes after using oil paint, I find the actual mineral spirits more agressive than Turpenoid.

I use both in oil painting . If you don't mind the smell, hardware store odorless mineral spirits will save you a few bucks and clean your oil brushes quite well. I can't use it here unless the wife isn't home, she has athsma and it puts her right on an inhaler if she gets close. She paints with oils herself, we have her using Windsor Newtons water cleanup oils. And she uses water mixable  oil mediums for thinning ( WN Artisan Stand oil and Linseed oil are both water cleanup)..They also make solvent free thinner, fwiw. So her whole setup is water cleanup.

dazzjazz

Hi

I would appreciate any tips or links to help me get started using oils for weathering please.

Darren

Hi, Darren,

You've covered one of the important prerequisites already-get good paints.  I use Schminke-Mussini oils, myself, and Windsor & Newton are very good, too, if you want to add to your colors.

For weathering, I use earth colors-various browns, including burnt and raw siena and umber, along with some shades of yellow and even flesh for mixing and adjusting those colors.

I use oils for dry-brushing, for exhaust stains, for example, or to make washes, and oil or gasoline stains.

I use mineral spirits, but as others have noted, if you're sensitive to the smell, turpenoid is a popular alternative.  Though it's not completely odor-free.

And a tip that painters using oils use sometimes is to use a piece of cardboard or brown packaging paper as a palette to leach the linseed oil out of the paint.  This leaves a more concentrated pigment. I do that sometimes.

Also, a little bit of the paint will go a long way. It doesn't take a lot to do what we want to do. Those tubes you've bought may last you the rest of your life.

Off the top of my head, that's what I have.  Hope it helps!

Best regards,

Brad

Thanks Brad! I think we call mineral spirits "Methylated Spirits" here in Australia, but I have to double check that.

Darren

dazzjazz

Thanks Brad! I think we call mineral spirits "Methylated Spirits" here in Australia, but I have to double check that.

Darren

 

I think you will find that methylated spirits is an alcohol. Mineral spirits is not alcohol, it's petroleum based. The raw stuff smells much like kerosene or diesel fuel. The odorless goes quite a ways toward reducing that odor but not entirely. It might be called white spirits or petroleum spirits over your way.

 But of course I have no idea what name brands you have down there. If you have Gamblin, you could get Gamsol for your thinner.