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Originally Posted by Sharon Knettell
Virgil,
I see your little green light is still on, SO before you get back to your work, WHAT oil paint are you currently using?
Ralph Mayer advocates the use of mineral spirits as opposed to linseed oil. This is indeed confusing!
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Sharon,
If only things in reality were as simple as people expect them to be!
In my #1 paintbox are paints from Blockx, but only Series 1 and Series 3, which are ground in linseed oil (earth colors and Mars colors, ivory black); Old Holland; Williamsburg; Michael Harding; Sennelier; (blues, Indian yellow, ivory black, cadmium yellow-orange, cadmium red-orange); Winsor & Newton (Flake White #2, Foundation White, Flake White #1, and a few others); Gamblin; Daniel Smith Autograph Series; Robert Doak: Archival Oils (Permanent Alizarine); Vasari; M. Graham (blues); Rembrandt (their old formulation) and a few things I have ground myself from dry pigment and linseed oil.
Regarding Ralph Mayer, his book was originally published in 1940, and was periodically updated until he died 26 years ago, so it does not reflect the last word in painting materials knowledge. Publishers will keep it on the market as long as it continues to sell, and they do not know or care how much of the information it contains is true, or how much of it is wrong. It is indeed confusing, especially when several noted authors disagree, which they do. Frederick Taubes, Ralph Mayer and Jacques Maroger all wrote books, and contradicted one another on many points. Then there are the other books by other authors, including Kurt Wehlte, Max Doerner, Charles Locke Eastlake, Abendschein, etc., and there is very little consensus of opinion among them on anything. Mark Gottsegen's "The Painter's Handbook" is the most recent, and the most reliable, though not 100% correct on everything, as Mark acknowledges. He has just delivered a manuscript of a revised edition to his publisher, to be released in perhaps a year, which should be the most reliable reference book for painting materials, since it reflects the present-day state of scientific knowledge, chemistry, etc. I haven't read the revised edition yet, so I cannot say whether I think he is right about everything, but we seem to see eye-to-eye on most of these issues when we discuss them. We are on the same ASTM subcommittee. I recall Mark saying that he now regards the original edition as correct about 75-80% of the time. New knowledge comes to the fore all the time, as new discoveries are made constantly, so any book is apt to become dated within a short time.
Mineral spirits is a solvent, not a medium, not a vehicle for binding pigment into paint. Solvents weaken the binding power of vegetable oils. One might get by with adding a little bit, but more than the bare minimum will weaken the resulting paint layer. It will also dull the surface to some degree. It is not a good thing to use as a medium.
Virgil Elliott