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Posted
The oils I have aren't professional quality. Daler-Rowney Georgian and Van Gogh. I've kept them stored in my pochard box, the room where I keep my materials is cool all year round.
I'll get them out this evening. Should use them as I invested in a beautiful set of Evergreen brushes from Rosemary & Co.
Posted
Paint in tubes can last for decades - I still have some that I don't use any more - eg Alizarin Crimson - which must be at least 50 years old; it's still pliable, usable, and I might even use some of it one day. My most used colours, rather obviously, don't last anything like as long - I discovered the other day that I'm nearly out of Yellow Ochre and Viridian, but as the Viridian was some 20 years old, that came as no surprise.
The drawback with using really old paint is that there's no indication of what's in it; but it only "goes off" if air gets to it - can superannuated paint be used? Yes, but discard any that's just starting to dry - paint that is getting gelid, and has lumps in it. I'm not a great advocate of spending money, but there is something very satisfying about receiving new, plump, tubes of oil paint in the post - so if I have any doubts about a tube, I dispose of it, and head for the Supreme Paint Company, or Jacksons, or Ken Bromleys.... (the simpler the website, the more I like it!).
Agree with Alan on all fronts. He paints more often than I do - and it shows! - so I doubt he has many problems with paint degraded by age: his knees, of course, may be a different matter.
Posted
Great idea Carol, and good to see inspiration from one of the artist threads. Look forward to that.
I have read some of this discussion about using old oils. I inherited literally a bucket full when we cleared a shed moving from our old art group hall a year ago, also from a member who passed away. I haven’t tried them all, but it’s pretty obvious when you open one if it’s going to be useable or not. In your case I think you said that you haven’t opened your tubes so there will be no problem.
Good luck with your painting. Look forward to seeing it.
Posted
I covered the canvas with gesso a few days ago, should have tinted the gesso but wasn't sure to do that with some oil paint or acrylic. I'm going for a cool pallet, so
I'll tint the surface with a warm, medium tone, will do that later on with acrylic just to get going. That seems a good find, Tessa, and also from the departed member. Just goes to show the stuff that's bought and not used, naughty, but nice when it comes your/our way.
Thanks Tessa, I too am looking forward to seeing the outcome, good or bad, I'll post it.
Posted
Great to read that Carol is giving oils a go, I'll be interested to see how she gets on. My own attempt to revisit oils after many years is limping along sadly. I'm struggling. It's not the oils, the struggle is using brushes, I can't manage them now. I'm shaky and all over the place. I've got a mahl stick...slightly better...but ever so slightly. I may have to accept that old age has caught up to me, and stick to pencils and pens...which I can still manage.
I'd forgotten the smell, it doesn't trouble me, but it does some of my family and friends. I'd been painting indoors, completely unaware of the smell, and on coming back from a shopping trip I had to admit my place reeked of oil paint. Now I'm on my own, I don't want to discourage people visiting me. I swatted up on water-based oils, and found that they aren't really any better. I'd imagined you used water as a medium. A very informative article on Jackson's site went into these oils, saying that the key thing is that you use water-based mediums which themselves contain linseed oil etc. The article gave info on the odors of these mediums, and said you only use water to clean your brushes. All of which rather defeats the object of these oils for me. So, if I'm going to use oils, I'll stick to the normal kind.
I've set up my oil painting area in my garage, where it can pong as much as it wants.
I've started a second oil painting exercise. First I gave the board a thin coat of burnt umber, rubbed over with a rag (as advised on this thread), let it dry and then drew my picture with a brush. This got very sloppy the minute I had to lift my hand off the surface, using a malh stick didn't help much. Some cartoonists/caricaturists that I admire paint on canvas with oils. I fancied giving that a try, so this is just something out of my head. This is as far as I've got...
...I did this yesterday, it's till very wet. What I intend to do (when it's dry) is work on small sections, bringing them almost to a finish, so that I can rest my hand on the board. Not ideal, but I suspect it may be the only way I can paint with oils. It's a mess at the moment. I must say I didn't enjoy doing it...that's a key factor. I do enjoy drawing, or I wouldn't do it. But it's too soon to give up on oils yet, so I'll stick at it for a while.
...I did this yesterday, it's till very wet. What I intend to do (when it's dry) is work on small sections, bringing them almost to a finish, so that I can rest my hand on the board. Not ideal, but I suspect it may be the only way I can paint with oils. It's a mess at the moment. I must say I didn't enjoy doing it...that's a key factor. I do enjoy drawing, or I wouldn't do it. But it's too soon to give up on oils yet, so I'll stick at it for a while.