Timestamps: 0:00 - Oiling out effectively evens out patchiness in dry oil paintings 0:30 - Supplies needed: Galkyd and Gamsol mixed together in a 1:1 ratio 1:00 - One Tablespoon of each (Galkyd and Gamsol) covers about 16 sq ft 1:12 - You don't have to apply this blend to the whole painting 1:20 - What is oiling out? 1:38 - Applying the blend to the painting 2:11 - You may have to go over areas 3:08 - After oiling out, wipe down the painting with a lint free cloth to remove any excess 4:11 - You can let your painting dry or you can immediately start painting again 4:50 - Your painting should dry with a satin (semi-gloss) sheen
Another great video (of course) but not only that but the comment section is also beneficial because of great questions and you taking the time to answer them😮. Ladies and gentlemen we have a classroom. This is awesome! And you are a GREAT TEACHER.
Thank You so much for this video! 🙏 Do You know if galkyd and liquin works similar? Galkyd is complicated to find where I live but I have liquin, I guess I'll have to try
Hi Wero, Liquin should be OK. Their formulations are a little different, but both Liquin and Galkyd are alkyd resin mediums meant to thin oil paint and speed drying times.
Hello, just wondering if you used mineral spirits as your thinner. I've heard that if you use an oil as a thinner that you shouldn't use galkyd as it has some sort of plastic agent in it. Thanks
Hi Brooke, I didn't use mineral spirits to thin paint in this painting, only Gamblin Safflower Oil in the top layers. I reached out to Gamblin as I've never heard about Galkyd having a plastic agent in it and a rep replied back: "All Gamblin materials are compatible with one another, Galkyd medium is compatible with all drying oils such as refined linseed, stand, or safflower oil. If you’ve used safflower oil as your medium when creating your painting there is no problem using the 1:1 Galkyd/Gamsol combination for the oiling-out process. Please note there is not plastic agent in Galkyd medium of any sort. Galkyd is made from alkyd resin. Alkyd resin is a polymerized soybean oil. Alkyd resin is not a “synthetic” resin like aldehyde, ketone, or hydrocarbon resins. Alkyd resin was first manufactured in the early 1930’s and we use alkyd made from natural soybean oil, a fat." Hope this offers some clarity!
Omg @@NikitaCoulombe thanks so much for looking into it. I didn't expect you to do that. Thank you very much. I've been using walnut oil (not a gamblin product)... I would think it would be the same as Safflower oil. Maybe I'll reach out to them to double check. Thanks again!
@@brookeoconnell2578 for sure! Walnut oil is a little different than safflower oil. Walnut oil will result in a stronger paint film than safflower oil. Both yellow less than linseed oil. I'm still debating the pros and cons of different oils. Definitely reach out to them!
Hi again@@NikitaCoulombe . Wondering if I could email you a photo of what's happened on my canvas. I'd love to get your opinion before I proceed with the steps in your video. It's a large canvas... so I'm a little worried about messing it up. I'm having a similar problem to Ken below, and am seeing something I've never encountered before. Thanks!
@@brookeoconnell2578 for the most accurate advice for your situation I'd reach out to Gamblin directly. Google Gamblin Artists Colors. They have a contact page and usually respond within a day or two. They even do free phone and Zoom calls.
I don't see why not, it would just take longer to dry (alkyd mediums dry faster). Be sure to dilute it with the Gamsol or another mineral spirit like Sansodor. You can use a higher proportion of oil if your most recent layers are on the fattier side. And if you do plan to keep painting, hang onto some of your oiling out blend in a jar and mix it into subsequent layers so you can continue to follow the fat-over-lean rule.
Not recommend as final layer. Although linseed oil is durable yellowing, as with damar varnish (bloom) is a factor. Gamblin may have specific info on this topic.
@@NikitaCoulombe Quite welcome. Have been reading up on some changes in the Gamvar varnish. According several artists that had experience with the current version have found it lacked in quality. They preferred the older solution which was a two part Gamnvar that had to be mixed.
