Liquin

[keron]

I would advise testing it for primary yellowing against walnut, linseed, stand, and liquin. I have and my walnut alkyd yellowed substantially. Walnut no, walnut alkyd, yes. I assumed that it may be due to the driers used with the alkyd. Good luck.

Aside from my previous note, my thinking is leaning in the direction of only using a bit of alkyd medium or adding a bit of an alkyd primer with my lead primer prior to applying it to my linen, mainly as a drying assist. Secondarily, I am curious to see how differently it affects the brushing and paint application afterward.
As far as mediums go, my instincts are leaning toward moderate use of more traditional mediums. To be specific, mediums including basic mixtures of either cleaned, sunbleached walnut or linseed oils with perhaps a touch of sunthickened oils or stand oil (do I want a faster or slower drying medium) along with perhaps a touch of Venetian turpentine and spike or turp. The key word I am trying to hang on to is 'moderate' in using medium with my paints. I think that if we all began to grind our pigments fresh and carefully, we would find that we would not need to use mediums nearly as much as we feel we need to with most modern tubed paints. I think we would find ourselves closer to the 'secret' mediums of the old masters.
Nevertheless, let anyone who wishes press on to seek the 'grail!'

[AMIEN]

Metallic driers are commonly used with long oil drying alkyd resins to speed the drying. You are right, I don't know whether Graham uses an alkyd with driers in their alkyd medium, I am only guessing what caused the yellowing.

SidBl,

It could be that the alkyd content of the oil accelerated the yellowing -- but this is speculation.

[AMIEN]

This reminds that the term 'art', as in western (not cowboy western), once was synonymous with 'science.' Seems to me I read that somewhere, sometime. In any event, ever as always, we will struggle with knowing or not knowing our materials. There are those who say "just paint; don't worry about what happens in 100 years...that is what the conservators job is."
I don't advocate this attitude but...what's that term you're so fond of Amien? Oh yes - emptor caveat! But why's it gotta be so derned hard?????

keron,

Art and science ... we like it, and yes, we think you have it right. "Alchemy" was art and science mixed up together, though it often led down the wrong path. "You can't make a silk purse from a pig's ear," or turn lead into gold, even if they are artful ideas.

In a public discussion at a CAA (College Art Association) panel meeting long ago we had a conservator tell us flat out, "You should just make art and let us worry about fixing it." We, and our panel colleagues, were appalled that he would say that. Now, we are less than 30Km from this pill's conservation studio and he's still an arrogant pill.

The term is "caveat emptor," "let the buyer beware."

The reason getting information is so hard is that defined knowledge is often inaccessible to ordinary working stiffs like artists, and what is accessible (on the web, for instance) is sold as "the truth," but without references or evidence. This junk becomes "the truth" through repetition and re-publication, instantly. Here, we try to sift away all the chaff to find a few kernels of knowledge.

[AMIEN]

Aside from my previous note, my thinking is leaning in the direction of only using a bit of alkyd medium or adding a bit of an alkyd primer with my lead primer prior to applying it to my linen, mainly as a drying assist. Secondarily, I am curious to see how differently it affects the brushing and paint application afterward.
As far as mediums go, my instincts are leaning toward moderate use of more traditional mediums. To be specific, mediums including basic mixtures of either cleaned, sunbleached walnut or linseed oils with perhaps a touch of sunthickened oils or stand oil (do I want a faster or slower drying medium) along with perhaps a touch of Venetian turpentine and spike or turp. The key word I am trying to hang on to is 'moderate' in using medium with my paints. I think that if we all began to grind our pigments fresh and carefully, we would find that we would not need to use mediums nearly as much as we feel we need to with most modern tubed paints. I think we would find ourselves closer to the 'secret' mediums of the old masters.
Nevertheless, let anyone who wishes press on to seek the 'grail!'

keron,

Allow us to indulge in an apt cliché: "All things in moderation." (attrib. Dr. Samuel Johnson, but originally adapted from Aristotle.)

And let us remember that "the grail" was never found ...

[ottobooboo@yahoo.com]

Hello AMIEN,

I have had no luck in getting a response from W&N's USA customer service, so I wanted to bring this question to the AMIEN forum: I have a bottle of Liquin that has whitish sediment on the bottom. Is this medium still good to use? Should I stir the sediment back into the the mixture or decant the mixture from the sediment. This is a large bottle, so I don't want to replace unless it is necessary.

Thank you

[AMIEN]

Hello AMIEN,

I have had no luck in getting a response from W&N's USA customer service, so I wanted to bring this question to the AMIEN forum: I have a bottle of Liquin that has whitish sediment on the bottom. Is this medium still good to use? Should I stir the sediment back into the the mixture or decant the mixture from the sediment. This is a large bottle, so I don't want to replace unless it is necessary.

Thank you

ottobooboo,

We have contacted two people at W&N and expect an answer to the question but not before Monday, August 2nd. Please repeat this post next week, in case we forget.

[Guy J. Smith]

Just to thicken the plot, I'd like to note that VIRTUALLY ALL of my oil paint tubes have a small leakage of "residue" at the cap, and all of it has dried to a dark brown-orange color. And I have always noticed that the older tubes had this residue--it is the oil separating from the paint, and, in time, virtually all paints will separate. Same thing happened with the good old oil-based housepaints.

I haven't used artists' oil paints since the 60s, so you know how old my paints are. The newest is an unopened studio tube (#40, 122cc) of WN Flake White #1, with its price still marked--$2.25. Maybe you haven't noticed the brownish residue before because you have used up your oil paints on a more expedited schedule.

Guy J. Smith

[AMIEN]

Just to thicken the plot, I'd like to note that VIRTUALLY ALL of my oil paint tubes have a small leakage of "residue" at the cap, and all of it has dried to a dark brown-orange color. And I have always noticed that the older tubes had this residue--it is the oil separating from the paint, and, in time, virtually all paints will separate. Same thing happened with the good old oil-based housepaints.

I haven't used artists' oil paints since the 60s, so you know how old my paints are. The newest is an unopened studio tube (#40, 122cc) of WN Flake White #1, with its price still marked--$2.25. Maybe you haven't noticed the brownish residue before because you have used up your oil paints on a more expedited schedule.

Guy J. Smith

Guy J. Smith,

Right you are, in every respect!