Paint Thinner and Glazing Techniques

Here's a quick little example of using turps/thinners to begin a painting:

















This was done on a canvas pad sheet (too slick, real canvas works better), took around 10 minutes. If this were a real painting, I would take more time with it, make sure the lights and shadows were accurate and clean up the edges. Then I could either keep on going - adding colors, or let it dry to add layers and glazes on to it.

And here's the best part...



Didn't have to use turpentine, it's all water-soluble!
Debra - I dip the brush in the thinner, then swish it into the paint to get the consistency I want (see the burnt sienna above).

Here's a look at some glazing on the apple.
1. original
2. alizarin crimson on apple
3. sap green/naples yellow on background, a crimson, ultramarine, sap in
shadows (walnut alkyd for glazing)



Normally one waits for each glaze layer to dry before adding the next, and keeps in mind the colors below when adding new glazes (crimson over yellow=orange...). But this was just to show the basic effect, so I went over the alizarin crimson right away with some darker color on the shadow side.

For myself, I don't have the patience to work in glazes start to finish, I tend to work in layers of fairly thin paint, and glaze over certain parts of the painting if I think that will give a good result (to even out flesh tones for example).

I am fairly new to water oils. I've used no mediums. I noticed that you mention a walnut alkyd. Is this a water mixable medium? I've heard that using alkyd paint is a form of fast drying oils. But, clean up is still with solvents, not water. I was tempted to get a set of alkyd paints and try them, until I heard the clean up procedure. Have you ever used the alkyds?

Walnut oil with alkyd (M. Graham) will make the WS Oils dry faster and it does cleanup with soap and and water. Many of us use Dawn Dish detergent and warm water and finish the cleanup with Masters Brush Cleaner and Preservative. You might want to look at the following link to help with understanding the different WS Oil mediums.

https://watersolubleoils.forumotion.com/t90-what-mediums-if-any-do-you-use-with-ws-oils?highlight=what+mediums+do+you+use

Nice job Callie; thanks.   The Artisan Thinner is new to me, so I guess I'll have to try some.   I don't know how long it has been around, but I don't find it listed on many online art supply catalogs (I did find it on ASW, however not on Dick Blick or Cheap Joe's).   I looked on W&N's website for info on it.   Here is the link; there are some tips on using it, but nothing on its composition.  

http://www.winsornewton.com/products/oil-colours/artisan-water-mixable-oil-colour/artisan-thinners-oils-mediums--varnishes/

Dick Blick carries it...It's listed under Winsor & Newton Artisan Oil Mediums. Not that easy to find on their site. It works a whole lot better than water anyway.
Dayle

Great! I never like thinning with water. I'll have to add that to my list.

Judy

I finally found a listing for the thinner on Dick Blick.

Here's the link

http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-artisan-oil-painting-mediums/

You have to look down the page to "Purchase Items" to find it.

My wife and I have been using this product since our first WM days. It works very well. We don't use water at all to thin our Artisan paints, but I have read on the WN site that you can mix water AND thinner together to further dilute the paint. However, at some point, the paint binders (correct term? not sure) begin to break down.
Having said all that, we just use Artisan thinner to create lean base layers, nothing too adventurous or innovative.

Has anyone used the Water Soluble Oil Glazing Medium?
I'm confused about using the thinner v.s the glazing medium v.s. walnut or other oils - does the thinner work like turp in that it is lean instead of fat? If I wanted to paint with lots of very thin layers and glazes, how do I know which to use when?

The thinner is to be use only on the early layers because it makes the paint leaner while making it more fluid. Glazing of later layers would have to be fatter so the paint would be made more fluid by adding walnut oil or other oils. I have not used the glazing medium so I do not know if it makes the paint leaner or fatter. Maybe someone else in the forum can give you that answer.

The glazing medium is supposed to be equivalent to stand oil.
Dayle