How to get oil paint to dry quickly

Hi David,

I really enjoy your blog, and your willingness to share your extensive knowledge.
I wanted to ask you just how big a blob of paint for that drop of lead? I put 10 drops (Studio Products own product dropper bottle) in an ounce of medium, which I use consistently but sparingly (currently = parts Stand, Venice, Walnut oil and + 2 parts Spike), and drying is satisfactory. I also add a couple drops per fat inch of white from a BIG tube.
Does that sound “sound”?
I’d love to hear from you, I enjoy your posting on Wet canvas and you could PM me there or answer here.
All best wishes,
TK

TK,

Thanks for the kind words. I’m glad you find the weblog helpful.

The answer to your question about driers is: I don’t know for sure. I’m not a paint chemist. My approach has always been to use as little drier as possible to get the effect I need. Usually, I don’t need to add any, since I paint thinly and don’t use a lot of slow-drying pigments. When I do use lead napthenate, I add it only to slow-drying pigments like titanium white and ivory black. I add a very small drop, from a toothpick, to about a half inch of paint squeezed from a 40 ml tube.

I don’t know if my approach is better than yours. It seems like I’m a little more conservative than you, although there are others who would say that neither of us should use any driers, ever. Others say that pretty much any amount of lead is just fine. My best understanding (which is far from perfect) indicates that a small amount of lead is no danger to the paint film, but a lot is probably bad. I don’t have any reason to tell you to stop doing what you are doing now.

I hope that’s not too much weaseling on my part, but I don’t want you to think that I have expertise or credentials that I don’t possess.

Hi David,
I will introduce myself to your readers (again) as the author of the new book titled, ” Oil Painting with ’ Calcite Sun Oil’: Safety and Permanence without Hazardous Solvents, Resins, Varnishes and Driers…and i will address the issues in your article titled, “How to get oil paint to dry quickly”.

Yes, the curse of oil painting of ’ slow drying’ is also its main advantage, allowing blending, etc.. But artists can control the drying to their advantage without using/adding ANY solvents or dryers or natural or synthetic resins to their paint. Here are my comments on the suggestions you recommend in your article ( your suggestions are directly from your article and are numbered… my comments are preceded with an * ).

1. Paint in thin layers (like the thickness of a normal coat of house paint).
* Yes. In the classical technique, in the lower layer, one must paint in thin paint layers.Thin paint (vs thick paint) dries quicker.

2. Avoid slow-drying pigments like titanium white and ivory black. Use fast-drying pigments like lead white and burnt umber.
* Today, there is no justification for using any poisonous pigments, period. With the choice of the correct ‘oil, its viscosity and preparation” one can use any color, even ’ slower drying’ pigments, and still accelerate the drying.

3. Use paints ground in linseed oil. Avoid paints made with slow-drying oils like safflower and poppy. Also avoid walnut oil, which dries faster than safflower or poppy, but slower than linseed.
*Yes. Use linseed oil…but the linseed oil you choose will determine whether the paint mixed with it will dry very very slow…or…very very fast. Too many sources, books, etc., including the information in the article here, exclude the correct facts and knowledge on the vast differences of the various linseed oils one can use. My book clearly covers the subject, providing artists with the knowledge to make a correct choice.

4. Use a lean lead-containing medium such as Maroger�s.
* No need to resort to this mixture. It is totally dangerous, poisonous and more important, it is not needed.

5. Add a bit of turps to the first layer. Turps doesn�t make paint dry faster, but it makes the paint layer thinner, which does make paint dry faster. Don�t add so much turps to paint that it becomes washy or watery. Just add a little bit.
* Turpentine and any other solvent DOES cause oil paint to dry faster because it causes oxygen to enter the film as it evaporates. But, the danger is in the fact that solvents break the binder of oil and pigment. The oft quoted ‘principle’ of ’ fat on lean’ is a relatively new ’ principle’ in oil painting… one that developed with the use of solvents in oil painting. The Old Masters cared not about ‘Fat on Lean”… they cared about ‘SLOW drying paints on top of FAST drying paints”. That is the real ’ principle’ , and if observed, will insure no cracking.

