Are Oil Paints Toxic? Yep.

The great debate, are oil paints toxic, and can painting with oil paint be bad for your health? I have read a lot on both sides of the argument and frankly people who don't think oil paints are toxic, don't understand basic organic chemistry (which isn't surprising, it is a hard topic). Happily I do, and yes oil paints are toxic, but not so much that it should ever cause a problem as long as you know the dangers, because knowing is half the battle. Let's talk about it...

A quick Warning from Winsor and Newton: 

Winsor & Newton Artists' Materials do not present any major hazard when used with care and common sense. It should, however, be emphasized that as with other chemical products, high standards of general hygiene should be adhered to, both during and after use of these products and warnings given on individual products should be followed. Prolonged contact with the skin and ingestion (or swallowing) of the product should be avoided.  This includes avoiding practices such as applying colour with the fingers or pointing brushes in the mouth. 

1. Oil paints dry by Oxidation and not by Dehydration:

The reason oil paints take so long to dry is because they dry by a process called oxidation, where as watercolor and acrylics dry by dehydration.

If you would like to read more about this process, you can read here, or here.  Simply, the process consists of oxygen entering the paint film and creating a chemical reaction. This releases heat, free radicals, and some carcinogens such as VOC benzene.

Oil paints do not release such a large amount of VOC benzene that there is a huge cause for alarm, however, it is important to be aware of the process and that ventilation is important.

How to fix it:

Avoid sleeping in your painting space, do not allow oil paints to remain on your skin for long periods of time, and do not eat, drink, or smoke in your painting area. Use house plants that specifically remove VOC benzenes such as peace lilies.  

2. Toxic oil paint pigments, specifically Cadmium and Cobalt:

I once read someone talking about how oil painting pigments are naturally occurring earth minerals, and therefore are not toxic at all. Well, uranium and argon gas are also naturally occurring...so there is that. The pigments below are considered carcinogenic:

Highly Toxic Pigments/ Known or Probable Carcinogens:

Burnt and raw umber; cadmium red, orange, and yellow; chrome green, orange, and yellow; cobalt violet and yellow; lead or flake white; naples yellow.

Moderately/ Slightly Toxic Pigments: 

Alizarin Crimson; cerulean blue; cobalt blue and green; chromium oxide green; prussian blue; zinc white.

These pigments cause the most harm in their powdered form, where they can be inhaled. However, the oil in the paint allows for the pigments to also be absorbed through the skin. Personally I have always wondered if the reason several of the great impressionists suffered from intense arthritis is due to poor paint hygiene practices. This is an image of Renoir with his crazy arthritic hands.

Cadmium and cobalt are the primary pigments you need to look out for; however your skin only absorbs a small amount of cadmium and cobalt at any given time. Be aware that cadmium is an accumulative metal and will slowly build up in your system. When absorbed it takes the place of zinc in the hemoglobin and can cause some eventual damage.

How to Fix it: 

Winsor and Newton give the following advice when it comes to Cadmium and Cobalt:

Wash at the end of each work shift and before eating, smoking and using the toilet. Promptly remove any clothing that becomes contaminated. Use appropriate skin cream to prevent drying skin. When using do not eat, drink or smoke. 

Make sure that you always wash your hands, do not put your paint brushes in your mouth, and if you want be extra careful you can always wear disposable, plastic gloves while painting. Which a lot of artists do, by the way.

3. Watch out! Oil paints can spontaneously combust! 

Technically this is true. Oil and solvents left on a paper towel or rag will still continue to oxidize, which creates heat, which can cause said paper towel or rag to combust! I have never seen this happen, I have never heard of it actually happening, but technically it could happen.

How to Fix it: 

Put your rags in a metal canister that is filled with water. Which I have also never seen anyone do. However, you should probably not smoke (unless you are Pollack or someone of the sort) or light things in your painting area just in case.

4. Solvents:

Even with odorless solvents you can tell there is something in the air.

How to Fix it: 

Read here.

