On the turps can mean a few things, but this time it means I'm cleaning up after being lazy around the studio. It made me think of a pet hate topic of mine, that being, when artists thin out their oil paints with mineral spirits to paint with. You're supposed to do that with turpentine, not mineral spirits.
It's your own painting, but do so at your peril if you mix in mineral spirits. This substance is meant for cleaning your brushes and palette, not as a painting medium.
That's the essence of my short video rant.
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Was very nice to hear and see you! Much inspiration for you! :)
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Thank you Monica! You too. =)
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Oh man, haha yes. Always makes me cringe. The thought of using a solvent as a medium.....
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What makes me cringe, is I've come across artists teaching their students that its OK to do!!!
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Yeah...I was really shocked to learn that some extremely well known artists use massive amounts of the stuff for oil "washes".....
My teachers had a good mantra: "Paint with paint."
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I like that mantra, "Paint with paint." I'm stealing that one. ;-)
I guess when we get into habits of what "works" for us, there is no motivation to change them. Painting materials and media can provide many hours worth of discussion or argument amongst artists.
For instance, in a certain circle of artists, Liquin is the stuff of the Devil. I happen to like it and find it very useful. I asked a very experienced and knowledgeable restorer about the longevity of paintings where Liquin has been used. Her opinion is there is no indication that it will degrade the painting. But, as she pointed out, we won't know exactly for sure until 500 years time.
We're actually very fortunate to live in the age we do. There is a false concept that the Old Masters always had it right with their materials. In fact they often made many disastrous mistakes with experimenting. But, we who come after them, can learn from their mistakes and now know what actually stands the test of time.
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Totally agree. If the Old Masters had access to all the amazing modern materials we have now, they would be ecstatic. Good tube paints...what a wonderful thing. We mixed up our own paints every day at the Schuler School of Fine Arts and it was a great experience...and gave me a strong appreciation for convenience and consistency of the store bought paints I now use. I've experimented with lots of mediums and I mainly use a few Gamblin products...Neo Megilp (similar to maroger) and Galkyd (similar to liquin). Great stuff.
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Oh yeah, we are indeed spoilt with our materials today. I've never mixed my own paint. I'm a fan of Liquin, other than that, Art Spectrum Medium 3, a heavier medium and of course good old turmps.
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excellent painting and vlog.
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Great work @leoplaw. Keeping the workplace clean is a good practice.
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Hi Emma! My studio cleanliness has thankfully improved over the years. =)
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Let me guess... one is cheaper than the other?
Great to see you in action, Leo! I love your accent by the way :-)
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Hi Irime! There's no real price difference. It is how the two substances react with the oil paint that make the difference. One is meant for removing paint, the other for thinning.
Yep, that's me in all my glory with my Orstraylian accent. ;-)
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i thought turpentine and mineral spirits were the same thing.
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Oh no no no, don't make that mistake. Turpentine is distilled from pine tree sap, where as mineral spirits are a petrochemical. While Turpentine will dilute your oil paint, it doesn't break all of the bonding properties of the oil paint, whereas mineral spirits is very aggressive and breaks those bonds down, hence why you use the later for cleaning your brushes and palettes. It is a paint remover.
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which one has less harmful off-gassing? thats probably the one I will use so as to bot get brain damage working in the winter
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Both are toxic, so good ventilation is always required. Mind you, I should open my windows more often in Winter. But nothing beats one artist I knew. He used so much turps you could smell it from outside his studio with the door shut. He didn't notice it.
There's really not much choice. Even odourless turps is toxic. Ventilation is the key.
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I used to get headaches from turpentine, so I switched to gamsol which I tolerate much better, but even so I got a Rabbit MinusA2 air filter with the VOC option, it is really helpful.
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Nothing beats fresh air, that's what we're meant to breath after all. I really should be ventilating my studio more in Winter, but I originally come from the subtropics and so like it very warm. Mind you, in Summer I always have the windows open.
With your air filter, where does it pump the bad stuff to?
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All the bad stuff is captured in a series of filters which must be disposed of and replaced. I replace once a year.
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