The use or non use of mediums

[Sharon Knettell]

I distinctly remember that Mr. Harding warned me against using mineral spirits (Turpenoid or other similar thinners). He said that he only uses them to clean the built up pigment in his paint mixing machines. It is the most powerful of all the solvents for that purpose.

Now I only use the highest quality refined turpentine.

The reason Mr. Harding went into paint making was he was a portrait painter himself and was disturbed by the low quality of the materials available as well as the general ignorance of what actually went into creating archival work .

[Lacey Lewis]

Anthony-

Thanks for the info on drying time! And, OMS is Odorless Mineral Spirits, which Sharon just mentioned in her post. (Thanks, Sharon!)

[David Boles]

One possible problem with oil over acrylic is a variation of the fat over lean issue. Acrylic gives a very flexible paint film as compared to oil regardless of how much oil is used as a medium. Flexilble over less flexible is what is actually meant by fat over lean so acrylic paint would have to be thought of as fat even though there is no oil present. Putting acrylic over oil would have its own set of problems since acrylic dries so much faster than oil. In my opinion it just best to keep the two apart.

Acrylic grounds in the form of gesso is a slightly different thing. They are not as concentrated a paint, more absorbant, more open with an abrasive to grab hold of later paint layers. A well aged oil ground would be my preference, but I have no real concerns about using an acrylic primer.

Back to the original problem of green nasty thingies appearing on the canvas. Could it be mold? If the water hadn't fully evaporated before oil layers were put on it could result in mold forming due to the trapped moisture.