5. How to Protect Yourself: It's Easy! 

Be smart, wash your hands, make sure you have good area ventilation, do not put things in your mouth, when sanding use googles and face masks, be careful when spraying solvent onto paints and use protective gear, and buy some house plants.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

How to Avoid and Fix a Yellowing Painting

Mona Lisa and Prado's Mona Lisa, to read more about the Prado, click here.  

Will Using Mediums cause my Paintings to Yellow? 

YEP! Well, maybe.

Well, not all of them. Galkyds, liquins, and alkyds most likely don't yellow, though since no painting using them has reached a 100 years old it is hard to be sure. Any painting that used excessive oil will yellow.

Some oils will cause more yellowing than others--looking at you cold pressed linseed oil.  I have read that safflower oil is the least yellowing and gives paint a nice buttery texture. In fact, Winsor and Newton uses safflower oil as their oil paint binder. One reason I use walnut is because of its low yellowing tendency.

Can I avoid my Paintings Yellowing? 

YEP! Use as little medium as possible, though this doesn't mean that you should be afraid to use a medium. As a general rule you should always have a higher pigment to medium ratio. Older paintings tend to have a yellower hue due to the use of oil as well as the yellowing of the final varnish. The Mona Lisa is a great example. Specifically she is yellow due to several layers of varnish becoming yellow and dirty, but I wouldn't put using too much oil past the old man either. I mean...the Last Supper, need I say more?

Be economical with your medium and you shouldn't have any problems.

Can Yellowing be Fixed? 

YEP! If you keep your paintings in a room with no windows or stored away in a closet, they will sometimes yellow. If they do, just put your painting in the sun for a little while. Over time it may begin to yellow again, but each time you put your painting in the sun the oil will bleach more and more, and it will yellow less and less.

If, however, you keep your painting in a well-lit room and, again, use mediums sparingly, you shouldn't have any yellowing problem.

Note: Don't actually put your painting outside, just on a wall close to a window where it can get some light.

To read more about yellowing paint film, read Yellowing and Bleaching of Paint Films, by the Journal of the American Institute for Conservation.

For more on the Mona Lisa and other paintings that not do not look the way the artist intended, read 7 Famous Artworks that are Actually Supposed to Look Completely Different, by the Huffington Post.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

The Three Oil Painting Rules: Fat over Lean, Thick over Thin, and Slow over Fast Drying

The "Three Oil Painting Rules" (I imagine this being said with a big booming voice) are the primary rules to help your painting last through the centuries without cracking. They are: fat over lean, thick over thin, and slow over fast drying. 

Fat Over Lean

Simply put, each layer needs to have more oil than the previous one, making each layer fattier in order to avoid cracking. The reason for this is that even if paint is dry to the touch, it normally takes six months to a year for a layer to be completely dry. 

During the drying time, each layer moves and settles as it hardens. If the base layer is fattier than its upper layers, the upper layers will dry faster and they will harden while the under layer is still moving. This causes cracking. 

In this diagram from Gamblin, you can see how the different layers are added upon. Remember, Gamsol is their artist solvent. 

Painting Layers with Solvents:                             Painting Layers without Solvents: 

Leanest = Paint + Solvent                                     Leanest = Paint + Alkyd 

Lean = Paint                                                          Lean = Paint

Fat = Paint + Solvent + Oil                                   Fat = Paint + Alkyd + Oil 

Fattiest = Paint + Oil                                             Fattiest = Paint + Oil  

The Fat over Lean rule is the most important of the three. How you do it isn't nearly as important as making sure you are doing it. Experiment with mixtures and mediums, just remember add more oil. 

Pre-mixed mediums, such as galkyds, alkyds, and liquins are the opposite. You will use more medium in the beginning to speed drying time and less and less as the painting progresses. 

Thick over Thin 

Add slightly thicker layers of paint as you progress in order to avoid cracking. This is usually a natural progression throughout the painting and is not something you have to be super cognizant of. 

Note: Glazing is an exception to this rule. 

