Oils Using Blue

[Tecumsea]

I still hold my breath when using blue, especially Dark Blue as I'm never sure how it will turn out. Sometimes it takes on an irridiscent quality that is seemingly impossible to eradicate.
Most commonly I use, Prussian Blue or Indigo.
I only use Artists Quality by W&N and use a light box to take out as much of the sheen as possible.
I would be interested in how others tackle this problem?
What undercoat do you use? which is the most popular dark blue? Do you lamp? Do you use a medium to thin the paint? and finally do you put the paint out on card beforehand to extract the carrier?

Sorry for all the questions but for me this is a consistant problem.

Keith

 

[marius'mules]

Kieth,

If I'm painting, say like a dark blue coat on a U.S. civil war union solder; I will use W&N's Windsor Blue and darken it accordingly with W&N's Blue Black---The Blue Black doe's a good job of making it the correct shade of dark blue and significantly cuts down the iridescent effect of the blue.

For under/base coating; I've always had the best results using Jo Sonya Acrylics, Vallejo and Andrea.

I also use a self made lamp box with a 75 watt bulb for drying-- most of the time over night is enough to dry the oils.

The medium I prefer for thinning oils is a touch of Linseed oil mixed with a touch of white/mineral spirits ; it makes the oil paint flow from the brush very smoothly, gives the oils better transparency quality, eliminates brush marks, makes the transitions from highlight to dark much more subtle, and cuts down on the drying time of oils.

The down side of using Linseed Oil is; it makes the oils dry to a glossy sheen. But this is eliminated with a coat of matt varnish, after the oils have dried over night in the light box.

Before I start painting; I place the oils on a piece of cardboard for about a half hour, to draw out a lot of the carrier--this cuts down drying time also. Then I transfer the oils from the cardboard to a glossy covered 4''x5'' index card, and use this for the pallet.

 

[megroot]

Keith.
When I use blue (any kind of blue) I let the oils soak out on a indexcard. This will take a minute of 5. After that i bring the colour to my palette and paint with it after i added a tip white spirit to make it more painteble.
When i'm stop painting i let it dry overnight into a drybox.
The other morning it is absolute flat.

Marc

 

[JasonB]

Reds and blues I always apply over white. I keep them rather thick but use them sparingly, almost tinting the white as much as I am painting over it. The white allows me to use the translucence of the paint to create the highlights, and applying a little more paint, perhaps darkened a little, creates the shadows. I always allow my oils to dry naturally, then hit them with flat coat as needed. The dark colors seem to dry faster, so after about a day I can go back over them and add highlights and deeper darks without blending them out, which is one of my biggest boo-boos using oils.I become, as the tv painter William Alexander would say a "mud maker", and over blend. I use W&N Prussian blue, and mix as needed to get other shades.

 

[Augie]

Hi Keith,

Blues can be tricky with oils, no doubt.

First the easy part. The iridescence you are encountering is due to Prussian Blue. Useful colour to have, but in my experience it has limited applications due to this very iridescence and a strong green bias.

Indigo is a convenience colour that is comprised of Pthalo Blue, Ultramarine Blue, and Carbon/Lamp Black. If you are striving for a deep blue-black, it is fairly consistent and reliable, and readily mattes. If you can't get it to matte, I would mix my own analog using Ultramarine Blue and Lamp or Mars Black.

Any warm black with a blue bias can be mixed using Ultramarine Blue and a brown suitable to the task at hand (e.g., UM Blue + Burnt Umber): these will virtually dry matte on their own within a few days.

As a rule, I don't lamp. The oils on my palette will readily dry to an eggshell finish (my preferred degree of sheen) on their own in 2-3 months, max.

As to the carding of oils, effective, but something I avoid unless it is a very oily pigment, or particularly oily tube of a normally non-oily paint.

Hope this helps!

Augie

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Hi Keith
Prussian blue is a difficult Pigment and can leech into other colors, for figure painting it is
probably best avoided,you could try cobalt blue and darken with blacks or dark browns
and wont go milk when white is added like ultramarine.

Ronnie T

 

[Einion]

Sometimes it takes on an irridiscent quality that is seemingly impossible to eradicate.

This is called bronzing. It's more prevalent in some blues than other (e.g. Prussian Blue).

Most commonly I use, Prussian Blue or Indigo.
I only use Artists Quality by W&N and use a light box to take out as much of the sheen as possible.

Another thing you can do to help is to mix in some umber. Umbers are fast driers because of their manganese content and in addition to helping slower-drying colours dry more quickly they can help with achieving a matt finish. This has the added benefit of subduing the blue as well, which for much military/uniform use is entirely appropriate!

I would recommending trying French Ultramarine, which naturally tends to dry matter than other dark blues.

Einion

 

[Tecumsea]

HI Guys, I've just looked back on this thread and omitted to thank you all for your very helpful responses.
Much appreciated

Keith

 

[John Bowery]

Very useful information.
Cheers
John