6. Paint on a panel primed with glue-chalk gesso. The first layer will have some oil absorbed by the gesso, so the paint dries more quickly.
* This advice is not sound. Some of the finest preserved oil paintings are those painted on copper. They have no cracks, they have hard surface films with vibrant color depth. The reason is this: The properly constituted oil paints were applied to a non- absorbent ground. Its easily proven that if you paint on an absorbent ground, it sucks oil out of the paint. The paint becomes more fragile and matt. Yes, some artists love the non-glare matt appearance, but the issue here is permanence. Absorbent grounds should be avoided. We can have faster drying oil paints without using an absorbent ground.

7. Add small amounts of metallic driers to the paint. I prefer lead napthenate. I add one tiny drop (from a toothpick) per blob of paint on the palette and mix thoroughly. Excessive use of driers will damage the paint film, but that much should not be any problem. I generally add driers only to slow-drying pigments.
* Any added driers are not necessary… and they are poisonous.Choice of the correct linseed oil preparation is the key to fast drying in oil painting.

Some painters also use alkyd mediums such as Liquin, Neo-Meglip, and Galkyd. I don�t use alkyd mediums and I don�t recommend them. However, they do make oil paint dry faster.
* Yes, they do make oil paints dry faster… because of the solvent and the resin in the mix. But, neither is necessary and… they are hazardous materials. Artists using the oil paint medium today , can use safe and permanent materials, just like the earliest oil painters, like the Van Eycks. The simple answer is the use of the correct linseed oil…… and the emulsion made from that oil and egg glair.

When I need to, I can get oil paint dry in a day, so I don�t usually have to wait for a layer to dry before I can paint over it. Sometimes, I choose to use a medium that makes the paint dry more slowly, or I use a slow-drying pigment like titanium white. But when I do that, I know that the paint will need extra time to dry. My glazing medium (a 50/50 mixture of black oil and Venice turpentine) is somewhat slow-drying, so glazes usually take two or three days to dry.
* This advice has problems, and here is my view: The reason oil painters have so many drying problems is because of the historical development of oil paint for the mass market. The Old Masters mixed their oil and their dry pigment on their ’ grinding table’, making it ’ to order’ for the need at the moment. Its so very simple, to make oil paint the exact way you want it to be… and without use of any hazardous solvents, resins, driers. Historically, the development of ready-made oil paint in tubes as we know it today, is that it has to be made with very very slow drying oil….in order to insure a long shelf life, so the tube paint manufacturers do not lose money. This poor, slow drying condition is why “painting mediums” of so many mixtures of ‘solvents, driers, resins’ have been developed…….. to make the paint behave( become more viscous, so it blends easier and sticks) and dry faster.

It�s also the case that I often complete one section of a painting at a time. That way, it doesn�t matter whether yesterday�s paint is dry, because today I�m working on a different part of the picture.
* Artists will work all over different parts of a painting on different days, but the artist should not be hostage to slow drying paints, or the need for the addition of hazardous materials to control the paint deficiencies of modern oil paints in tubes.

sincerely, Louis R. VElasquez

Louis,

Thanks for your thoughtful comments. Here are some responses.

• Today, there is no justification for using any poisonous pigments, period. With the choice of the correct â��oil, its viscosity and preparationâ�� one can use any color, even â�� slower dryingâ�� pigments, and still accelerate the drying.

We have different philosophies. Here�s how I look at it. Adults routinely use a variety of potentially hazardous substances every day. The chemicals you use to clean your bathtub are poisonous if ingested. Don�t drink them. The acids in the batteries that power your flashlight are poisonous if ingested. Don�t eat them. The gasoline/petrol that you pump into the fuel tank of your car is poisonous if ingested. Don�t drink it. The bleach you use to clean your kitchen and keep your whites white is poisonous if ingested. Don�t drink it. And yes, lead white oil paint is poisonous if ingested. So don�t eat it. We keep all sorts of hazardous chemicals away from children and pets. We use them every day without a second thought. There is no reason why responsible adults cannot do the same with artists materials. Artists should learn about the properties of their materials and know how to use them safely.

