Using Studio Oil

Last night I played with Umber and Lead White, mixing a tonal string to grade out a background. It was an on the fly decision so it's a bit rough here. After dropping in some initial values, I mixed the paints with a bit of my studio oil. My paints became smoother and with grab. Colors are more saturated. Dries in less than a day. I like it a lot.

Here is that same smooth finish and same lighting reflecting overhead fluorescents. (I changed my viewing angle to find the glare axis.) Is this a problem? I don't know. What would the glare would look like with multiple light sources?

Notice the lower left border in both photos, that patchiness. It's an area I'd gone over with pure umber paint, no studio oil. The first patch loses saturation and transparency; the second reduces glare.

No real judgements here, just observations.

Studio Oil

Shortly before the Cornell course began, I poured a half inch layer of linseed oil into one of these half pint canning jars. I left it hanging around the kitchen, no special treatment at all.

The sample on the right is my control, regular linseed oil. On the left is my canning jar oil. Amazing the color change, eh? I need to do more work on this as it's not clear if this transparency will last in bottle or painting. But beyond the color, this new oil now has more body. It's supposed to behave like a stand oil in its smoothing and leveling properties, but to be a fast drier, unlike the stand oil that can take days to a week to lose tackiness. (Testing underway!)

I'd like to publish weekly reviews of the online course for weeks 3-6 but, to tell you the truth, I just couldn't resist getting back to my old ways. :-)