Returning to trad. oils, help w. shopping list?

[fancyhorse]

Hi you guys,

So I'm returning to traditional oils, got tired of the water mixables, just not as fun for me. I am eager to go out and get some supplies for the traditional oils, so I can keep working on this one painting that I started in the water mixables.

So I need the paints, solvent and mediums that you mix into the paint.

Can you help me figure out what I'll need? My memory is a little dusty.

1)What is the least toxic most pleasant ( ha ha, as if...) solvent to use?

2)Which medium should I get for good flow in general?

3)Which medium should i get specifically to speed drying as needed (this is called alkyd, right?).

4) Generally I want to be thinning my paint with 50% linseed or something comparable + 50% solvent, right? Which do you prefer, linseed or? Which has nicest consistency but doesn't yellow, what is the most popular and user-friendly these days?

5)Do you guys recommend one kind of brush more than other? I recall hog-bristle seems to be a must to have around, with oils, in general, to move such thick paint around? Maybe finer sable for softer texture and fine details?

6)What do you add to your paint for fine detail such as eyelashes? More linseed than usual or more thinner so long as you are within the parameters of fat over lean?

7)Hmmm, I was just net-surfing about alkyd mediums and it looks like now you can get alkyd paints, there are whole lines of alkyd paints? Do these perform as nicely as the regular oils? I would prefer the faster drying time. Can anyone recommend a brand or line that is very buttery and nice to work with and has gorgeous colors?

8)I also need to try to keep things as minimally toxic as possible, have birds and pets in a small house. I was just reading that the oil paint brand Gamblin has gone out of it's way to produce paints that are minimally toxic, does anyone use them and like them? I was thinking to try their Alkyd line...

I have been tuning into the other 'newbie' threads, but also whatever advice you might have for me to get going quickly would be much appreciated.

[crafor]

A lot of people, me included, do not use solvents at all for oil painting. I use walnut oil for thinning paint and cleaning brushes, sometimes I use linseed oil, mainly because I have it. Probably will not buy more when this is gone.
In order to use solvents safely, you need a very good air system, good airflow, adequate ventilation, and that means big bucks. I don't use them because I can't. Even inhaling a small amount means serious health issues for me. I couldn't paint with oils if they were needed.
Crafor

[Pixus]

In terms of medium, as well as in regard to your eyelash question... I use Winsor and Newton Liquin, it helps with the fine detail and the drying time. I used to use linseed oil but I actually prefer liquin, it dries faster. I use a sealable container (old instant coffee bottle) for my turpentine so that when im not rinsing my paintbrushes, I can keep it closed. I'm a huge fan of the new W&N oil paint range, they hav a lot of awesome colours like Davy's Gray which I can't find in any other range of paints.

[fancyhorse]

Wow, thanks guys. I had no idea you could use just walnut to thin AND clean. That's great. The liquin is a good tip-off, that's what I was after.

Do you use the liquin straight or do you ever add solvent along with it?

I used W&N student grade years back, I loved them, I bet I would really like the regular artist grade esp. if they are more improved than ever.

[mariposa-art]

I don't know if this will be helpful but I'll just give the rundown of what I use right now.

I use "snob" paints (LOL, my jokey term for higher end artist paints). There are many schools of thought about which brands are the best. You can find many threads here discussing them. I'd say you will do fine getting some "mid-range" snob paints (like W&N Artist Oils are never a bad choice), at least for starters. Also if you are in the USA, you would probably LOVE Blue Ridge for price and for snob-ability. Best of both worlds, and the guy who runs the company is very accessible, so I hear. http://blueridgeartist.com/

Right now I use an odorless mineral spirits—either Gamsol (quite popular) or Eco-House NeutroThin (or however you spell it). I think both of these are equally low on the toxic scale, but they are what they are—still solvents and you must be careful. I am planning on going solvent-free eventually, and will likely go the walnut oil route.

As for medium, I have a ton of different mediums I've dabbled with, but keep on going back to Liquin. Some people love it, some people don't. On this one thing I decided to just go with the flow. I have been using Liquin since my college days and the paintings I have from back then look fine. (And that was a while ago!) I really, really like to use a medium that speeds up drying, and Liquin does that.

The reason I stuck with Liquin (even though I am sure there are better alternatives out there) is because you can get Liquin EVERYWHERE, plus, it's important to keep your medium consistent throughout the whole painting. (Not switch mediums mid-painting.) Because I tend to start-stop-start on my paintings, I didn't want to have to try to remember which medium I used with which painting, so it's Liquin for all of them. Makes it easy.