Titanium and zinc, while useful, are poor substitutes for lead white. Genuine vermilion is a very useful pigment. So are cadmiums and other modern metallic inorganic pigments. Given that it is easy to use them safely, I�m not willing to give them up.

**********

4. Use a lean lead-containing medium such as Maroger�s.
* No need to resort to this mixture. It is totally dangerous, poisonous and more important, it is not needed.

Again, we have different views regarding toxicity of art materials.

• Turpentine and any other solvent DOES cause oil paint to dry faster because it causes oxygen to enter the film as it evaporates. But, the danger is in the fact that solvents break the binder of oil and pigment. The oft quoted â��principleâ�� of â�� fat on leanâ�� is a relatively new â�� principleâ�� in oil paintingâ�¦ one that developed with the use of solvents in oil painting. The Old Masters cared not about â��Fat on Leanâ��â�¦ they cared about â��SLOW drying paints on top of FAST drying paintsâ��. That is the real â�� principleâ�� , and if observed, will insure no cracking.

Thanks for pointing that out. Mineral spirits just evaporates away and does not accelerate drying. Spirits of turpentine and oil of spike do react chemically with drying oils and cause more rapid drying.

Solvents have been used in oil painting since at least the time of Leonardo, who probably used oil of spike for his thin dark underpaintings. Used very judiciously, I have seen no evidence to suggest that they cause damage to paint films.

**********

Some of the finest preserved oil paintings are those painted on copper.

That�s true. Copper is an excellent ground for painting. So is gesso on panel (which is only slightly absorbent), as the very well-preserved work of the earliest Netherlandish painters (Robert Campin, the van Eyck brothers, Rogier van der Weyden) demonstrate.

**********

• Any added driers are not necessaryâ�¦ and they are poisonous. Choice of the correct linseed oil preparation is the key to fast drying in oil painting.

Driers are only dangerous if you eat them. Lead and other metallic driers are found in oil preparation recipes from the earliest periods of oil painting.

**********

The reason oil painters have so many drying problems is because of the historical development of oil paint for the mass market. The Old Masters mixed their oil and their dry pigment on their � grinding table�, making it � to order� for the need at the moment. Its so very simple, to make oil paint the exact way you want it to be� and without use of any hazardous solvents, resins, driers. Historically, the development of ready-made oil paint in tubes as we know it today, is that it has to be made with very very slow drying oil�.in order to insure a long shelf life, so the tube paint manufacturers do not lose money. This poor, slow drying condition is why �painting mediums� of so many mixtures of �solvents, driers, resins� have been developed��.. to make the paint behave( become more viscous, so it blends easier and sticks) and dry faster.

So do you recommend that painters mull their own paint by hand and and then use it without tubing? That would be the actual Old Master method.

Hi David,
I will not take the space or time to respond to each of your responses. I think your readers can make up their own minds.

BUT..here are a couple of responses to your comments: I will use a triple astrisk , preceeding my words (***)

***( I had said):Some of the finest preserved oil paintings are those painted on copper.

( you responded) That�s true. Copper is an excellent ground for painting. So is gesso on panel (which is only slightly absorbent), as the very well-preserved work of the earliest Netherlandish painters (Robert Campin, the van Eyck brothers, Rogier van der Weyden) demonstrate.

*** The early oil painters using gesso on panel, isolated the gesso to make it non-absorbent, prior to oil painting. There is much academic literature on this.

*** ( I had said;) Any added driers are not necessary� and they are poisonous. Choice of the correct linseed oil preparation is the key to fast drying in oil painting.

(You responded) Driers are only dangerous if you eat them. Lead and other metallic driers are found in oil preparation recipes from the earliest periods of oil painting.

*** Yes, of course. But you ignored the real issue I bought up… “the correct linseed oil”. Its a subject much ignored. In fdact, I referred to the issue several times, but you did not comment on it.

