EXTENDING PAINT BUDDING WITH MIXING MEDIUMS AND SOLVENTS

An effective and popular method of mixing your paint before using it is to blend it with linseed oil and solvents. This combination will be ideal if your intention is to achieve an all around unified painted finish. However, there are many mixing mediums and solvents and combinations you can experiment with before finally deciding what suits you best. Artists combine drying oils with paint usually with a solvent, before applying the paint to the painting surface. This is to achieve a uniform drying consistency of the paint. They are also useful in increasing the fluidity and viscosity of the paint. The most commonly used medium is a combination of turpentine and linseed oil.

The standard drying oil that is used is linseed oil, but there are many variations in order to suit particular needs. Refined linseed oil is the most universal type of linseed because it has an average drying time and viscosity although it does tend to yellow a bit. If you were planning to paint a landscape in muted impressionist colors, you may choose bleached linseed. Bleached linseed does not tend to yellow and is pale in color, thus making it suitable to work well with pale colors. Other types of drying oils, other than linseed, include safflower, poppyseed and sunflower, all which have their own unique characteristics. Poppyseed and sunflower are certainly the most transparent, non-yellowing oils, but they tend to dry slowly. Safflower is also pale and dries quicker, but it tends to dry brittle. Preferring one type of oil to another is hard since all the oils are somewhat similar. You may try refined linseed oil first, and then judge whether you need oil that dries slower or faster or more transparent, etc.

There are some mediums available in the market that is commercially prepared to substitute drying oils for creating certain finishes and effects. You can buy ready made mediums that can be used straightaway without any need to add solvents, although they certainly can be thinned if needed. Gloss mediums give the paint a glossy finish when blended with it, and matt mediums give a matt finish. If you paint with oils, then you will obviously need a solvent to clean your brushes and thin your paint. If you paint with water soluble oils then your solvent will be water. Turpentine is a standard solvent widely used by painters to thin ordinary oil paints. You can purchase turpentine in any art supply store or hardware store. Some artists work with mineral spirits bought from hardware stores. To save money, you can buy the largest available quantity and pour it into a smaller container when you do your actual painting.

As most of us are aware, painting medium is a liquid solution that makes the oil paint smoother and easier to manipulate. Adding any one of a number of different changes tpainting mediumshe consistency of the paint. Some mediums are meant to make the paint thinner for glazing and others are meant to make the paint thicker.

There are also mediums to shorten or lengthen the drying. Once you find the right medium, you may mix a batch and store it in a tightly sealed jar. As you paint, dip your brush into the medium, then add a little paint, then mix them together on your mixing surface.

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