As for alkyd paints: Oh, I love them! Unlike the water mixable (which I share your pain for them as well, as you remember!) I took to alkyds right away. I find them to not have as much of a pigment load (not quite as rich and dense) as regular oils, but it's not that much of an adjustment. I can switch back and forth between painting in oils and alkyds and I don't feel the dread when I paint in alkyds that I did with WMOs. My experience with alkyds is very similar (but not quite identical) to oils. As for which brands to use, I would recommend a few tubes from each brand. There are only about 3-4 companies making alkyds. (Let me think: W&N, C.A.S., Da Vinci, and Gamblin. I think that's it.) I find them all similar enough, but in the future will probably stick with C.A.S. with some W&N and maybe a few of the others for colors that I need. For you, I'd recommend getting just a few tubes, make sure you like alkyds (I'm sure you'll like them better than WMOs, but maybe not as much as regular oils?). Don't commit to them just yet, in other words.

As for brushes, I tend to like sables and mongoose (synthetic is fine). Others will like the stiffer bristles like hog hair. I am loving mongoose more and more as time passes.

I think that's all I got for now! Good luck and let us know if you have any more questions!

[fancyhorse]

Thanks Mariposa! It's so great to hear I'm not the only one who has struggled with the WMOs (for quite some time) with not such great results. Everything you said is very helpful and I thank you.

[DAK723]

If you want to minimize the solvents in your painting - you can paint solvent free. Many people do it. I would personally recommend it if you can not insure proper ventilation and the health of your pets.

All regular oil paints are essentially the same when it comes to solvents. They don't have any. Gamblin, Graham, etc. it doesn't matter what brand. All the same even though some firms market themselves as "safer". Only Schminke's Mussini has a small amount of solvent in the paint because they have damar in the paint. I imagine the amount is very small.

Alkyd oil paints do contain solvent in the paint. This may or may not be a reason not to use them.

Almost all mediums that are a mix of ingredients contain solvents, including Liquin - which by many accounts is also one of the smelliest mediums available. You can, of course, use 100% oil as your medium and to help in cleanup.

One popular medium that does not contain solvents is Graham's Walnut Alkyd. It is quite popular based on the comments here over the years. It also might not contain any alkyds, as alkyds need a solvent to break them down. But people like the medium whatever the ingredients!

If you decide to use a solvent in the cleanup or the painting process, OMS is generally considered the least harmful of the 3 main choices - OMS, Mineral Spirits, and Turpentine. Gamblin's Gamsol is a popular choice in the OMS category. Some solvents claim to be safer and more natural, but their is a lot of debate on whether they really are.

Hope this helps.

Don

[Red 9]

I should mention that traditional oils DO clean up very easy with soap and water. I think people only recommend solvents if you need to clean the brushes during the painting sessions. However, I have yet to encounter a need to do this. I use multiple brushes during a session and wipe them on rags. I have a brush for darks, one for lights, etc,.

Sometimes solvent can be nice when you want to thin your paint to a more "fluid" consistency and be fast drying, like for the initial sketch. Other than that, linseed or walnut oil is a great choice. Keep it simple on the mediums for now!

[fancyhorse]

So do you guys have a soap you recommend for cleaning the oils off the brushes at the end of the day?

It's hard for me to wrap my mind around not using any kind of solvent at all both during and after painting... It seems I would get my colors contaminated while painting and not get it all out of my brushes after, but I take you word for it that it can be done!

[Red 9]

Doesn't really seem to matter, dish or bar soap works fine.

[mariposa-art]

I have used whatever is on hand, including, as Red 9 says, dish soap and bar soap. I do have the "Masters" brush cleaner which I really like as well.

[fancyhorse]

One more question, though it's almost off-topic from the shopping list... can you tell me about safety so my rags don't spontaneously ignite and burn my house down? I thought only solvent-soaked rags would ignite but just read oily ones can too? What do you guys do with your rags to ensure there will be fiery surprises? I thought I could pour my solvent (if I ever end up using any) down on the county dirt road, it's near my house, have been told this is acceptable for not polluting environment?

I guess it could still be a shopping list question because I may need to buy a metal garbage can to store the rags until I figure out what to do with them.

So far I think I will buy the Grahams walnut alkyd, regular walnut oil and maybe a bunch of linseed to help clean brushes with since the walnut is expensive. I'm not sure which paints to buy yet, maybe I will pick up some of the Grahams and some W&Ns, shouldn't be a problem using the graham walnut alkyd with the W&NS according to Graham's product info.

[mariposa-art]

For oil-soaked rags, I bought an "Oily Waste Can" (do a search on Amazon). It's a special red lidded trashcan that is meant to contain oily rags (often it's seen in mechanics garages). I got the smallest one I could find, because I didn't need anything really big for the kind of work I do.

[Red 9]

It sounds like you are reading the same crap I did before I jumped into oil painting. My honest opinion, you will never get a rag so soaked it could start a fire! Remember you're only going to be using very small amounts of solvent or oil during your painting, so the few dabs of it that gets on a rag will usually dry up pretty fast.

I have a little box full of used rags and I sort of rotate them during each session. This has worked great for me.

[fancyhorse]

OK thanks a bunch.,,