****( I had said ) The reason oil painters have so many drying problems is because of the historical development of oil paint for the mass market. The Old Masters mixed their oil and their dry pigment on their � grinding table�, making it � to order� for the need at the moment. Its so very simple, to make oil paint the exact way you want it to be� and without use of any hazardous solvents, resins, driers. Historically, the development of ready-made oil paint in tubes as we know it today, is that it has to be made with very very slow drying oil�.in order to insure a long shelf life, so the tube paint manufacturers do not lose money. This poor, slow drying condition is why �painting mediums� of so many mixtures of �solvents, driers, resins� have been developed��.. to make the paint behave( become more viscous, so it blends easier and sticks) and dry faster.

( Your comment was :)So do you recommend that painters mull their own paint by hand and and then use it without tubing? That would be the actual Old Master method.

**** THe professional oil painter today has the advantage of well made oil paints sold ready to use, packaged in tubes. I am sure the Old Masters would have loved to have had them. Therefore, I am not advocating we discard all tube paint, and mull our own. Yet, it is very important to hand grind some of your oil paints as needed, in order to achieve maximum effects, ease and results. Again, controlling the ‘correct linseed oil’ to use, is a major requirement. It assists the fast drying of the paint.
-sincerely, louis

Louis,

Continuing the conversation…

*** The early oil painters using gesso on panel, isolated the gesso to make it non-absorbent, prior to oil painting. There is much academic literature on this.

That�s not so clear in the documentation and analysis that I�ve seen. Jan van Eyck often applied a layer of oil between the gesso and the oil paint (a violation of �fat over lean� if ever there was one). Other Netherlandish painters probably underpainted in egg tempera, which would provide some degree of barrier between the oil paint and the gesso. Others, from what I have read, appear to have painted directly with oil on gesso. By the beginning of the following century, Raphael was priming on top of gesso with lead white mixed with a bit of gallorino (lead tin yellow).

I have sometimes used a layer of hide glue on top of gesso to reduce absorbency. To some degree, absorbency depends on the gesso recipe; more glue and less whiting results in a less absorbent gesso. Gesso panels made by the folks at http://www.realgesso.com, for example, are less absorbent than those I make myself.

*** Yes, of course. But you ignored the real issue I bought up… “the correct linseed oil”. Its a subject much ignored. In fdact, I referred to the issue several times, but you did not comment on it.

I admit to having limited knowledge of varieties of linseed oils. I did not comment because I don�t feel qualified to do so. I am aware of the many old recipes for washing, purifying, and cooking oils. (These often involved lead or other metallic driers.) But I have never experimented with them.

**** THe professional oil painter today has the advantage of well made oil paints sold ready to use, packaged in tubes. I am sure the Old Masters would have loved to have had them. Therefore, I am not advocating we discard all tube paint, and mull our own. Yet, it is very important to hand grind some of your oil paints as needed, in order to achieve maximum effects, ease and results. Again, controlling the ‘correct linseed oil’ to use, is a major requirement. It assists the fast drying of the paint.

Which commercial oil paint brands are made with the �correct� oil, in your opinion? Or are you referring to oil that the painter adds to the paint? It would seem to me that if there are correct and incorrect oils, one would either need to be very selective regarding which brands of paint one uses, or make one�s own paint. Perhaps I am misunderstanding your point here.

Hi David, THanks for the comments.
(My responses will be preceeded with ***)
*** Your comment of Van Eyck violating the principle of “fat over lean”… goes to show what I’ve said. That princple applies only to the historical progession of uses of solvents. The Old master porinciple is/was/ remains the same for us today…”paint slow drying paint on TOP of fast drying paint”…. even as one paints layers on top of half dry/drying paint layers.

( you said): Which commercial oil paint brands are made with the �correct� oil, in your opinion? Or are you referring to oil that the painter adds to the paint? It would seem to me that if there are correct and incorrect oils, one would either need to be very selective regarding which brands of paint one uses, or make one�s own paint. Perhaps I am misunderstanding your point here.
*** THe oil paints you buy in tubes are made with alkali refined UNpolymerized linseed oil ( I know some use poppy, etc..but my focus is on linseed oil). I’m not going to fight windmills… as this practice is here to stay…forever. This unpolymerized refined linseed oil is used because the manufactured tubes MUST have an indefinite shelf life. In addition, stabilizers are added to the mix…to keep the oil and the pigment from separating….. again….. to please the buyer and in turn, the seller. You’ve opened some tubes before, and a whole mass of oil pours out… we all have…even high grade oil paints.

