Thank you all for an interesting discussion. Holly, I visited the Gamblin site you attached. After reviewing the "flash points" data, it appears that if I set my OMS outside in our 117 degree Arizona heat it has a good chance of blowing up. (Or am I being an alarmist about this?) At the very least I'm going to make sure I haven't accidentally stashed any cans in the (really hot) garage.

Maybe it's time to get rid of OMS altogether. Marvin or Juan, should I just buy a bottle of walnut oil from the supermarket and use that for brush cleanup? I'm starting to buy better brushes and I'm paying a little more attention to taking care of them.

By the way, Holly, I bought a big can of Gamblin's Flake White Replacement and while it isn't as good as the real thing, it's a lot of fun to shovel it onto my palette, a stringy gooey blob.

Linda,

Try the walnut oil. I like it very much. Of course I agree with Juan since he agrees with me. When I run for president I wany Juan as my VP. I'll give him special dispensation since he is Canadian.

Holly

Painting is rally a matter of common sense and logic. So many are looking for the magic pill to master painting, but alas the pill doesn't exist. Using better quality materials can certainly help, but thinking that a particular "magic medium" will make a difference is pure folly. Mediums don't draw and bad drawing is at the root of all bad painting.

The old masters were masters because they flat out knew how to paint.

A thought from a beginner
 

Holly, all great advice has been given above! A lot of artist here have disagreements about this and that, but since you are just starting, like myself I thought I would tell you what I did.

I bought the dreaded "Grumbacher" oils; I remembered the name from college because I think they made inks for monoprints etc. The only reason I bought these was for the simple fact they cost less and I had a 50 % off coupon for Michaels. I then supplemented the colors from the palettes of artist I liked on this forum, which you

Thanks everyone
 

Thanks Juan, Tom, Linda, Marvin, and Beth and everyone for sharing your experience and knowledge. It's much appreciated, and I hope it's useful to others as well. Thanks Beth for bringing up things I hadn't even considered.