Speed up oil paint drying

[robin623]

Is there a conventional way to speed up the drying time of an oil painting? Oil is my favorite medium to use, but hate waiting for it to dry.

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[!becca]

Hi Robin,welcome to the forum..I am in no way an authority, but will pass on something I just read in an adjacent thread.

Becca “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.” ........ “Not till we are completely lost or turned around... do we begin to find ourselves.” ........ “All good things are wild and free.” ........ “This world is but a canvas for our imagination.” ...... "Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.” Henry David Thoreau
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[Anonymous]

Select fast drying paints and/or use fast drying mediums. Dry in warm environment. Learn to relax and love and exploit the attribute of slow drying oil paints without being constrained by rapid drying.

[!becca]

Sid does make a good point, normally for me, my paint dries too quickly. I like it being open for working. You really should enjoy all the qualities oils possess.

Becca “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.” ........ “Not till we are completely lost or turned around... do we begin to find ourselves.” ........ “All good things are wild and free.” ........ “This world is but a canvas for our imagination.” ...... "Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake.” Henry David Thoreau
Becca's Fine Art

[WFMartin]

I recommend sticking with traditional oil painting materials, and applying the paint thinly for faster drying. Thickly-applied paint dries slowly; thinly-applied paint dries rapidly. Warm temperatures, low humidity, and moving air currents during the drying process will speed up the drying. A painting will dry here on a sunny day in Arizona much faster than the same painted surface, sitting in a basement in London, England.;)

Your choice of solvents as painting medium ingredients affect drying times. Oil Of Spike = very slow drying. Odorless Mineral Spirits = a bit faster drying. Distilled Spirits of Gum Turpentine = fastest drying.

Your choice of drying oils affect drying times: Walnut Oil = slower drying. Linseed Oil = faster drying.

But, above all, the thinner application of paint (no matter what painting medium, or paint you choose to use) the faster the drying will be.

I usually keep several (3 or 4) paintings in process at any given time. Doing that allows me to have my pick of dried surfaces upon which to apply fresh paint nearly every day. When painting with oil paint, there is absolutely no need to sit around, waiting for paint to dry.

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[Chip Reuben]

Alkyds, chemically modified oils, represent another option for achieving shorter drying times. Either you can purchase alkyd paints or you can extent your paints in something like Lukas painting butter. One thing I like about adding Lukas is that it adds uniformity to the gloss, ie. you can avoid some of the gloss differential in your set of paints. Furthermore, I feel that you can avoid varnish if you use Lukas.

A few of the downsides of alkyds include the loss of working time as others have noted, plus they stink just awful.

As alluded to above certain pigments and dryers accelerate drying. But the MOST important thing to understand about this is that manufacturers DON’T tell you everything they put in their paints and so you are playing guessing games and utilizing an empirical approach at best unless you are going to make your own paints from scratch. But here are some general guidelines. Pigments that contain manganese, lead, or cobalt accelerate drying unless they contain titanate (in which case the trying time will be VERY slow). So colors like burnt umber and the cobalts (except for titanate) will dry within a few days unless very thick. And you can use something like the lead-containing foundation white for a fast drying time. Also, some manufacturers add dryers without telling you. For example, Winston & Newton adds a dryer to cadmium red, which otherwise would dry very slowly. Finally, I think there is a lead dryer that you can add to your colors.

But as Bill mentioned, thinning out with something like terpentine, mineral spirits, or a turpentine substitute is really the best way to accelerate drying.

In my experience, a turpentine substitute such as “turpenoid” is by far the least stinky way to accelerate drying of oils.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the faster drying times may be exactly what you need to fuel you as an artist. Art does not necessarily warrant relaxation, and in some cases may be profoundly inhibited by it. This statement is not to contradict the previously discussed concept and benefit of relaxation in art–relaxation can be a great asset in art–but rather to offer support for the idea that sometimes we need to accelerate the artistic process to keep up with our mental processes, including our learning processes, as artists. I speak from experience. I have one painting that wouldn’t be what it was had I not used Lukas painting butter. Here it is btw –> http://photoartwindows.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/winter-stroll_60x30.jpg

So by all means, experiment with processes that accelerate your drying times.

[Joshua_Miller]

I know a lot of people disagree with what I will say, but In a pinch I always just throw a few layers of varnish on. I only really do this with abstract works, because as it dries it can crack and hey, who cares its an abstract?

However like I said in a pinch it will work to transfer the work to where ever it needs to go.

I did that with a few works I had in Vancouver. It worked awesome, because once they were in place they just dried and did their thing.

But aside from being in a pinch, i find it takes about 6 – 8 months till its dry enough.

[ArtofAndrewDaniel]

You can use the same paints but mix Walnut Alkyd Medium to get them to dry faster.

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[mariposa-art]

I have never had problems with alkyd paints (like C.A.S. and W&N Griffin) or with alkyd mediums (like Liquin). I routinely use “driers” in my paints, because the long drying times are otherwise intolerable for me.

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