Home › Forums › Explore Media › Oil Painting › How to do a wash in oil paint
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March 10, 2004 at 3:13 pm #984002
Went to an art class today. Instructor told me to do a wash over an area.
Thought I understood, realized I don’t.
When I do a wash in watercolor, it means adding water to thin paint and wash over color.
When I came home tried to add turpenoid to paint and brush over area. Took underpaint off.
Soooo, I realize should of taken the time to ask instructor, not assume I knew.
And now I come to the experts for help.
Write simply as I am not the brightest bulb in the lamp
March 10, 2004 at 3:58 pm #1025813hi-ya … I’m kinda new too but a wash ain’t no oil term ….unless you are washing you oil.
my BLOG
"Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great" - John D. Rockefeller
"even when you win the rat race you're still a rat" - Joan CollinsMarch 10, 2004 at 4:15 pm #1025826I don’t think people who do oils talk about “washes” – we talk about “glazes” – which means thinning the oil paint (if it’s necessary to thin it) with a medium, such as linseed, stand oil, liquin, maroger’s etc, etc, and applying this as a thin transparent layer to a dry paint surface in order to change the colour.
Turpentine, Turpenoid, OMS, White Spirit are all solvents rather than mediums, and will readily remove previous paint unless its absolutely dry, and may well soften and remove paint with only slight scrubbing of the brush even after the paint seems well dried.
Oil paints consist of particles of pigment suspended in a medium, most commonly linseed oil – the medium dries by polymerising – molecules within the linseed oil actually chemically combine to make larger molecules which solidify, trapping the pigment particles between them. Solvent removes or weakens the medium, so there’s insufficient left to trap the pigment particles.
It’s OK to add a bit of solvent to thin the paint or medium, but using only a solvent to do a watercolour-style wash is not a good idea, as you’ve discovered yourself the hard way, alas.
If your instructor is talking about “washes”, and not explaining these things to you, I don’t think he’s earning his pay!
Dave
March 10, 2004 at 4:15 pm #1025822What a shame for you.
He probably meant a glaze. I will leave it to the experts to tell you about it.
Next time you see your instructor – give him a slap for me.
Why do some teachers assume you know already.!! – you wouldn’t be in the class if your already knew. (Grrrrr)
"Art is an act of love in likeness of itself - Spirit moulding matter into lovely form:"
"His act in us for Him."
Francis Brabazon - Australian Poet.
March 10, 2004 at 4:23 pm #1025827What a shame for you.
Next time you see your instructor – give him a slap for me.Biki – you’re advocating violence! I’m shocked!!
Oh alright then – that instructor does deserve a slap – but when he asks you whose idea it was, make sure you say “Biki”
Dave
PS – we’re only joking – don’t hit your instructor! – or if you do, don’t get caught!!
March 10, 2004 at 4:32 pm #1025825Biki’s right! Slap him good!
I can’t recall the term “wash” being used in oil painting. Could it be that your teacher doesn’t know oil painting very well?
Also, if he didn’t tell you what he meant by “wash”, he’s a bad teacher, self absorbed, or not too bright. Maybe he’s all of the above.
Give the guy a chance (after you smack him), and if he still comes across as a jerk, find a new teacher.
March 10, 2004 at 4:35 pm #1025828You should have set up a poll for whether we approve of your instructor
You could have then shown him the result before slapping him
Dave
March 10, 2004 at 4:51 pm #1025821I have a question to add to this. If you are starting on a unpainted canvas and you just want to “add some tone” (like burnt umber) to it so you are not looking at a big white nothing would you still use medium or can you just use turps to thin out the paint and help it dry quicker?
**James
Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.
[FONT="Arial Black"]Dilbert - created by Scott AdamsMarch 10, 2004 at 5:04 pm #1025816I have a question to add to this. If you are starting on a unpainted canvas and you just want to “add some tone” (like burnt umber) to it so you are not looking at a big white nothing would you still use medium or can you just use turps to thin out the paint and help it dry quicker?
**James
Yes. This would be the one instance where you WOULD thin your paint with turps and apply a “wash”. I do it and I know many others do. But after that, turps are for cleaning your brushes!
