Morning Frost

The winter is almost over. Mornings are beautiful, the bare trees allow the light to penetrate into the deepest places.

This is a break from the graphic paintings of recent times. As you are probably aware I use Alkyd Fast Drying Oils, I mix them with standard oils to overpaint ‘wet on wet’. Overpainting with standard oils requires the under layers to be dry. Although the Alkyd colour is not completely dry, after an hour or so, it is ‘set’ sufficiently to allow a gentle layer to be applied on top. Not ‘glazing’ in the traditional sense, as some mixing does happen. Also note, I don’t use a medium. The solvent I mix for the under layers will evaporate (sometimes with the help of a hair dryer. And yes I know, the danger of solvent inhalation and fire are always foremost on my mind) leaving a very thin layer of paint.

I have in previous posts (very old posts) mentioned the dangers of mixing Alkyd and standard oils (its not recommended by W&N). If you are interested use the search box above. The short version of mixing these two types of paint safely, is not to paint in layers (as in the traditional oil painting method) with the different paint types because the drying rates are so different. Painting in a single thin layer of well mixed paint would seem to be a safe bet (but only time will tell).

Here’s the video, see you soon.