oil directly on wood- OK?

[CheshireCat]

I have had the hardest time trying to come up with an answer to this. I really like the Art Boards maple wood panels for painting. The first time, I primed the board with gesso, but I recently started a painting on one without priming it first :eek: . So far so good, you can see the wood grain through a little bit on some parts, but I like it. Am I looking at any potential long-term problems with this method? Anyone else paint this way?

Thanks!

[Brian Firth]

The acid in the oil paint will eventually attack the wood fibers and cause the wood to break down. If you want to maintain the appearance of the plain wood I would recommend using clear gesso from Liquitex or Winsor & Newton, or size the surface with rabbit skin glue. You could also use PVA size from Gamblin or GAC 100 from Golden Acrylics. Any one of these products would protect the wood from the acids in oil paint and retain the natural appearance.

[Enchanted]

I have had the hardest time trying to come up with an answer to this. I really like the Art Boards maple wood panels for painting.
Linseed oil has long been considered one of the best "preservatives" for woods of all kinds. I don't know why artists insist it causes problems when used with artist's oil colors. I have long used straight commercial linseed oil for periodically coating my outdoor redwood deck to keep it from absorbing water and rotting. And artist grade linseed oil is even more refined.

[MarkMark]

As mentioned there is the chance that over time the oil may rot the wood.
I would however suggest that this would be over a fairly considerable length of time. So the only real question is how long you want to keep your works..

Painting on the unprimed wood is I would imagine like painting on unprimed paper or card. (something I have done a lot of) The oil quickly sinking in and giving a very 'flat' appearance, I think this can be quite exciting particularly as the oil surface drys very rapidly allowing one to work much more quickly than might otherwise be possible and giving a quite distinctive look.

For reference Ive also painted on hardboard, the rough back of hardboard can be quite an exciting surface to work with so long as you are prepared to incorparate the look into your painting.

[Enchanted]

Linseed Oil Protects Wood

Linseed oil, derived from flax, is a major ingredient in many fine oil paints, varnishes and stains. However, because coatings’ labels seldom carry ingredient lists, the linseed oil content may not be visible on some products. Nevertheless, linseed oil preserves and beautifies, providing superior protection on wooden surfaces, from decks to marine products.

(Linseed oil is THE VEHICLE in traditional oil paints of manufactured brands)

[ginatec]

[QUOTE=CheshireCat]I have had the hardest time trying to come up with an answer to this. I really like the Art Boards maple wood panels for painting.


I would never advise painting straight on board. I by preference would apply a coat of gesso in one direcyion and when it was dry in the other...unless of course you were painting a thick impasto by knife!

One thought that occurs to me is... have you tied to contact the owners of the art board maple wood panels to ask what they advise? Maybe they have a web site.

Regards
Gina

[ckdexterhaven]

Many painters have painted on wood panels with no ill effects. Some artists have even allowed wood to show through in places. A few years ago I saw Jules Breton's Study for Le Gouter (the Snack) at the (old) Dahesh Museum in NYC. You can clearly see plenty of golden wood poking through the grassy scumbled areas. It is a beautiful example of how the warmth of oiled wood can unify a plen air study-warm shadows, cool lights. BTW: there is no gesso -you can see the grain of the wood. I suppose there could have been some glue sizing. Judging from the warm color, oil must have been applied to the wood before painting.

[CheshireCat]

Well we certainly have some varying opinions! I wanted to post the WIP painting I was talking about in case you all wanted to take a look.

[stagfoot]

To say that oil 'rots' wood is possibly a bit of a misnomer.
We generally associate rotting with moisture and bacterial or fungal action, and as stated linseed will help protect wood from the presence of moisture.
But that doesn't mean it's not involved in it's own subtle attack on the wood. The acids in oils can have a slow corrosive action on the supports surface.
Some woods are much more resistant to this than others, but the action is not all one way, as the acids in wood can actually be attacking the oil paint.
If you insist on painting on bare wood I'd suggest you find one thats low in acidity and also resistant to acidic action.
Maybe you could size the surface with rabbit skin glue first, that might give the same look.

[Enchanted]

Maybe you could size the surface with rabbit skin glue first, that might give the same look.
I'd opt for either using a polyurethane varnish or clear acrylic varnish as the sealer if someone is convinced of the need for a sealer 'other than linseed oil,' which is a sealer itself once it polymerizes.

[Einion]

The acid in the oil paint will eventually attack the wood fibers and cause the wood to break down.
Well I've long had a problem with the oft-quoted advice about sizing wood since linseed oil has been used for centuries to seal and protect wood, although it's not the best thing for this by any means it certainly doesn't appear to have adverse effects (other than darkening the wood) and it is one of the primary ingredients in French polishing, hardly the shodiest finish!

Einion

[colours_man]

I have spent a long time making violins and one of the surface treatments for the bare wood is rub linseed oil into it. It acts as a sealant, and when left in the sun makes the wood go a nice golden brown. This acts as a base for the subsequent varnishing scheme.
I have never heard of any problems with linseed oil attacking wood, quite the reverse in fact, and violin varnishes are often linssed od stand oil based.
As there are fiddles around that are about 500 years old I think we can say it is ok.
But as I mentioned is does make the darken on exposure to light, and I doubt if you want this.

Nick