That oil is extremely slow drying, some of the colors taking 6, 7, 12 days to dry. The result was the need for the creation of “painting mediums” to cure the ills of that paint. The many recipes of ‘painting mediums’ all contain varying ratios of the same ingredients: Solvents to increase drying …Resins to be liquified by the solvents and when the solvents evaporate, the resins stickiness aids adhesion, and allows easy blending because of the increased viscosity, and driers because modern people are just in a hurry.

Van eycks and others even Velazquez and Rembrandt knew how to make their oil paint behave without any of these hazardous ( hazardous to your health and to the health of the painting itself). I know your philosophy is that you are a careful adult who does not drink solvent nor eat lead white… but the issue is more profound than ‘caution’. Many many people become deathly ill just by inhaling solvents. Others by any skin contact with lead. Oil Painting is for everyone!!! Children, elderly, amateur and professional painters who have becxme so ill over time, doctors orders are not to get near solvents again. Lawsuits against universities because of some students becoming very ill in oil painting class. ‘Caution” is cool, but avoiding the unnecessary is prudent and wise. I can paint in my studio with the heater on, all the windows closed, no ventilation, and suffer not a bit. Because I have determined after years of exposure to the hazardous materials… I can paint easily, quickly, safely, and the results are permanent…And, I can use all application methods… from broad thick textures to the finest micro-fine lines and details… And if I mix the correct oil, I can take advantage of the thixotropic quality it affords.

My book, available on my website provides the knowledge on all of these points.You cited Da Vinci’s use of spike solvent. Your choice could have been better when one sees Leos few paintings not in great condition. The Mona is yellow and fully cracked. Not as good condition as the Van Eycks who preeceeded him by years. The Last Supper, though a Fresco, is completely destroyed. There is a Da Vinci Madonna that is so wrinkled - the worst in all of the Renaissance- that one questions the use of walnut oil he professed as better than linseed. Walnut oil wrinkles like any other oil if not used correctly.

sincerely, Louis R. Velasquez

I have 40 years lead tubes with oil paints, good colours, there is some corrosive look on the outside of tubes. some oil coming out of the tubes, colours are good and some colours I placed on a piece of timber, with the warm weather in australia will not dry out.
Any suggestions, can I add any chemicals to make then dry faster?
Or because the lead poisoning, should i buy new tubes, may be will dry faster? and I will not get the lead poissoning?

L. Avila,

If the paints are that old and refuse to dry on their own, I’d be skeptical about using them for serious work. Use them for studies. After a few weeks, if they haven’t dried (or if you can’t stand to look at them), then throw the paintings away.

As for lead, realize that it can’t harm you unless you ingest it. So I would strongly recommend that you not eat the tubes of paint, or what they contain. Do a search here for “studio safety” to get my suggestions about appropriate precautions to take when handling any (normal) kind of paint, no matter what substances it contains.

Have you ever come across a medium or oil paint that after allowing weeks and months to dry and layering correctly with thin layers to ‘sweat’? My painting looks like it has small globules of brown medium that has risen to the surface (and now dried) - is it because of sunlight/heat? I have never had this happen before.

Jo,

I’m sorry, but I’ve never had that happen. What kind of paint did you use? What kind of medium, if any?

Hi David,

I’ve been looking into this and I think one of my oil colors has separated and the linseed oil has seeped out. It was actually a painting I had given to a friend and I have been waiting for it to settle before I varnished it. They have just told me that this has happened. I spoke to a restorer and they have suggested I use white spirit and a Q-tip to try and lift the globules off.

Jo,

That’s pretty reasonable. You may have to do some repainting afterwards.

How to get oil paint to dry quickly AFTER a painting has been finished?