Slow Drying over Fast Drying

Normally you mix colors together and this rule can be forgotten. However, if you are glazing a fast-drying paint over the area of a slow-drying paint, you better be adding a lot of oil in order to avoid cracking. 

Below is a general color list of Slow and Fast drying oils: 

Fast Drying - around 2 days 

Cobalt Blue, Prussian Blue, Flake White, and most brown earth tones such a Raw Sienna, Umbers, Vandyke Browns, etc. 

Medium Drying - around 5 days

Phthalo Blues and Greens, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Violets and Green, Ultramarine Blue, Mars Black (all Mars Colors), Sap Green, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Ochres, Cadmiums, Titanium White, Zinc White, Lamp Black, Ivory Black, etc. 

As you can see, just about all of your colors fall into this category. Meaning figuring out what colors need to be in which layer is usually unnecessary. 

Slow Drying - more than 5 days 

Some Yellow and Oranges (excluding all cadmiums as they are medium drying), all Quinacridones (so slow... so slow....), Alizarin Crimson, etc.

For more information about drying times of specific paints read here for Winsor and Newton or here for M. Graham.  

Below is a video from Winsor and Newton that illustrates, albeit kind of in a tacky way, how cracking can occur: 

To read more about the three rules, especially fat over lean, read here, here or here. For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

How to Keep Solvent Odors to a Minimum while Painting

As I have stated before, I am a solvent-free painter (even if this week I was tempted to use some).

If, however, you do use solvents while painting, as most painters do, here are some tips for minimizing the effects of your solvent's harmful vapors:

1. Fresh air, ventilation, and circulation are key to             keeping vapors minimized.
2. Do not sleep in your studio.
3. When not in use, make sure all of your solvent's lids     are tightly closed.
4. Avoid excessive skin contact with solvents.
5. Do not use solvents to clean your hands of paint.
6. Do not keep your solvent containers open for longer         than necessary.
7. Do not pour out more solvent than is necessary for your day's project, as any extra will only evaporate into the room.
8. Introduce house plants, such as Peace Lilies and Snake Plants which can help minimize air pollutants and toxins, into your painting area.

I borrowed the above tips from Winsor and Newton. To read a little more click here. To read more about the top toxin-removing plants, click here. I will write a separate post about good, easy-care house plants that are ideal for painting spaces.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

What a Wonderful World! Thank you David Attenborough

Bighorn: Part 1

Over the past month I have not accomplished much. First I went to California for my cousin's high school graduation (weird, I know...a cousin, right?... but when you only have two of them, you get close) and came home super sick with some viral thing that I have just been waiting out while drugging myself with sudafed, then my grandma had surgery and crazy family stuffs went a-flying (I learned that my grandma's cousin's daughter is a high end Madam), and then on Sunday my head tried to destroy me as my viral thing turned into a killer bacterial thing that I am now taking antibiotics, amongst other mind-numbing drugs, for.

Needless to say I have been watching a lot of My Little Pony, an Amazon show called Catastrophe, and surfing the internet for anything mildly entertaining. Both shows, by the way, I highly recommend.

When I am sick I tend to avoid painting, but the past two weeks I have been drawing out some different ideas--one not so good, another great--and I started painting a bighorn ram. I think the drawing is pretty sweet, so hopefully the painting will be too?

Here is where I am at:

Types of Mediums Extended: Oils, Thinners, Mixtures, Questions etc.

This post has been rewritten on my new website here: 

https://www.katherinegriffinstudio.com/post/oil-painting-basics-what-is-an-oil-painting-medium

In this post I will describe at length: what a medium is, primary oil medium binders, primary thinners, how to make basic mixtures, and non-traditional options.

Be aware that there are multifarious oils, mediums, and thinners to use. Their use is based off of your own personal preference for drying and viscosity. At the end of this post I will provide links for additional reading, but the oils covered in this post will be straight forward and basic. 

What is a Medium and Why do we use them? 

A traditional painting medium is a mix of oil and thinner (such as turpenoid) that can do the following: extend your oil paint making it cover more area, modify the texture of the oil paint making it either thinner or thicker, and alter the paint sheen making it either high gloss or matte.

