Oiling out

[Linda Ciallelo]

The way I have been doing it, is to just paint the oil onto a small area that you will be working in, and then wipe it off with a paper towel. I try to wipe it all off. Of course some will still be left on the painting. So I am not using my fingers at all. A soft cloth could be used to wipe the oil off, as well as a paper towel. It seems to help the painting have more depth and softer edges.

[Debra Norton]

Enzie, in school they taught us to oil out with a brush. The medium we used was one part stand oil, one part damar varnish and three parts English distilled turp. If we got to a point where this wasn't working well enough, we could go to a one/one/one ratio. There always seemed to be a little bit of controversy and/or confusion over whether oiling out or using retouch was best. I tend to use retouch first, and then if that doesn't work well enough I go to oiling out with the 1/1/3 ratio. I wait as long as possible before I add anything to the painting process, and if I can avoid it, I do. That's just my preference, easier to manage the fat over lean that way. I've never tried glazing.

Linda, I would be concerned about fibers from a paper towel sticking to my painting. The only time I use paper towels on a painting is for wiping out mistakes in the lay-in process.

[Enzie Shahmiri]

I have seen Alexei Antonov just pour oil on the dry canvas and use his hand. I would be too afraid to end up with way too much oil on the canvas. Great to hear the different techniques though!

[Mary Jane Ansell]

So I can finalise values as I'm finishing off a monochrome underpainting I'll oil out before a painting session (the painting is usually at least 4-6 days dry). I'll give it a very fine wipe of linseed oil (palm of the hand to spread it around works well then wiping thoroughly off with a low linting cloth like a fine jersey).

For more long term controlling of those pesky sinking in traits, of umbers in particular, I'll very lightly brush on a weak retouch... but beware - tempting as it is even a little too much stand oil/dammar/retouch in your underpainting makes for a very unworkable and unpleasant surface for glazing or whatever other technique you favour... I've made that mistake before and ended up having to sand the whole thing back to get rid of a too slick surface!

Cheers
MJ

[Linda Ciallelo]

After some experimenting here I am finding my oiling out needs to be very minimal. I just did the one little face once and it was sufficient to make it glow properly. I have tried the stand oil mixture and some other things on edges of the painting, but the cold pressed linseed oil with a touch of damar gave me the texture I was after and dried satiny. I am finding that the Michael Harding paint, by itself ,dries with a bit of a shine, which I like.