@anonlf8398 I don’t see why you couldn’t try that out on a test sample - just make sure you’re done with your painting because you wont want to put paint over the varnish. Please let us know how it turns out if you do.
I found that I always have dull/sinkin areas in my painting even though I'm using high oil content colors and mixed with the solvent free gel. I also used a non-absorbent ground, but I will paint a wash layer sketch with quite much solvent. Do you think the wash layer is the problem of causing sinkin result? What would u recommend if I really need to do a washy effect drawing before the main layers? Using washy acrylic paint? Or just do the oil out for every painting with solvent free fluid?
My guess is that your sketch layer with oil paint diluted with solvent isn't the issue but can't say for certain. Getting dull and sunken in areas could indicate that the fat over lean principle wasn't adhered to in that area of the painting - either putting thin layers over thick layers (ideally layers become progressively thicker) or putting leaner layers over fatter layers (ideally layers become progressively fatter/oilier/contain more medium). Your bottom layers should have the least amount of solvent free gel mixed in, in other words. Gamblin notes another issue on their website that the painter cannot control as easily: "Artists’ pigments absorb binder at varying rates. The phenomenon of oil colors drying more matte is often referred to 'sinking in.' Absorbent grounds... will pull in more oil out of subsequent layers and contribute to sinking in. The 98 colors in the Gamblin line can be categorized as high, moderate, and low in their oil - or fat - content. To determine the oil content of a color, look at the paint; the shinier the paint, the fatter it is. For example, Napthol Red is shinier than Cadmium Red, so Napthol Red has a higher oil content. Colors with a higher fat content will dry glossier, while leaner colors will dry more matte. Once painting mediums are added to the paint, the difference in fat content among colors is negligible." Oiling out helps even out the surface when this happens. Another suggestion, if you're not already doing this, would be to use an oil ground instead of an acrylic ground. Supposedly acrylic grounds are more absorbent than oil grounds.
@@NikitaCoulombe I use Michael Harding non-absorbent primer for oil painting. That’s quite weird that sink in result doesn’t happen if I put the color direct on a universal primed canvas without wash layer, the paint stay gloss..🤕 Should I oil out on the wash surface right before I start to do the main layer? Or just oil out sink in areas after I finished the whole painting? Or do them both? (I use Gamblin solvent free fluid to oil out after the finished painting touch dried)
@@Ken.c1234 I would reach out to Michael Harding directly to see if they can offer any specific advice. You can also do an experiment where you paint a sample as you normally would with the wash layer and then a sample without to see if that makes a difference. Also, if you oil out and plan to keep adding layers, keep a jar of the medium/blend that you used to do the oiling out so you can mix it into your next layers, in order to follow the fat-over-lean rule.
@@Ken.c1234 you're welcome! Hope it helps. I did have one more thought on the samples -- try a couple where you don't use any of the solvent free gel with your paint. So you've got 4 samples: with wash with gel, with wash without gel, without wash with gel, without wash without gel. If all of them are patchy then the issue could be the ground or the paint itself.
Can I use linseed oil with turpentine to get the same results. My painting with black background is showing brushe strokes after drying. What should I do.
Oiling out doesn't eliminate brush strokes, it just helps even out sunken-in areas. I wouldn't use turpentine. You can try using just linseed oil and follow the same process, it'll just take longer to dry. Also, I recently learned that oiling out shouldn't be the final layer of a painting because it will tend to yellow. If you have any more questions, I'd reach out to the manufacturer of the oil paints that you are using to see what suggestions they have.
@@NikitaCoulombeI actually did a painting and put so much linseed oil on some oiling out sections that it became saturated with oil, kind of waterproof, and nothing sticks to it, not varnish not paint not even linseed oil. So I don’t know what’s causing this. As I am towards the end of my painting it might be okay but it’s definitely something problematic.
@@elylab9557 Oh wow, that must be frustrating! I did this once in a painting and had to just leave it as it was. It's a good reminder to use medium as sparingly as possible.
