Oiling in a WIP

[Singing Wind]

In painting with WS oils, does anyone have suggestions about how to bring up the color on a painting in progress.....I have seen in DVDs about oiling down the painting, but that was with regular oils. I have tried using a mixture of half water and half oil, but not sure if that removes some of the first layer. I have only worked with the linseed oil of Grumbacher Max.

Do any of you oil down your painting before starting the next session of painting? How does this work? I find the greens seem so dull, that I like to put oil mixture on the canvas. I do not use retouch varnish because of the fumes I am allergic to....

Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.
Tks
Kathy Neff

[dcorc]

... I have tried using a mixture of half water and half oil, but not sure if that removes some of the first layer.....

Sorry, but I find this very puzzling - does it, or doesn't it? If you start with a clean brush, do you find that it has colour on it after you try to oil out, or not?

If it does, then that suggests one of two things - either:

1. you are over-diluting the preceding layer (oil-paint is not intended to be diluted to washy consistency - additions should be minor components, not major ones) and it is therefore an unstable underbound paint-film.
or
2. you are not giving the preceding layer sufficiently long to dry between sessions. (and/or applying the oiling out too aggressively - use a soft brush, don't scrub it in with a bristle bright)

If you add water to WMOs, it is necessary for the water to evaporate out of the paint-film, and this slows the drying process. Furthermore, the paint-film of WMOs is reported as being a little softer than conventional oils.

I wonder if you are adding too much water, as over-dilution is also a cause of dulling/sinking-in, in oil-paintings.

Dave

[Singing Wind]

Thank you Dave, it could be that I am doing a combination of all three.....I will be more careful in the applications........would you suggest that I use just oil and not diluted oil for the application of oiling in?

[dcorc]

Its possible to just use oil - the main thing is not to use too much. Adding a solvent (which I can entirely understand you have no wish to do, having read your previous posts!) or water would allow you to get on a thinner coat.

One thing you might like to try, is to do test-swatches with paints applied with and without water, and oiled out at different times with oil or oil+water - get a feel for what works best for you, before doing it on an actual painting. :)


Dave

[MissVermeer]

Dont overdo it.
I once oiled out a painting done with watermixable oils and it became sticky and collected a lot of dust. It was sticky until I varnished it 8 month later.

But I should mention that I oiled over very thin layers of paint... maybe that was a mistake.