Summer Heat

As you are probably aware, for the last few months I’ve been using Alkyd quick drying oil paints. I like the way they work on the canvas as well as the speed of drying. These paints are not very popular with oil painters, who actually like the slow drying of standard oils. The principal use of Alkyd seems to be for underpainting, if you want to paint on a dry under-layer. If the colour is applied as an underpainting using solvent only, in 24 hours the layer is dry enough to proceed to the final stages. Acrylic paint is sometimes used as an underpainting but I think this is better as you are using a compatible paint which can be mixed with final colours if required. Although there are differences they are still the same medium.

The most popular Alkyd colour is Titanium White. Apparently many oil painters use this instead of the traditional white to speed up the drying. As white is usually used in the final layers and highlights these quick drying layers will be completely dry long before the under layers are dry. This is a recipe for cracking and flaking similar to using Liquin in the final layers of a multi layered painting.

I would sometimes add standard oils to the final layers of an Alkyd painting. This is because the range of Alkyd colours is a bit limited. For example, there is no Alkyd Cobalt Blue, only Cobalt ‘hue’, and its just not quite the same as the real thing.

Here is the video of this painting process. See you soon.