@@NikitaCoulombe Yeah I think I used too much linseed oil or oiled out a full area and then like a week later I couldn’t do the little details with the black paint that I was planning over and around that area. I was doing small details with a very fluid black to a point that it’s semi-transparent brown, so containing lot of linseed oil but over the already oiled out patch the details and the fine lines I painted became like bigger less detailed, because the painting kind of spread like ink, if you get what I mean. My details were so small that it didn’t matter that much it only made this section more blurry. But it’s definitely something I’ll watch for on the next one.
Yes, that'd be fine. You can use acrylics under oils. Side note: some would argue that ideally, all of your layers are oils, including the ground, for better adhesion and longevity.
Hi! After you oiled out the painting and let it dry, what type of varnish do you use? I’ve been doing a lot of research but I can’t quite figure out a good varnish that I could apply to a touch dry painting and not a fully dry painting? Any suggestions would help tremendously, thank you!
Hi Cassie, I use Gamvar Satin Varnish made by Gamblin. This is a good article discussing when to varnish: www.naturalpigments.com/artist-materials/wait-six-months-before-varnish - at the bottom of the article they talk about the “fingernail test” if you can’t wait 6 months, but caution: “Varnishing an oil painting too early can lead to issues like discoloration, cracking, or an uneven gloss. It's important to ensure the paint is thoroughly dry to prevent these problems.” They also suggest not oiling out as the final layer due to the oil yellowing over time.
Alkyds are plastics.. very bad for a painting. Plastic will disintegrate in decades. No plastics in the old masters, still going strong after centuries. Ever seen plastic furniture from the 60s? Horrific.. No oil painter should be using plastics in the paint film!
That is a valid concern and someone else asked about this. I reached out to Gamblin and a rep replied back: "There is not plastic agent in Galkyd medium of any sort. Galkyd is made from alkyd resin. Alkyd resin is a polymerized soybean oil. Alkyd resin is not a “synthetic” resin like aldehyde, ketone, or hydrocarbon resins. Alkyd resin was first manufactured in the early 1930’s and we use alkyd made from natural soybean oil, a fat."
@@NikitaCoulombe They would say that wouldn't they, they are trying to sell it to you. What is the point of a complex chemical precipitation involving polyester resins with no track record yet available as to soundness? Since when was soyabean oil a superior performer to linseeds or walnut? The less oil added to a painting the better in my view, oil should already be in the paint, and tube paints are already oily to make them mass end-user friendly. More oil means more structural compromises. Sinking in is usually the result of poor grounds and even poorer generic tube paints, and many grounds are made with.. guess what.. alkyds. Paint manufacturers are in the business of making money, so they pursue novelty products to open new markets, but they have no proof at all of many of their claims for these products. Titian didn't need soyabean oil chemically precipitated, and his paintings are in good condition. Will we be able to say the same for 'Galkyd' in two or three centuries?
@@Lytton333 If you have evidence that Galkyd is faulty in some way or indeed a plastic despite what Gamblin says, please share it so all of us artists may benefit. I certainly agree with you that the less oil and medium added to a painting the better. You also make good points that poor grounds and poor paints can also contribute to the problem.
@@Lytton333 I'll hazard a prediction that nobody will care or even be aware of the existence of my paintings (or yours) in two centuries. And while saying that manufacturers want to sell products is true, they also don't want to torpedo their own reputation with shoddy offerings.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Oiling out effectively evens out patchiness in dry oil paintings
0:30 - Supplies needed: Galkyd and Gamsol mixed together in a 1:1 ratio
1:00 - One Tablespoon of each (Galkyd and Gamsol) covers about 16 sq ft
1:12 - You don't have to apply this blend to the whole painting
1:20 - What is oiling out?
1:38 - Applying the blend to the painting
2:11 - You may have to go over areas
3:08 - After oiling out, wipe down the painting with a lint free cloth to remove any excess
4:11 - You can let your painting dry or you can immediately start painting again
4:50 - Your painting should dry with a satin (semi-gloss) sheen
That painting is amazing too!
thank you!