For me the easiest way to think of why we use a medium in oil paint is comparing it to 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. 

A Video about the Basics:

Before I get too much into the details about mediums, here is a short video from Web Art Academy that will help simply explain what I will be discussing in more detail.

Primary Oil Medium Binders

Binder is the substance that holds the pigments of the paint together. Adding additional binder to a paint will change the consistency of the paint. There are lots of oils to choose from, here is a list of the most basic:  

• Refined Linseed Oil: a thin oil, good for creating a low-viscosity medium, increases flow, slows drying time, has a lower tendency towards yellowing than cold pressed linseed oil, creates a good painting film when dry.
• The most traditionally used oil, but it does have a tendency to yellow. It is not recommended to use with white, or light, bright colors, or for final layers.  

• Stand Oil: a thick oil, good for creating a high-viscosity medium, increases flow, increases gloss, slows drying time even more than Linseed, is less yellowing than Linseed, creates a hard, enamel-like painting film when dry. 

• Walnut Oil: a thin oil, good for creating a low-viscosity medium, increases flow, slows drying time a little bit more than Linseed, non-yellowing, creates a slightly less-hard painting film than linseed oil.
• A favorite of Da Vinci and Durer, it was used through out the Renaissance, but was completely replaced by linseed oil during the Baroque due to expense and rotting issues. These are not longer problems with modern Walnut. 

• Poppy Oil: a very thin oil, good for creating a slick painting medium that holds paint strokes, increases flow, super slows drying time even more than Stand Oil, great for artists working wet-in-wet who need the paint to remain wet for days or weeks at a time.
• The favorite of Impressionists. It does create a very weak painting film and should not be used in layers under any other oil. 

• Safflower Oil: similar to Poppy is every way, but creates a slightly harder film and while still very slow drying, dries slightly faster than Poppy. 

• Cold Pressed Linseed Oil: Should be avoided due to its high tendency to yellow (this is from the Gamblin Site, I have read differing opinions on cold pressed, and the video above says it is the best, but I tend to trust Gamblin more).

To read more, I recommend the Encyclopedia of Painting Materials. 

Note: the painting film refers to the surface of the work after a layer of paint has dried. If the layer dries well and hard, the upper, wet layer, can then be wiped off and altered without damaging or lifting the lower layer.

Primary Thinners

Thinners are added to the oil binder in order to speed the natural drying time of a medium. Too much thinner, however, can leave the paint film weak and prone to cracking. Thinners are almost all toxic and should only be used in a well ventilated area. There are three primary categories of thinners: 

• Turpentine or Artist Turpenoid: These are generally almost completely odorless, does not leave a residue and evaporates quickly. I like Weber Artist Turpenoid. They are toxic.
• Mineral Spirits: Gamsol is the best, but more expensive mineral spirit. It is also to be  considered the safest of all turpenoid thinners as it is odorless, does not leave a residue and evaporates quickly. 

• Citrus Solvents: These are biodegradable options. I need to try one of these. I am interested in both Weber's Natural and Citra Solv. 

Basic Mixtures

You will want to use leaner mixtures at the beginning of a painting and fattier mixtures towards the end. This is a painting method called "fat over lean." Below are some basic mixtures. 

Leanest:

• Just Thinner

Leaner:

• 1 part Refined Linseed or Walnut Oil to 5 Parts Thinner

Lean: 

• 50/50 Refined Linseed or Walnut Oil/ Thinner
• 1 part Refined Linseed Oil or Walnut Oil, 1 part Damar Varnish, 5 parts Thinner 

Fatty: 

• 50/50 Stand Linseed Oil/ Thinner 
• 3 parts Oil to 2 Parts Thinner
• 1 part Oil (Linseed or Walnut), 1 part Damar Varnish, 3 parts Thinner

Fattiest: 

• Just Oil 

For more on mixtures read here and here.

Note: Damar Varnish is known to damage the painting as it ages. Most painting companies are moving away from it, but it is a very traditional medium additive. 

