|
Xandra:
Oiling out is used mostly (my opinion, now) when the painting process takes more than one day. It must be done over oil paint that is at least "touch dry." You simply use whatever is your oil medium and brush on a very thin coat over your painting. If you feel you have applied too much, you can wipe off the excess GENTLY with a soft cloth that will not leave tiny fibers stuck to your painting surface. I used to use a medium that was one third stand oil, one third turp, and one third damar varnish.
Paint sinks in for several reasons. I'm not a chemist, but here is what I've heard and been told over and over: Earth colors tend to sink in, or dry very matte. Also, if the ground on your canvas is very absorbant, it will "suck" the oil out of paint, leaving it flat and dull. This tends to diminish over time if the painting procoss goes on for several days because, over time, you generally go over each passage as you "tweak" your painting by adjusting values and color. In this case, the first layer of paint has produced a "skin" over your gesso, and as you apply more paint, the new paint tends to not go flat.
You will have to check out what I say next to be sure I'm right, but I believe that if you put a coat of lead white (flake white) over you canvas before you start a painting, it will retard the tendency of sinking in. This must be dry before painting on top of it.
Or, you could try useing a bit of Liquin thinned with turp or MS and put a thin coat over your canvas before you start paiting -- like the day before, or at least a few hours prior to painting. Liquin is an alkyd medium that dries very quickly. There are also other alkyd mediums under other brand names that are just as good. This will seal the gesso surface of your canvas and will also retard the sinking in.
For now, I'd try some version of the oil medium I described earler, like some of your linseed oil, a bit of turp and a bit of varnish. However, linseed oil yellows paintings over time, they say.
Before anything else, you might buy a can of retouch varnish and spray the surface of your painting lightly. The color will instantly come back. Retouch varnish is about one tenth varnish, and ninely percent turp, so you won't hurt your painting with a spritz or two of retouch varnish. Over time, the paint may go on sinking in even after applying retouch varnish, but it will bounce back when you put on your final varnish in a few months.
As for me, I use Liquin as my medium for a couple of reasons: It tends to dry in a few hours, and it usually dries not quite so flat. Some people don't like Liquin because they have had delamination problems with it, meaning that in some cases, one paint layer separates from another paint layer. I've never had that problem. I know some artists who use Liquin as a final coat/varnish.
Good luck.
|