What is the best diluent for oils?

[user 5827]

W&N FINE Liquin , white spirit or Petroleum essence ?

 

[RFL]

Gamsol

When I use oils I use Gamsol by Gamblin Artist Oils Colors. It`s a 100% pure odorless Mineral Spirit designed for artists oils.

I use it because of the OSHA health requirements it meets, which is very important these days IMHO.

http://www.gamblincolors.com/studio.safety/index.html

 

[Meehan34]

I use odorless mineral spirits (not really odorless) and brand that the hardware store has on the shelf.

 

[megroot]

I use White Spirit.
But most at the time i don't diluted my oilpaints. O only diluted the blue's because i let the oil out on a card.

Marc

 

[user 5827]

Thanks guys

 

[Paul20100]

Better products probably exist, but I am fine with White Spirit.

 

[SRP]

White spirit does it for me...........

 

[BarrieHynd]

White Spirit for me also.

Barrie.

 

[Merkava]

During an international painting workshop in last July, Jose manuel palomares (JMPN) said to us that W and N turpentine is the best with oils.

 

[Tecumsea]

I use W&N Turpentine but it has a very strong smell, it is also great for cleaning brushes but you need to wash them in white spirit afterwards to prevent them from going stiff, the Turpentine leaves a residue which disolves if the brush is dipped in Spirit.
Sansodor is a non smelling equivalent also by W&N.
Keith

 

[theBaron]

I use mineral spirits, too, and not just for oils, but for thinning or cleaning enamels. I also use lacquer thinner, for cleaning brushes if paint starts to accumulate in the base of the bristles. Some the enamels that I use are a little resistant to the mineral spirits.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Gary D]

I use a product called Terpenoid. It is odour free and works fine for thinning oils. I buy it at Art supply stores or Michaels when there is a sale on.

gary

 

[thegoodsgt]

No one has mentioned it yet, but you generally do NOT want to thin oils for general painting fo the figure. Doing so reduces their coverage ability. As Shep Paine said in his book, "Spread it out, don't thin it out."

 

[Einion]

No one has mentioned it yet, but you generally do NOT want to thin oils for general painting fo the figure. Doing so reduces their coverage ability. As Shep Paine said in his book, "Spread it out, don't thin it out."

With all respect to Shep that could be thought of as outmoded advice. Lots of the best oil painters working in the hobby today thin their oils with spirits or turps.

Reduced coverage isn't really the issue because two thin films of a paint will have exactly the same opacity once dry, no matter which of the two ways this was achieved (finish could vary though).

Some oils (individual colours as well as a brand overall) are very stiff from the tube, partly because they can be so packed full of pigment, and any paint like that is difficult to work with unless you're using a bristle brush. Thinning them, even if only slightly, can help greatly in reducing the tendency to leave brushmarks, it can aid drying to a matt finish as well as helping with detail painting.

With certain oil colours there's no technical problem with using them diluted all the way to around the consistency of enamel paints, because that's in essence what the enamel paint is.

Einion

 

[thegoodsgt]

That's interesting, Einion. I've never had to thin the oil paints that I use, but I'll definitely be on the lookout for the opportunity!

 

[Edson]

I only use mineral spirit to clean my brushes, the rest its from the tube to the figure!

Cheers
Ed

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

I Never dilute oils.
If you use turps it will dull the paint and also you will lose control of the medium, they are best applied from the tube over the same color base coat
and then lifted off with a dry brush till you get a fine sheen with no brush marks,

 

[kagemusha]

I was taught that thinning oils with any kind of spirits breaks down the binder to pigment ratio which is detrimental to the performance of the colour. Thinning oils to avoid brush marks is an indication that the brush being used is too stiff. When you thin oils, for washes or glazing you are relying on the thinner to stain the underlying colour with the pigment you have used. Thinner removes the 'oil' that is there to make the oil spread from the tube. Translucent oil colours rely on the extra oil for their translucency and removing it with spirits can make the colour appear muddy instead. All the above is taken from my notes and has served me well over the years. Hope it helps.
Regards, Ron

 

[Einion]

If you use turps it will dull the paint and also you will lose control of the medium...

What if it gives more control of the medium?

The point is to make the paint behave the way you want it to behave: if using paint straight from the tube works for someone it works; ditto with using it let down with some diluent for someone else.

I was taught that thinning oils with any kind of spirits breaks down the binder to pigment ratio which is detrimental to the performance of the colour.

That's certainly possible if you thin too much - around the level of a wash for example is too thin for a typical oil paint.

But you can of course dilute with a mixture, spirits and oil, or an existing medium (e.g. Liquin) which contain a certain amount of spirits as part of their makeup.

Need to also bear in mind that some brands are significantly stiffer than others. Mass-market brands are made to be relatively uniform colour to colour in various ways, while premium brands can be so packed with pigment that it's hard to move them about with a hog bristle brush, especially in cold weather.

Translucent oil colours rely on the extra oil for their translucency...

Colour that are naturally transparent/semitransparent are that way because of the inherent nature of the pigment. The converse is also true: some of the earths are much more oily than one would guess (more than 50% of the tube volume) while still being surprisingly opaque.

Einion

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Different colors behave in different ways it is just a matter of experience and finding what works for you,but when you get there it all becomes easy.