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Old 07-10-2003, 09:30 PM   #1
Marvin Mattelson Marvin Mattelson is offline
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Congratulations on seeing the light. I worked in acrylics for years before making the transition to oils. I resisted far too long but when I finally took the plunge it was wonderful.

When you first posted I advised you to switch to oils so I'm glad you are ready to make the move. You won't regret it. You can follow my advice below, which is based on my experience of making every wrong decision possible or you can take a longer and winding road. I'm sure you will land on your feet either way.

Any brand of oil paint can be cleaned up with walnut oil followed by soap. Solvent isn't necessary.

Alkyd resin also dries faster in your brushes and ages them prematurely. All resins and varnishes in the paint film will eventually darken. MGraham offers a limited range of colors which I personally find lacking.

Michael Harding Oils are the finest in the world and can be mail ordered from the Italian Art Store. Winsor and Newton are more easily available and work fine. Some of my students use Gamblin with good results but they don't make "real" flake white.

Gamblin makes a final varnish that is highly touted by conservators. It's called GamVar.

If you use flake white the paints will dry much faster than if you use titanium white.

Anything other than real oil paint is not oil paint and regardless of what anyone says there is no proof that anything will last as long as oil.

Fat over lean always applies. If you use the same medium on each layer this will be fat over lean since each layer will absorb less than the layer below it.

Good luck!
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