Which mixture should I use and When and How much? 

What medium to use, be it a mixture or not, takes time, experimentation, and practice. In my condensed post about mediums I recommend using a pre-mixed medium to start and then you can branch out from there.

When you should use different lean or fatty mediums is covered in my post about "fat over lean."

How much medium you should use, should always be the smallest amount. Always having more pigment to binder (oil) reduces the chance of yellowing, helps your colors sing, and insures the adhesion of consecutive layers.

I personally use a little plastic dropper to add medium onto my painting palette.

Or Take a Test:

Both Gamblin and Winsor and Newton have designed simple tests to help you pick which type of medium you should be using.

Click here for Gamblin and here for Winsor and Newton. 

Simple Options with  No Need to Create a Mix: 

These options take the guess work out of mediums. They are really fantastic and are widely used by artists, even traditional painters. They are usually toxic, but they are also non-yellowing.  

Galkyd: comes in several varieties, quickens or lengthens drying time depending on type, is toxic but not as toxic as Liquin.  

Liquin: comes in several varieties, quickens or lengthens drying time, is very toxic, use only in a well ventilated room.

Walnut Alkyd: is nontoxic, quickens drying time.

I covered these options in more depth here.

Can you Alter a No Need to Mix Option? 

You can alter your favorite galkyd or alkyd adding either thinner or oil. Adding thinner will quicken the drying time and oil will slow the drying time down. Warning! I do not believe you can add thinner or oil to liquin, but I am not 100% sure. I just can't find anything online about it.

I would recommend that rather than making large quantities of these altered medium mixtures, instead just add drops of either thinner or oil to the medium using a dropper on your palette.

Remember, however, that you still need to maintain the "fat over lean" principle.

Texturing Mediums:

All paint companies have some kind of medium that can be added to create texture. They are usually wax based and can really help you create that "van Gogh" look without using up a ton of paint. I will cover this more in another post.

What do I personally use? 

I am a solvent-free (or thinner-free) painter and I only use straight M Graham's walnut oil and walnut alkyd. I used to use a lot of thinner and loved it. I still love it, but making the switch and not having those toxins in my painting space has allowed me to concentrate better and paint for longer periods of time.

Not only is painting solvent-free safer for you, but it's also safer for pets and for little ones that may wonder into your space.

Below is a list of my personal mixtures. I use plastic drops to drop my mediums into a little pool on my glass palette. I then will dip my brush into this pool when needed.

Leanest: 5 drops of alkyd
Leaner: 4 alkyd / 1 drop oil
Lean: 3/2
Fatty: 2/3
Fattiest: 1/5 drops of oil

Wait, but do I have to use a Medium? 

NOPE! You want to just paint pure and free right out of the tube, do it! You'd still have to worry about the "fat over lean" principle, but more on that later.

Further Reading:

To read a lot more about Mediums click here and here.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Types of Mediums: The Simple Option

This post has been rewritten on my new website see it here: 

https://www.katherinegriffinstudio.com/post/oil-painting-basics-what-is-an-oil-painting-medium

The other day my grandmother had a minor surgery, though for a 90-year-old I am not sure if any surgery is really minor. While I was waiting for her to wake up I started to tackle my most dreaded post, oil painting mediums. Mediums are diverse and complicated, and my post was turning into something very complicated.

I want to try something a little simpler. I will still post the more in-depth version, but I think a shortened, simple, and hopefully more beginner-useful post is necessary.

Here I will be covering only two things: what a medium is and options for simple, ready-to-use mediums.

What is a Medium and Why do we use them? 

A traditional painting medium is a mix of oil and thinner (such as turpenoid) that does the following:

• extend your oil paint in order to cover more area 
• quicken or slow the drying time of your paint
• modify the texture of the oil paint, making it either thinner or thicker
• alter the paint sheen, making it either high gloss or matte 

For me the easiest way to think of why we use a medium in oil paint is comparing it to 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. 