Another great video (of course) but not only that but the comment section is also beneficial because of great questions and you taking the time to answer them😮. Ladies and gentlemen we have a classroom. This is awesome! And you are a GREAT TEACHER.
Thank you! The questions are great because I often learn something too.
This is so helpful! I was wondering why some of my paintings have this. Thank you!
@@CristinaGarcia-jy8js thank you, glad this was helpful, Cristina!
Thank you! I have been wondering what to do with my finished paintings when I see the problems you have shown~
You're most welcome, Lianne!
Thanks Nikita, very helpful. Awesome painting!
Thank you, Mark, glad it was helpful!
Really helpful, thank you! How did you clean the blue cloth after wiping the painting?
Glad it’s helpful, Debbie! Just soap and water to clean the cloth.
Thank You so much for this video! 🙏 Do You know if galkyd and liquin works similar? Galkyd is complicated to find where I live but I have liquin, I guess I'll have to try
Hi Wero, Liquin should be OK. Their formulations are a little different, but both Liquin and Galkyd are alkyd resin mediums meant to thin oil paint and speed drying times.
Hello, just wondering if you used mineral spirits as your thinner. I've heard that if you use an oil as a thinner that you shouldn't use galkyd as it has some sort of plastic agent in it. Thanks
Hi Brooke, I didn't use mineral spirits to thin paint in this painting, only Gamblin Safflower Oil in the top layers. I reached out to Gamblin as I've never heard about Galkyd having a plastic agent in it and a rep replied back: "All Gamblin materials are compatible with one another, Galkyd medium is compatible with all drying oils such as refined linseed, stand, or safflower oil. If you’ve used safflower oil as your medium when creating your painting there is no problem using the 1:1 Galkyd/Gamsol combination for the oiling-out process. Please note there is not plastic agent in Galkyd medium of any sort. Galkyd is made from alkyd resin. Alkyd resin is a polymerized soybean oil. Alkyd resin is not a “synthetic” resin like aldehyde, ketone, or hydrocarbon resins. Alkyd resin was first manufactured in the early 1930’s and we use alkyd made from natural soybean oil, a fat." Hope this offers some clarity!
Omg @@NikitaCoulombe thanks so much for looking into it. I didn't expect you to do that. Thank you very much. I've been using walnut oil (not a gamblin product)... I would think it would be the same as Safflower oil. Maybe I'll reach out to them to double check. Thanks again!
@@brookeoconnell2578 for sure! Walnut oil is a little different than safflower oil. Walnut oil will result in a stronger paint film than safflower oil. Both yellow less than linseed oil. I'm still debating the pros and cons of different oils. Definitely reach out to them!
Hi again@@NikitaCoulombe . Wondering if I could email you a photo of what's happened on my canvas. I'd love to get your opinion before I proceed with the steps in your video. It's a large canvas... so I'm a little worried about messing it up. I'm having a similar problem to Ken below, and am seeing something I've never encountered before. Thanks!
@@brookeoconnell2578 for the most accurate advice for your situation I'd reach out to Gamblin directly. Google Gamblin Artists Colors. They have a contact page and usually respond within a day or two. They even do free phone and Zoom calls.
Would a thin layer of linseed oil accomplish the same result?
I don't see why not, it would just take longer to dry (alkyd mediums dry faster). Be sure to dilute it with the Gamsol or another mineral spirit like Sansodor. You can use a higher proportion of oil if your most recent layers are on the fattier side. And if you do plan to keep painting, hang onto some of your oiling out blend in a jar and mix it into subsequent layers so you can continue to follow the fat-over-lean rule.
Not recommend as final layer. Although linseed oil is durable yellowing, as with damar varnish (bloom) is a factor. Gamblin may have specific info on this topic.
@@pollyester6627 thank you for adding this!
@@NikitaCoulombe Quite welcome. Have been reading up on some changes in the Gamvar varnish. According several artists that had experience with the current version have found it lacked in quality. They preferred the older solution which was a two part Gamnvar that had to be mixed.
