Can I use WMO's without any kind of turps at all

Ms.Sakr wrote:

Hi, glad to find this forum dedicated to WMOs. I've used WMOs a couple of times, and I was wondering if I can use them without any kind of turps at all, since I work in a closed place and am worried about health issues. Can I just thin down with water?

Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the forum. We don't use turps at all with WMO's. You can thin down with water for your early layers, but most of us prefer a WMO thinner such as Windsor/Newton Artisan thinner. As you add layers, you want to be decreasing the thinner and progress to just out of the tube and then start adding an oil such as walnut, to make the paint more fluid but making it fatter.

You might want to take a look at this demo here on the forum:

https://watersolubleoils.forumotion.com/t110-conventional-oils-painting-demos-translated-to-wsos

Also take advantage of the search link on the horizontal menu above. I know there are discussions on "fat over lean" in the forum.

You might also want to take a look at an article I have written about using WMO's. It talks about using water, thinners, and the fat over lean rule.

http://www.squidoo.com/oil-painting-techniques

Hope this helps. Be sure to browse the forum. There is a lot of information that has been helpful to new users of WMO's. Feel free to ask more questions.

Judy

Welcome Sakr!... We will be more than happy to help.

Thanks

Faisal

Thanks Judy. I was told turps can be used to thin down WMOs, so I gave it a try and the smell was so strong, (nevervworked with oils before). I don't have the Winsor and Newton thinner on hand right now, so I'll do with water from now, .
The link to your article is so informative.. thank you.

Thanks for the Welcome Faisal.

Hello Sakr,

I would strongly recommend the thinner. Water may make your paint so gummy, depending on the brand that you get. if your paint gets gummy, then you would definetly need to use the thinner.

Good luck!

Faisal

I'm using Artisan. Will that get tacky with water? I thinned it with water before and it didn't blend very well. I thought that's because I was working on canvas-textured paper

Oh! Artisan is the worst with water, it will get very tacky... You should use their thinner. If you have some money to spare, I would strongly recommend Holbein Duo. It is not worth ones time, in the early stages, to wrestle with the tools.

Judy and Alan have used the Artisan and do sometime use water. They are experienced and would be able to give you pointers if you have too much invested in the Artisan.

Faisal

I would suggest that you try some of the other brands, when you need to buy new colors, also. Paints from different brands can make a world of difference, but we're all different. Happy Painting, and welcome.

I'm glad you found the article helpful. I started out with W/N Artisans and was totally frustrated when they gummed up with water. If you were adding a lot of water for a thin wash for an early layer, it wasn't so bad, but when you used just a tiny bit to thin, it was terrible.

The thinner was the best answer for early layers. I found walnut oil was great for thinning after the initial layers. I would use just a drop to get the paints to flow more easily. You have to remember to gradually add small amounts of oil as you add layers so they are "Fatter."

If you paint something all at the same time, you don't have to worry so much about the fat over lean rule so much because the oils will all blend into one layer. When painting over several days, you do have to be concerned about it, because a leaner layer applied over a fatter layer will dry before the fatter layer and has the potential for cranking.

Used WSOs for about 6 years, but just went back to traditional oils. They just work better. And I don't use turps. I use walnut oil to get the paint out and then Dawn soap. Works great. I wouldn't discourage anyone from WSOs - and I used Holbein Duo mostly, but it just feels good to get back to Winsor Newtons again.

I'm glad that is working so well for you. I'd consider oils again with walnut and soap and water, but the linseed oil int he paints bother me as much as turps. Even some of the WSo's and wso linseed bothers me so that was one reason I started with walnut oil and just try to paint in a well ventilated areas whenever possible.

Judy, I happened to see odorless Turpenoid at the local Michael's. Have you every tried that? I wonder if it would be better to work with. But I suppose the paints themselves have oils and odors associated with that...

I have heard Gamsol (by Gamblin) is odorless and they have taken the aromatic (bad) component out and it is very small and "less" harmful.

http://www.gamblincolors.com/solvents/index.html

Faisal

I always did use odorless turps when I used traditional oils, but I think it was the linseed oil just as much as the turps. I'm glad to see that they are still trying to improve the turps for others, though.

I recently read something about those natural turpentines and I think it was that you can't use them in painting for thinning paint. Whatever it was made me decide never to use them.