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Garrett Copal Medium:
Whether you are a professional or an amateur artist, our products should be included in you list of art supplies. Garrett Copal Concentrate and Garrett Copal Medium will increase the techniques available to the oil painter. Paint brushes and palette knives become more durable tools with the copal mediums, as was well known by the Flemish and Renaissance Masters. When painting with oils, the artist should not discount the use of Garrett Copal Mediums. Our medium is an organic resinous varnish which becomes part of the paint and eliminates the need for a final coat of varnish. The finished painting is then impervious to most solvents and environmental hazards.

Modern oil paints, for the most part, employ aluminum stearate (a metallic soap) which keeps the oil from separating from the pigment, but creates "short" or stiff paint that lacks viscosity. Garrett Copal Concentrate is a viscous material that will turn short paint into long paint with the addition of one or two drops per inch or paint as it comes from the tube. With the addition of Garrett Copal Concentrate to tube paint, brush strokes will fuse and seek their own level. Brush strokes executed with short or stiff tube paint will retain the sharp grooves of the bristles. The natural brilliance and luminosity of the paint is retained with the addition of a few drops of our concentrate. The properties of our product make each layer of a glaze blend with the next and allows for the soft transition from one color to the next. They also allow for a more uniform drying time. Long paint allows the artist greater range for fine details with a brush or knife.

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snakum

February 18, 2003

Ratings from: snakum
Overall Rating

Summary Awesome!

Reviewer's Comments

I have not used the Garrett Medium but I have been using the concentrate for a week. It is everything Larry and Wayne said it would be.

I have mixed a number of different viscosities for the various layers in a painting in the same manner as Robert Doak sells his already-mixed Copal Mediums. I use a little Garretts with clear, distilled turps in the imprimatura and the 'wipe-out' method for underpainting works beautifully. In the next layers I use increasing amounts of the Copal with turps (Stand Oil is already present) to control how it blends or how much of a texture I want. The paint glides on, blends very nicely, and has a noticeable sheen to it. The look and handling is quite different from Doak and SP Copal. Good stuff so far!

My only concern is that the Garrett Copal is a little darker than SP or Doak. I'm not sure this means anything (many pros will say all Copal products darken too much) but I thought I should mention it.

Update - So far I've finished the large self-portrait and the smaller sun-lit Indian landscape with the Garratt and I still love it. I have two dropper-top glass bottles, one with a mixture of 80/20 turps/copal for imprimaturas, and a second with a 50/50 mixture for all other layers, and I also have a 1 oz. bottle of turps/copal/Canada Balsam for glazing. I included very small amounts of Cobalt Dryer in each mixture, just enough so that layers are ready for over-painting at about 36 hours.

The Garratt Copal blends very smoothly and dries rock hard and glossy. I absolutely LOVE this stuff, and I'd be sold on it even if it wasn't so inexpensive.

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rmichak

February 3, 2003

Ratings from: rmichak
Overall Rating

Summary The best copal product.

Reviewer's Comments

I do not like to give so called five star reviews, but this product is outstanding and is without peer among copal mediums. Garrett copal dries in just a couple of days to a very hard and glossy finish and stays workable for at least a day. I am able to paint thinly or create impasto passages depending on how I mix the concentrate, so it is a very versitile medium. It is buttery smooth and a joy to paint with. Almost a one size fits all vehicle, and no lead to deal with is a plus for people who are reluctant to work with it. The best part is that Ron sells it for $20 for two ounces and this includes shipping. It is the best deal going in oil paint mediums. Rick

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