Could it work if you just put mat varnish instead?
@anonlf8398 I don’t see why you couldn’t try that out on a test sample - just make sure you’re done with your painting because you wont want to put paint over the varnish. Please let us know how it turns out if you do.
I found that I always have dull/sinkin areas in my painting even though I'm using high oil content colors and mixed with the solvent free gel. I also used a non-absorbent ground, but I will paint a wash layer sketch with quite much solvent. Do you think the wash layer is the problem of causing sinkin result?
What would u recommend if I really need to do a washy effect drawing before the main layers? Using washy acrylic paint? Or just do the oil out for every painting with solvent free fluid?
My guess is that your sketch layer with oil paint diluted with solvent isn't the issue but can't say for certain. Getting dull and sunken in areas could indicate that the fat over lean principle wasn't adhered to in that area of the painting - either putting thin layers over thick layers (ideally layers become progressively thicker) or putting leaner layers over fatter layers (ideally layers become progressively fatter/oilier/contain more medium). Your bottom layers should have the least amount of solvent free gel mixed in, in other words.
Gamblin notes another issue on their website that the painter cannot control as easily: "Artists’ pigments absorb binder at varying rates. The phenomenon of oil colors drying more matte is often referred to 'sinking in.' Absorbent grounds... will pull in more oil out of subsequent layers and contribute to sinking in. The 98 colors in the Gamblin line can be categorized as high, moderate, and low in their oil - or fat - content. To determine the oil content of a color, look at the paint; the shinier the paint, the fatter it is. For example, Napthol Red is shinier than Cadmium Red, so Napthol Red has a higher oil content. Colors with a higher fat content will dry glossier, while leaner colors will dry more matte. Once painting mediums are added to the paint, the difference in fat content among colors is negligible." Oiling out helps even out the surface when this happens.
Another suggestion, if you're not already doing this, would be to use an oil ground instead of an acrylic ground. Supposedly acrylic grounds are more absorbent than oil grounds.
@@NikitaCoulombe I use Michael Harding non-absorbent primer for oil painting. That’s quite weird that sink in result doesn’t happen if I put the color direct on a universal primed canvas without wash layer, the paint stay gloss..🤕
Should I oil out on the wash surface right before I start to do the main layer? Or just oil out sink in areas after I finished the whole painting? Or do them both? (I use Gamblin solvent free fluid to oil out after the finished painting touch dried)
@@Ken.c1234 I would reach out to Michael Harding directly to see if they can offer any specific advice. You can also do an experiment where you paint a sample as you normally would with the wash layer and then a sample without to see if that makes a difference. Also, if you oil out and plan to keep adding layers, keep a jar of the medium/blend that you used to do the oiling out so you can mix it into your next layers, in order to follow the fat-over-lean rule.
@@NikitaCoulombe thankyou for the advice!!!
@@Ken.c1234 you're welcome! Hope it helps. I did have one more thought on the samples -- try a couple where you don't use any of the solvent free gel with your paint. So you've got 4 samples: with wash with gel, with wash without gel, without wash with gel, without wash without gel. If all of them are patchy then the issue could be the ground or the paint itself.
Can I use linseed oil with turpentine to get the same results. My painting with black background is showing brushe strokes after drying. What should I do.
Oiling out doesn't eliminate brush strokes, it just helps even out sunken-in areas. I wouldn't use turpentine. You can try using just linseed oil and follow the same process, it'll just take longer to dry. Also, I recently learned that oiling out shouldn't be the final layer of a painting because it will tend to yellow. If you have any more questions, I'd reach out to the manufacturer of the oil paints that you are using to see what suggestions they have.
@@NikitaCoulombeI actually did a painting and put so much linseed oil on some oiling out sections that it became saturated with oil, kind of waterproof, and nothing sticks to it, not varnish not paint not even linseed oil. So I don’t know what’s causing this. As I am towards the end of my painting it might be okay but it’s definitely something problematic.
