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Hello people. I had a question regarding oil washes. I have tried them several times before and I run into a problem where the oil doesn't settle smoothly after I have "cleaned up" with mineral spirits. The left over oil paint settles very dirty and grainy looking and doesn't give a nice sharp line. I have a picture.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

that's how oils are. they are mostly used to give a dirty weathered look. they also take 3-6 months to dry. just because the mineral spirits dries off doesnt mean that the oil paint has dried or anywhere even close.

personally i think oil washes are overrated and rather crapy.

if you want clean lines use acrylic ink or GW washes.

kb305 wrote:
that's how oils are. they are mostly used to give a dirty weathered look. they also take 3-6 months to dry. just because the mineral spirits dries off doesnt mean that the oil paint has dried or anywhere even close.

personally i think oil washes are overrated and rather crapy.

if you want clean lines use acrylic ink or GW washes.

Not entirely true... Yes, a thick chunk of oil paint on a palette can take up to six months to dry, but this is an oil wash, which is extremely thinned out oil paint and normally takes a day or two to fully dry, depending on the color and the quality. If you know what you are doing and have the patience to do it, you can achieve a nice sharp line using an oil wash, I do.

OP:
What, if any, kind of varnish did you use? You cannot use matte or no varnish, the wash will not flow and the thinner will eat the acrylic paint. Some people use satin, but I am a fan of gloss; always use more than one coat and go easy on the clean up phase, the thinner can still eventually eat through the varnish if you use too much .What is the quality of the oil pant you used? Student oils are cheaper and of lower quality and much grainier than artist oils, so that may be a problem. Also make the sure the paint on the model is nice and smooth, oil washes like to find and settle in surface imperfections.

I used a minitaire D6-198 satin coat and this is these are artists oils (grumbacher artists oil colors VAN DYCK BROWN) not student oils.

I have tried oil washes before and I remember results similar to this one but since all of those models are packed away I will not enter them as evidence since I can't take pictures of them or rely on my faulty memory.

If you want a sharp line with oils you need an extremely gloss surface and very smooth paintwork underlying it. You also need to ensure your oil mix is uh, mixed, thoroughly. What you appear to have is clumping of the pigment - this occurs through (for the most part) not having 'broken up' the clumps of pigment when making the wash, and also through it 'catching' on a rough surface (including satin varnishes).

A good trick when mixing the wash is to have a 3 stage process; do not put the oil in the palette well (a 'daisy' pallete is very handy) that you'll draw the wash from. Put it in a dry well. Then use a brush to transfer some of this to a second well with a little thinner. Here you make a 'strong' wash. Make sure it's mixed and suspended well. Transfer that to a third well with a little more thinner in it to make the weaker wash that you actually use. Clean the brush between each transferral - you don't want to deposit 'chunks' in the last wash mix.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:

kb305 wrote:
that's how oils are. they are mostly used to give a dirty weathered look. they also take 3-6 months to dry. just because the mineral spirits dries off doesnt mean that the oil paint has dried or anywhere even close.

personally i think oil washes are overrated and rather crapy.

if you want clean lines use acrylic ink or GW washes.

Not entirely true... Yes, a thick chunk of oil paint on a palette can take up to six months to dry, but this is an oil wash, which is extremely thinned out oil paint and normally takes a day or two to fully dry, depending on the color and the quality. If you know what you are doing and have the patience to do it, you can achieve a nice sharp line using an oil wash, I do.

OP:
What, if any, kind of varnish did you use? You cannot use matte or no varnish, the wash will not flow and the thinner will eat the acrylic paint. Some people use satin, but I am a fan of gloss; always use more than one coat and go easy on the clean up phase, the thinner can still eventually eat through the varnish if you use too much .What is the quality of the oil pant you used? Student oils are cheaper and of lower quality and much grainier than artist oils, so that may be a problem. Also make the sure the paint on the model is nice and smooth, oil washes like to find and settle in surface imperfections.

1 day or even less is usually true for a very thin layer. where the oil paint collects after doing an oil wash (in the recesses) will take alot longer than 2 days to dry.

a thick chunk may never dry, it will only crust on the surface. also depends on the color, i had a bunch of chunks on a pallette that i stuck outside for a month. looking at it later some were crusty and some colors looked like they were fresh from the tube.

If done correctly, the paint left in the recesses shouldn't be that thick. You are also comparing two completely different means and methods of oil painting.

The drying times of oil paints also depends on the color and what you mix it with. Linseed oil (which is common in canvas oil painting) takes a very long time to dry, upwards of months depending how thick it is (like in the impasto technique that the masters like Rembrandt used and later Impressionists like van Gough).
However, most people use odorless mineral spirits to thin oil paints for washes, which accelerate the drying time of the paint. The low pigment density of the wash combined with the accelerated drying effect of the mineral spirits means that oil washes will be fully dry in a couple days (or less).
Also, using turpentine speeds up drying time even more because it cause the oil paint to oxidize quicker. The drawback is the having to work with turpentine; it is a dangerous chemical to have lying around the house. You're better off using odorless mineral spirits.

Saw a tip on youtube about spreading the oilpaint on paper towel for a while before scraping it off to use as a wash. The oils will be absorbed into the paper which helps accelerate the drying time, Very wasteful process though as a lot of paint remains on the paper towel.