Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Don't Use Linseed Oil!

I cover a number of very practical issues to do with oil painting in my workshops. Mostly they are to do with short cuts and work-arounds that I have developed over the years.
Sometimes people ask me about when and how to use linseed oil.
My answer is "Don't!"
I used to use it to blend colours a number of years ago just because it came with the oil painting set that I had gotten for Christmas.
Now I only use quick drying mediums like Liquin.
Here is an example of what can happen if you use linseed oil.
I did this painting of my pal Steve about fourteen years ago.....it's still wet!
Not very wet but it hasn't dried completely so that when it was put into storage against a sheet of paper the paper stuck to it.

2 comments:

Larry MacDougall said...

I will definitely keep that in mind. Thanks PJ.

PJ Lynch said...

Hey Larry,
I may have been overly proscriptive. I'm sure some artists find linseed oil very useful but I find Liquin is the only medium I need, and the paintings are dry in a few days rather than taking years to dry.
Best regards
PJ