Simple to use Medium Options

You can read a lot online about creating your own oil medium mixtures and the recipes are endless. Some paint companies, however, have taken the guess work out of oil painting mediums by creating their own, each with unique names such as galkyds, liquins, and alkyds. 

These mediums are their own "recipe" and do not need to be added to with oil or thinner.

Galkyds by Gamblin:

Warning! Dude in video is a little boring, but he covers the different galkyds simply and well. 

For a general, all purpose galkyd, I would recommend Gamblin's basic Galkyd. Gamblin's galkyds are a less toxic option than liquins, but they should still be used in a well ventilated area. They are also my beginner's option of choice. More on that later. 

You can read more about Gamblin's galkyds here. 

Liquin by Winsor and Newton: 

For a general, all purpose liquin, I would recommend Liquin Original. Liquin is toxic, will start to clump once opened (which can be annoying), and should be used in a well ventilated area. I would recommend purchasing the smaller bottle to begin. I made the mistake of purchasing a large bottle, but then didn't move through it fast enough so it dried out.

You can read more about Winsor and Newton's liquins here.

Note: In future posts I will be showing you two painters who use Liquin Original almost exclusively. The medium is a great medium, but the level of toxicity, for me, knocks it down.

Alkyd by M. Graham: 

M. Graham keeps it simple by only having one alkyd medium. It is the only non-toxic of the three simple medium options, but it can be tricky to use. I would not recommend it for a beginner.

You can read about it here.

But which should a beginner pick? 

Well that is a little bit of a crap shoot. Any of them will do and all three have similar properties, but I believe the simplest option is the galkyd.

I don't love liquin, because it is so smelly. And although I personally use M. Graham's alkyd because it is non-toxic, it isn't the easiest option. I am not sure if I would have loved the alkyd when I first started, especially when Gamblin's galkyds are an easy-to-use, low-guess-work choice.

OR take a test: 

Both Gamblin and Winsor and Newton have designed simple tests to help you pick which type of medium you should be using. You may want to try just a basic medium first, which will most likely help you decide what qualities you do and do not want in a medium. 

Click here for Gamblin and here for Winsor and Newton. 

How much medium do you use and when? 

You always want to use as little medium as possible. Always having more pigment to binder (oil) reduces the chance of yellowing, helps your colors sing, and insures the adhesion of consecutive layers.

With these pre-mixed mediums you will want to have a higher ratio of medium to paint at the beginning of the painting. As you continue to paint layer upon layer reduce the amount of medium to pigment. This will help you maintain the Thick over Thin Rule.

If you are painting everything in one sitting, there is no need to worry about the ratio of medium to paint. Just paint. However, again, this is only for paintings finished in one sitting.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Saving your Paint Brushes: How to Remove Old Dried Paint and Reshape your Brushes

The other day I was cleaning my painting area when I found this:

I found it under an Ikea shelf thing I use for holding my paints. I assume it had been there for about a month, meaning the paint was nice and hard and bone dry.

My heart cries a little when I ruin a good brush, and my wallet cries a little more. But have no fear, The Master's Brush Cleaner is here! As I have stated in past posts, this cleaner is expensive and unnecessary for daily cleaning. However, desperate times call for desperate measures!

On the internet you can also find people recommending paint thinner as a save option; however, paint thinner will ruin the shape of your brush and will not necessarily remove all of the paint.

Use the following steps when you need to resurrect a ruined brush:

1. Using a small amount of warm water and the Master's Brush Cleaner, work a lather onto the brush.

Note: If the dried paint is all the way down the bristle shaft, do not try to "break" the paint by squishing the bristles down. This will only break the bristles.

2. Using your fingers, work the lather around the bristles and leave the lather on for several hours. This will begin to soften the dried paint.

 3. After at least three hours, rinse the brush using warm water.

As you can see, even after just a few hours, most of the paint is gone. However, there may still be some hard spots left over. If this is the case with your brush, continue to steps 4 and 5.

4. Using the Master Brush Cleaner and warm water, work the brush into a lather again and allow the lather to remain over night.

