Mixing brands of painting mediums

I started out using Artisan Water Mixable oils but have gradually moved to Holbein Duo due to the stiff colors of some of the Artisan colors.

I have two large containers of the W&N Artisan Colour thinner as well as several bottles of the W&N Artisan Painting Medium. I've been using with the Hobein Duo paints them without apparent problems. Does anyone have any experience with this. I was finishing a painting over the weekend and paint began lifting off off one section as I was applying more color but this could have been due to using too much medium.

Thanks!

Hi Bill,

Glad to see you here in the forum. I started with W/N also and initially got around the thickness by using small amounts of walnut oil. Then as I learned more about the "fat over lean" rule, I found out about W/N thinner as a better choice for the early layers and walnut for the later layers.

You do have to be careful about the amount of medium you use. If you check on the bottles or go to the manufacture's websites, they usually give you the ratio. I also use the Holbein Duo interchangeably with the W/N without any problem.

I'm sure others in the forum will probably have more information for you and i would also suggest that you go to "Search" in the top horizontal menu in the forum to find out more about mediums.

Judy,

I'm not sure you understand my question. I've been painting for over forty years and understand the proportion of medium to paint that I should be using. My question was: are WN mediums compatible with Holbein Duo or are the chemical formulations incompatible? I called tech support at WN and they did not know. Holbein does not seem to offer phone support here in the US.

Bill, I use the Holbein and I love them. My favorite brand so far. Not too thick or thin and works well with water as thinner. I personally have never used the W&N thinner with the Holbein but I remember one of our members, Callie, testing it and stating that they were compatible. I usually use water in the initial layer and then 1/2 water and 1/2 linseed oil. This is the medium that gives me the results I want. I have some of the thinner but didn't see the need to use it with the Holbein. I use only the Holbein and don't mix with other brands because I don't like having paint of different consistency. The way that the W&N reacts to water is another reason I wouldn't mix these two brands.

Adhesion problems can be due to a number of different things. The surface itself may not be allowing for enough adhesion. Acrylic primers often have this problem, being too slick in some places. The paint may not have sufficiently dried enough to paint over it. That can take several days in some cases. The Painting Medium extends drying time (it contains stand oil.) The paint may also have been diluted too much so that there's not have enough oil to bind it to the surface.

As to "chemical formulations," no one here will be able to answer that question. We didn't make the stuff, so we can only speculate. I've tried the Artisan Thinner with Duos and they appear to mix okay. I don't use the Artisan Painting Medium.

My suggestion would be to either give the area more time to dry, assuming that's the problem, or wipe it down and repaint it with paint alone or a different medium combination. If the problem is the surface there's not much that you can do to improve that. Sometimes a little bit of retouch can help give a tacky surface that you can paint on without lifting paint. Holbein makes a Duo Painting Medium also that you could substitute, or switch to Artisan paint, to see if the problem continues.