@@elylab9557 Oh wow, that must be frustrating! I did this once in a painting and had to just leave it as it was. It's a good reminder to use medium as sparingly as possible.
@@NikitaCoulombe Yeah I think I used too much linseed oil or oiled out a full area and then like a week later I couldn’t do the little details with the black paint that I was planning over and around that area. I was doing small details with a very fluid black to a point that it’s semi-transparent brown, so containing lot of linseed oil but over the already oiled out patch the details and the fine lines I painted became like bigger less detailed, because the painting kind of spread like ink, if you get what I mean. My details were so small that it didn’t matter that much it only made this section more blurry. But it’s definitely something I’ll watch for on the next one.
Hi! How long did you waited for your painting to dry before applying this mix? Thank you!
If my memory serves me correctly, much of this painting had been dry for a couple of months but some of it had only been dry for a couple of weeks.
I use both acrylic as an underbody and background and apply oil on top. Can I still use this method?
Yes, that'd be fine. You can use acrylics under oils. Side note: some would argue that ideally, all of your layers are oils, including the ground, for better adhesion and longevity.
Can I do this to sections of my
Painting that are only about a week old and very shiny?
@@arianafox365 if it’s dry, yes, and then you can keep painting from there.
Hi! After you oiled out the painting and let it dry, what type of varnish do you use? I’ve been doing a lot of research but I can’t quite figure out a good varnish that I could apply to a touch dry painting and not a fully dry painting? Any suggestions would help tremendously, thank you!
Hi Cassie, I use Gamvar Satin Varnish made by Gamblin. This is a good article discussing when to varnish: www.naturalpigments.com/artist-materials/wait-six-months-before-varnish - at the bottom of the article they talk about the “fingernail test” if you can’t wait 6 months, but caution: “Varnishing an oil painting too early can lead to issues like discoloration, cracking, or an uneven gloss. It's important to ensure the paint is thoroughly dry to prevent these problems.” They also suggest not oiling out as the final layer due to the oil yellowing over time.
Thank you so much Nikita!
@@cassiemorris3576 You're welcome!
Alkyds are plastics.. very bad for a painting. Plastic will disintegrate in decades. No plastics in the old masters, still going strong after centuries. Ever seen plastic furniture from the 60s? Horrific..
No oil painter should be using plastics in the paint film!
That is a valid concern and someone else asked about this. I reached out to Gamblin and a rep replied back: "There is not plastic agent in Galkyd medium of any sort. Galkyd is made from alkyd resin. Alkyd resin is a polymerized soybean oil. Alkyd resin is not a “synthetic” resin like aldehyde, ketone, or hydrocarbon resins. Alkyd resin was first manufactured in the early 1930’s and we use alkyd made from natural soybean oil, a fat."
@@NikitaCoulombe They would say that wouldn't they, they are trying to sell it to you. What is the point of a complex chemical precipitation involving polyester resins with no track record yet available as to soundness? Since when was soyabean oil a superior performer to linseeds or walnut? The less oil added to a painting the better in my view, oil should already be in the paint, and tube paints are already oily to make them mass end-user friendly. More oil means more structural compromises. Sinking in is usually the result of poor grounds and even poorer generic tube paints, and many grounds are made with.. guess what.. alkyds. Paint manufacturers are in the business of making money, so they pursue novelty products to open new markets, but they have no proof at all of many of their claims for these products. Titian didn't need soyabean oil chemically precipitated, and his paintings are in good condition. Will we be able to say the same for 'Galkyd' in two or three centuries?
@@Lytton333 If you have evidence that Galkyd is faulty in some way or indeed a plastic despite what Gamblin says, please share it so all of us artists may benefit. I certainly agree with you that the less oil and medium added to a painting the better. You also make good points that poor grounds and poor paints can also contribute to the problem.
@@Lytton333 I'll hazard a prediction that nobody will care or even be aware of the existence of my paintings (or yours) in two centuries. And while saying that manufacturers want to sell products is true, they also don't want to torpedo their own reputation with shoddy offerings.