5. The following day, rinse your brush using warm water and miracles of miracles it is beautiful once more!

Note: You may need to repeat step 4 if your paint brush sin was particularly egregious.

Personally I was shocked at how well this brush's tip retained its shape after such abuse. This is normally not the case. To reshape your brush into a perfect tip continue with the following steps.

Steps to Reshaping a Brush:

1. Once your brush is completely clean, using Master's Brush Cleaner re-lather the bristles and form the bristles into the desired shape.

Note: Because the lather is still very soft, the shaping will not be perfect, but get the tip as close as you can to the original shape.

2. Allow to dry over night.

3. The following day, with the drying lather still on the brush, pinch the tip of the brush into a fine line and reshape the bristles. Do not rinse!

4. Allow lather to completely dry over night.

5. The following day, use warm water to wash the lather off your now perfect brush.

With time all brushes will begin to lose their shape. I reshape my brushes whenever I notice that the tip needs a little pick-me-up. This will condition and extend the life of your brushes.

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment. For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

Decanting: How to make your Cleaning Oil or Turpenoid stretch

Decanting will help you keep your cleaning oil or turpenoid as clean as possible and last as long as possible.

You will need your two jars, paper towels, and a dropper.

In my photo I have three jars as examples: the left jar's paint sediments have not settled so it is not ready to be decanted, the middle jar's paint sediments have settled and are ready to be decanted, and the right jar is a new jar that I will decant the cleaner oil into.

You can decant your sediment-ready jar by either pouring the top oil into a new jar, or by using a dropper to move the oil into the new jar. If the sediment in your oil jar has settled but is not hard enough for you to just pour the clean oil into a new jar, you can either allow it to settle longer (this will take a couple of weeks) or just use a dropper.

Steps to Decanting your Cleaning Oil (or turpenoid):

1. Either by pouring or by using a dropper, decant the good top oil into a clean jar.

Note: my sediment was settled enough that I was able to pour my top oil. In the left image you can see the sludge with a thin layer of oil over it. In the center image you can see me removing that final thin layer with a dropper.

2. Using a dropper, continue to remove the clean oil until the sludge begins to mix with the oil layer as in the right image.

3. Using a paper towel, clean the remaining oil and sludge out of your jar.

With two jars you can go back and forth, keeping the oil as clean as possible. I actually like to have three jars, because then I can allow one to settle for a couple of weeks yet still have a completely clean one to decant. Eventually the oil will just need to be completely changed out, but until that happens, you can keep stretching your cleaning oil.

For more about painting check out my main Tips and Techniques page.

The Dodo: Dog Runs for the First time...

The Dodo: Dog Runs for the first time in his life, thanks to 3-D printed legs!

To read more about Derby read here, and more about Peace and Paws read here.

Atlas Obscura: Why Flamingos succeed at Escaping from the Zoo...

Atlas Obscura: Why Flamingos Succeed at Escaping from the Zoo while other Animals Fail 

When animals escape zoos, like when humans escape prisons, they're usually caught pretty quickly. Whether there's a mass break out, connected to some more devastating event—as in Tbilisi, Georgia, where a heavy flood over the weekend let loose lions, wolves and a hippopotamus onto city streets—or a lone run-away, like the Smithsonian Zoo's red panda or the Bronx Zoo Cobra, the animals rarely taste freedom for long. Unless, that is, they're flamingos... 

SPLOID: The Matte Paintings of the Original Star Wars Trilogy and their Creators

SPLOID:  The Matte Paintings of the Original Star Wars Trilogy and their Creators

Before the computing era, ILM was the master of oil matte painting, making audiences believe that some of the sets in the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogy were real when they weren't...  

Matte paintings are fake sets that—most of the times—used to be made with plexiglass and oil paint. The artists used oversized panels to create the necessary detail that the camera needed to fool the audiences when the film was projected over the large surface of the theater screen. The paintings were combined with live action filmed to match the perspective of the painting. If done well, the public would totally buy into the shot.

 I knew that there were painting shots in the movie, but I had no idea there were this many. The article is well worth checking out.