Oil Painting Basics, Mediums Part 1: What is an Oil Painting Medium, How are they Used, and Which is the Best Medium?

When I first started to paint with oil paints, one of the more confusing and frustrating aspects of oil painting were the mediums. How was I supposed to use them? Which one was the best? Why are there so many options?

Here, in Mediums Part 1, I will be covering what a medium is, how to use a medium, some easy to use medium options, and what medium I use.

In Mediums Part 2, I will be covering historical oil mediums, and how to use them, as well as some new non-toxic and solvent free options.

So let's get into it.

What is a Medium?

A medium is an additive mixed into your oil paints that changes the way that oil paint acts.

The easiest way to think about oil mediums is by comparing them to the water you use with watercolors. Oil mediums do the same thing for oil paints that water does for watercolors. Water is the basic medium used to change the consistency of the watercolor paint, just as oil is the basic medium used to change the consistency of oil paint.

Thats it! You use water with watercolors and oil with oil paints.

Just like with watercolors. Water is the additive you mix into the watercolors. The more water the thinner the color, the less water the deeper the color, etc.

Oil Mediums do the following:

- extend your oil paints to cover more area

- quicken or retard the drying time of your paints

- modify the texture of your oil paint, making it thinner or thicker

- alter the paint's sheen, making it high gloss, satin, or matte

How do we use Mediums?

How much medium to use is a hard question to answer. A lot of it comes down to feel, but less is more. The highest ratio of medium to paint you will want is about 1 part medium to 3 parts oil paint. Anything more than that and the paint will start to break down and to bead on your canvas.

Personally, I drop five to ten drops of medium onto my pallet and then dip my brush into it when needed, much like as if I was using watercolors.

What are the easiest mediums to use?

Premade mediums are amazing! Traditional mediums require a mixture of both solvents and oils in varying ratios. With premade mediums you can just use them without having to think too hard.

Three of the easiest premade mediums are: Winsor and Newton's Liquin Original, Gamblin's Galkyd, or M. Graham's Walnut Alkyd Medium.

While there are so many more, it is hard to go wrong with one of these three. Let's go over each, along with their pros and cons.

Liquin Original

This is the first medium introduced to me, and, I think, is the easiest medium when beginning. It is a gel like substance that you just scoop out with a palette knife, put on your palette, and dip your brush into when needed.

Mixing a pea sized amount directly into large amounts of slow drying paint, like titanium white, will help speed up the drying time.

Pros:

• Creates a great hard film for your painting. Which means that as it dries, the paint cannot be easily lifted in subsequent layers.

• Leaves a nice shine, and you will almost never have dull spots.

• Oil can be added to increase liquin's drying time.

• Solvents, like turpentine or mineral spirits, can be added to speed up its drying time, but liquin dries so quickly that this is not necessary.

Cons:

• It is so smelly. Do not use in a closed room and do not use around pets and children. It is very toxic.

• Dries out in packaging. Purchase a small bottle as first, because once open the liquin inside the bottle will start to dry out.

  
  

You can read more about liquin here.

Galkyd or Galkdy Lite

Galkyd is a thick oil-like substance that you can pour, or using a dropper place 5-10 drops onto your palette at a time, dip your brush in when needed, or mix directly into large amounts of paint.

Pros:

• Creates a great hard, glossy film for your painting.

• Leaves a nice shine, and you almost never have dull spots.

• Thin layers of paint will be dry to the touch within 24 hours.

• It is also not smelly, as it is made with Gamsol Odorless Spirits.

• Oils and solvents can be added to length or shorten drying times, but, like liquin, it dries so quickly this is unnecessary.

Cons:

• While it is made of some of the best, odorless spirits, it is still made with a solvent and is still toxic. Do not use in a closed room, even though the smell is not bad, and keep out of reach of pets and children.

• The original galkyd is thicker than our other two options. I find it too thick and prefer to use galkyd lite.

Below is a slightly boring, but very useful video about Gamblin's galkyds.

Walnut Alkyd Medium

Walnut Alkyd is an oil-like substance. Using a dropper, place 5-10 drops onto your palette at a time, dip your brush in when needed, or mix directly into large amounts of paint.

Pros:

• Non-toxic and eco-friendly.

• It is solvent free and decreases drying times, but slower than the other two options.

• It leaves paints with a matte-ish finish, and some dull spots.

• Oils and solvents can be added to length or shorten drying times.

• Zero smell.

• You can use it in a closed room and it is safe to be around pets and children (however, you don't want them playing with it).

Cons:

• The painting surface does not dry hard and can leave you with dull spots.

• Cannot oil out without lifting paint (more on oiling out in a future post).

  
  

You can read more about this alkyd here.

What is my Personal Preference?

I do prefer to use galkyd lite. I like how hard the painting dries and how quickly it dries. As I don't really have impasto like strokes in my paintings, I like how it evens out my strokes. However, I do not use it...

My painting room (aka third bedroom in my house) is far from being just mine. It doubles as an office for my husband when he works from home and as an arts and crafts room for my two littles. My cats also sleep in the room when I am painting. As it is a small room, using solvent-free and toxic free mediums are a must. I use Graham's walnut alkyd mixed with their walnut oil. I add just 5 drops of aklyd to 5 drops of walnut oil on my pallet and dip my paint brush when needed.

And there we have it, a bit wordy, but hopefully helpful. Is there anything that I missed? Is there a premade medium I should add to our list? Let me know down in the comments.

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This is a rewrite of two of my original blog posts: Types of Mediums: The Simple Option and Types of Mediums Extended: Oils, Thinners, Mixtures, Questions, etc.