Home Forums Explore Media Oil Painting The Technical Forum Is there a matte or satin oil painting medium?

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  • #452989
    contumacious
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        I do not want to add beeswax to my oils to reduce the sheen. I also do not want to wait until the painting is done to put a satin or matte finish on top of it. I want a medium that will make every type of paint more satin or matte looking once it has dried.

        The only option I have found so far is to use Gamblin Fast Matte Alkyds. I don’t want to buy those. I want to make my existing oils, be they store bought or hand mulled, dry with a satin or matte sheen regardless of the pigment.

        I have searched for a satin or matte oil painting medium without wax in it and have come up with bupkis. There is a myriad of matte mediums out there for acrylics, why not oils?

        #585065
        Gigalot
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            Talc. Try to make talc medium, use 60% Talc powder and grind it with 40% Linseed oil. Admix this medium into paint piles and go. It performs satin. If you add much, it acts as a matte additive.

            #585079
            Richard P
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                Silica is used as a matting agent in acrylic mediums

                #585069
                Grimbo
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                    I’ve used Spectrum’s alkyd matte medium available here in the UK, if that helps.

                    #585072
                    contumacious
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                        Thanks everyone so far for the suggestions to try.

                        I’ve used Spectrum’s alkyd matte medium available here in the UK, if that helps.

                        Is this the one you are referring to?

                        https://www.artsupplies.co.uk/item-matt-spectragel-medium.htm

                        #585056
                        WFMartin
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                            I am never concerned with the gloss, or the matte condition of my paint, or medium, since I use a final varnish for that sort of appearance.

                            Gamblin’s GamVar for Gloss varnish, and Winsor & Newton’s Artist Matte Varnish for Matte Varnish. Equal portions of W & N Artist Gloss Varnish, and W & N Matte Varnish for a “satin” sheen.

                            wfmartin. My Blog "Creative Realism"...
                            https://williamfmartin.blogspot.com

                            #585080
                            TomMather
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                                GamVar is available in matte, satin and gloss.

                                #585057
                                WFMartin
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                                    GamVar is available in matte, satin and gloss.

                                    Yeah…..Several other oil painters have told me that, as well. I was not aware of that. If so, I would certainly recommend the GamVar for each of those finishes.:)

                                    wfmartin. My Blog "Creative Realism"...
                                    https://williamfmartin.blogspot.com

                                    #585073
                                    contumacious
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                                        Thanks, but as noted in my original post, I am well aware of satin and matte varnishes. I want to be able to achieve a satin or a matte finish as I paint not at the end of the process.

                                        I find it interesting that the Spectrum matt(e) medium is the only one that anyone has found, that does not contain wax.

                                        #585066
                                        Gigalot
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                                            I find it interesting that the Spectrum matt(e) medium is the only one that anyone has found, that does not contain wax.

                                            Wax-free medium can’t act the wax migration troubles. Wax makes paint low adhesive, it weakens durability of paint film, it can cause efflorescence and paint film melting.

                                            #585058
                                            Delofasht
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                                                Have you thought about trying some Casein Emulsion to give that matte appearance? It will increase the drying speed of your oils though, and Casein is more brittle than Oils, so be sure to not put it over an oil only layer. Mixed together and used in each layer it should be fine though, and it shouod take only a little Casein to get that matte look. For a satin sheen, just wait a few weeks and buff the dry paint with a soft towel.

                                                Also, it is recommended to use Casein on a rigid surface due to it’s inflexibility.

                                                - Delo Delofasht
                                                #585067
                                                Gigalot
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                                                    Have you thought about trying some Casein Emulsion to give that matte appearance? It will increase the drying speed of your oils though, and Casein is more brittle than Oils, so be sure to not put it over an oil only layer. Mixed together and used in each layer it should be fine though, and it shouod take only a little Casein to get that matte look. For a satin sheen, just wait a few weeks and buff the dry paint with a soft towel.

                                                    Also, it is recommended to use Casein on a rigid surface due to it’s inflexibility.

                                                    Acrylic paint can replace Casein. It is flexible.

                                                    #585062
                                                    Dcam
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                                                        At NYU a friend of mine hated gloss and used to add very fine pumice or marble dust to his paint. He also made sure he worked on a rigid ground. His paintings came out nice and flat almost like pastels.
                                                        The experts here can tell us though, about the longevity of this procedure?

                                                        #585059
                                                        Delofasht
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                                                            Derek, that is true, ground dry inert additives are often added to paint for various purposes. Several of the old masters used such additives in their paints and their paintings are still around today. As to how much is needed to get a matte effect, that is a bit less known and whether such quantities will affect a film in a negative manner. I have a few paintings on panels that are quite matte with fairly large amounts of such additives in the paint, but their lifespans are so short as to not really yield much in the way of longevity as of yet.

                                                            Gigalot, just a few things, acrylic emulsions gain more or less matte nature based on formulation which can vary wildly, for one. Also, acrylic emulsions have not be shown to be compatible with oil from any reputable source as of yet. Lastly, oil paint already has some difficulty sticking to acrylic in some situations, showing that chemical crosslinking may not take place and may even reject each other. In short, oil and plastic have not really been shown to mix very well, even if oil turns into a polymer like plastic later in it’s curing process. You are very adamant that they work together, so please do make a blog and record your findings for us to read about. Ultimately we may make our own decisions based on such data.

                                                            - Delo Delofasht
                                                            #585074
                                                            contumacious
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                                                                Wax-free medium can’t act the wax migration troubles. Wax makes paint low adhesive, it weakens durability of paint film, it can cause efflorescence and paint film melting.

                                                                It also makes the dried paint film softer. For those reasons I do not want to use any medium with wax in it for this particular application.

                                                                Have you thought about trying some Casein Emulsion to give that matte appearance? It will increase the drying speed of your oils though, and Casein is more brittle than Oils, so be sure to not put it over an oil only layer. Mixed together and used in each layer it should be fine though, and it shouod take only a little Casein to get that matte look. For a satin sheen, just wait a few weeks and buff the dry paint with a soft towel.

                                                                Also, it is recommended to use Casein on a rigid surface due to it’s inflexibility.

                                                                I want to stick with oil mediums only at this time, but I will definitely look into what the results are like when adding casein emulsion to the oils. What makes the water based casein mixable and compatible with oil paints?

                                                                So far the only matte producing oil medium that has turned up is from Spectrum. I am now on a quest to find someone who will ship the Spectrum Matt Spectragel Medium to the USA. Every source looked at so far will not ship outside of their country.

                                                                Funny how some sellers state that oils, because they are “flammable”, cannot be shipped to the USA, yet you can purchase perfumes and colognes which are actually flammable, as in they ignite instantly when exposed to a flame. Oil paint can burn if you heat it enough or expose it to an open flame long enough, but so can a pair of socks or a book! They are not flammable per the hazmat shipping terminology. Over regulation is so fun!

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