Materials Lesson Notes: Oil Paint

One of the cool things we covered this weekend was Materials lessons. Starting from Old Holland pigments, I made my own paint. The materials used were Old Holland pigments, frosted glass, palette knives, and two different sized glass mullers (to grind/mix with), along with some Linseed oil, cold pressed. Take a look as Dave demonstrates.

Initial mixing of the pigment and the linseed oil. Really, the process is very simple. It's more a matter of knowing the consistency to take, and having control over the amounts of the medium and the pigment ratio. We did a single-pigment paint, a native pigment color, but by mixing and adding in different pigments in different quantities, you produce different colors.

Use the muller in a circular motion, grinding from the middle to the outside. Then use your palette knives to scrape the paint back into the middle. Add the oil in small doses, with an eye on attaining the right viscosity and body. There will be some variation in this depending on what you're using the paint for. (Impasto techniques will want to be much stiffer.)

It's up to the artist and the need for the work, but this is the general consistency that we wanted. For those who are skilled at cooking, you want to get these nice stiff meringue-like peaks when you pull the muller away from the grinding glass.

When done, use the palette knife to load the paint into the empty tubes (sold that way). Make sure they're good for oil paints (nothing wonky coating the inner part of the metal) and tamp it down to be sure that no bubbles are in the tube. Then gently close the end and crimp it with a metal crimper (always use the metal crimper for the oil paints). Roll it slightly to give it the finished look, and then note the color and medium and date on the tube.

And yes, this is Guru Dave himself.