Oil Paints

Painting in oils has long been a desire of mine.  It was the first paint I used when I was just a kid - with the help of my grandmother.  And she cleaned the brushes for me!

As I started getting back into art over 40 years later, my best teacher used to stay and talk to me after classes.  She had been an art student with Bob Ross and two other well known oil painters.  (Bob for some reason never acknowledges those classes in his autobiographical statements!)  But, as the one after another artist died, he was in touch in my teacher - very concerned about that the clock ticking.

You see, oil paints are based on turpenoid extracts, as are their cleaners.  And turpenoids are absorbed by your skin, passed to your liver - which then dies.  That is why my teacher switched to watercolors, once she had figured it out.  And in time, Bob was to die as well.  Just as my teacher was to a few years later.  All of that liver damage so early in life, well, just not recoverable.

So, I have been working this year to come up with a less dangerous oil paint, because I really do want to paint in oils!

The first attempts never did yield a mixture which could dry!  Oh gees!

Then three months ago I started with five separate methods.  Last week was the test of them against each other.  And there was one one clear winner!

The winner of the five, dried faster, carried the pigment better and had a nice luster!  It was almost like using acrylic, except that it is not a plastic product.  I am just stunned!

So, it looks like I can produce an oil paint that can be cleaned up with water, seems to work any pigment easily.  The only draw back is that colors come out darker than I expected - but perhaps if I used less pigment I will get that objective.

Cost wise, it is just as expensive as buying water based oil paints.  So, why do it?  Because I can reproduce 174 colors right now, all based on earth pigments (hence color stable), with the exception of titanium white.  Now to do a real painting and see how it goes!!!!!

Now, can I do this in bulk one day?