Todd 'coyote' Cooper ---
I love the smell of turpentine in the morning. It smells like...art.
My GalleryMarch 10, 2004 at 5:08 pm #1025817If you are starting on a unpainted canvas and you just want to “add some tone” (like burnt umber) to it so you are not looking at a big white nothing would you still use medium or can you just use turps to thin out the paint and help it dry quicker?
welcome to the oil forum James & Zeldapelda…Just use some turps to thin your paint & it will dry very quickly……you don’t necessarily need to cover up all the toned canvas either so choose a color wisely, some artists use the complimentary color of the main color in the painting…:)
Cathleen~
[FONT=Times New Roman]~Be COURAGEOUS, It's one of the few places left still uncrowded~
[FONT=Times New Roman]~Life is not measured by it's length BUT by it's depth~
March 10, 2004 at 5:10 pm #1025829I have a question to add to this. If you are starting on a unpainted canvas and you just want to “add some tone” (like burnt umber) to it so you are not looking at a big white nothing would you still use medium or can you just use turps to thin out the paint and help it dry quicker?
**James
You can just use turps, but you still wouldn’t thin it to be really “watery” to the same extent as a watercolour wash. You still need to make sure that the binder (oil) in the medium isn’t washed away or diluted out to a point where it’s ineffectual (Incidentally this isn’t only true for oilpaint – for example, when you’re coating your wall at home with vinyl-silk emulsion, if you paint it at the correct consistency or thin it a little, it’s OK as there’s still plenty of vinyl molecules to trap the pigment particles, and once dry, it’s washable and water-proof. However, if you try to really thin it down with water, you can get to a point where there’s not enough binder to hold the pigment particles – it dries, but the resulting paint film isn’t waterproof, and can be washed off the wall!)
Back to oil-painting – If you want to paint in several sessions spread out over a few days (in other words when the oilpaint already on the canvas is touch-dry on the surface, but not necessarily through-and-through) then the idea is to start out with a medium with some turps, and gradually decrease the turps content and increase the oil content layer by layer (“fat on top of lean”) – the point of this is that each layer drys more slowly – because what you don’t want to have happen is for the surface layer to dry faster than preceding layers – this can cause cracking of the paint film subsequently.
Dave
March 11, 2004 at 8:34 am #1025818First things first!! Thank you all!!!!!!
I won’t slap the instructor will sneakally trip herDon’t think she is inexperienced just senile or thinks I understand more than I do
This is the story leading up to her telling me to use a wash, which now I know she must have meant glaze.
Started a still life, with dark blue drapes, a vase book & other stuff.
She told me to(wash) glaze in the deep pleats of the drapery, adding a bit of color from the rest of the painting I guess to look like reflections. So me the genius :o went at with my turpenoid and now have dark and light stripes. :rolleyes:
Will go out today and get me some medium, maybe, or else most probably will wait for help from you guys.
March 11, 2004 at 8:55 am #1025814First things first!! Thank you all!!!!!!
I won’t slap the instructor will sneakally trip herStarted a still life, with dark blue drapes, a vase book & other stuff.
She told me to(wash) glaze in the deep pleats of the drapery, adding a bit of color from the rest of the painting I guess to look like reflections. So me the genius :o went at with my turpenoid and now have dark and light stripes. :rolleyes:
Will go out today and get me some medium, maybe, or else most probably will wait for help from you guys.
thank stinks , but I guess that’s what learning is all about, why doun’t you post a pic of what you have so far, I’m sure everybody would be more than happy to offer advice
my BLOG
"Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great" - John D. Rockefeller
"even when you win the rat race you're still a rat" - Joan CollinsMarch 11, 2004 at 10:03 am #1025815So me the genius :o went at with my turpenoid and now have dark and light stripes. :rolleyes:
This happened to me when my teacher told me to oil out a dried painting with medium. I had been using linseed oil and turpenoid as medium and when I tried to oil out, the paint came right off. He had thought I was using straight linseed oil.
Just go back over the areas with opaque paints and let them dry, then try the glaze with only linseed oil.
March 12, 2004 at 7:35 am #1025819Ran out to buy linseed oil. Saw the label it scared me. Is there anything safer to get.
The warning sounded like some hazmed.
Thanks again
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