Like Rafael above, I’m wondering if there’s anything that can be done AFTER the painting is made to help accelerate the drying time. My paintings are not on canvas, but on high-quality resin model kits. Most modelers use acrylics flowing through an airbrush for their kits, but I prefer the more precise control of shading my models with oils. (I first prime with automotive primer, base coat with acrylics, then “seal” the kit with a few coats of spray lacquer, like Testors Dullcoat.) But having to wait 5 days or more between layers of oils is getting old. Would something as simple as a fan blowing overnight on the piece work? I’ve used a hairdryer to accelerate the drying of my acrylic base coats. Has anyone tried that on oils?

A hairdryer won’t work on oils (excluding heat set oils, which get mixed reviews) as they dry by oxidation. Have you tried using fluid acrylics? You might get the more precise control you seek.

I’ve heard you can dry an oil painting to dry quickly by putting it in the oven but I haven’t tried it…

By “fluid acrylics” I assume you mean the bottles of acrylic paints used for modeling. If so, yes. I use those extensively for all my base coats. However, they dry way too fast to do any shading and blending with them. Many modelers create thin washes with the liquid acrylics and use that for shading. But I’ve always ended up with a faint hard line between my various shaded areas doing that. I’ve also tried using tube acrylics, since they dry a bit slower than the bottled acrylics, yet much faster than oils. But they just can’t be blended as well as the oils. The end result with oils can’t be beat in terms of looks. But in terms of drying time, they’re just so impractical. I’m still waiting to be able to finish a model I put oils on more than a week ago. As of this morning, it was still too wet to handle and work on.

I think tube colors would be too thick for your purposes, as you wouldn’t want visible brush strokes.

What about using retarder/glazing medium to increase the drying time? Golden’s glazing medium has retarder already added.

One good tip I’ve heard is to use a spray mister filled with water and glazing medium: you can spray it to applied paint to keep it workable and the added medium will keep the paint from losing binder…I used to pick up a lot of underlayers with thinned paint before I tried that.

Edit: If it’s smooth blending you want, I’d just follow David’s advice and add a drier to your oil paints for the next model you work on.

Question regarding getting paint to dry AFTER you have completed the work.

I’ve enjoyed your blog where you discussed this subject, but, unless I missed it, you really didn’t answer the question posed by another artist on this subject. I have a painting I’m trying to get into a show in a week and it’s still wet (cad orange and cobalt blue are still wet and don’t really show signs of drying). I’ll try the fan idea until I get a response.

Mary:

Let me know if that works. I haven’t worked on anything in oils since I suggested that, so I don’t know if that’s a possibility for quickening the drying time or not. So I’d like to know what happens. Could you please post the results here? Thanks.

—Jim

Mary,

Once the paint has been applied, I don’t really know how to make it dry faster. I recommend thinking ahead and using the techniques I suggested in the post when drying time is important.

I have heard the placing your painting in light will speed the drying time, ie; UV light. Supposedly it can cut the time by up to 50%. I haven’t tested this so I can’t confirm. It was suggested to put the painting under a black light. From what I can gather the process at work here is known as photoxidation. One proviso mentioned was that fugitive colours might take a hit from the light exposure but I highly doubt that a few days under a black light is going to cause much fading in comparison to hanging on someone’s wall in natural light for years and years.

Is there an existing list of traditional oil paints, with faster drying times?
I would like to compile a list of colours which dry faster than others. Especially a red.
- doug

I’ve been painting, a bit strained and unhappy with process/technique, for a few years with the water-soluble oil paints. They are unfriendly for me after years of using traditonal tubes of oil paints. My “real” oil paints are currently in sight but “archived.” Any chance to abandon water-soluble oils and return to the old will be welcome, an excuse to party.

The lack of noxious smelling off-gassing (and deleterious) vapors is key to continued painting here. If using just linseed oil as a “solvent” in the lean-to-fat progress of a painting will do the trick IF the initial layerings dry quickly and IF those little changes here and there, later on, also dry quickly…and if we have zero off-gassing, then I’d be very pleased.

The question that comes to mind, however, is: Which linseed oil (and why only linseed vs. safflower or other oils? I suspect that Louis V. has an interest in a proprietary product, while I’m interested in something I can pick up reasonably and regionally via mail order. Looking in NYCentral’s catalog (2005) I see that 2 linseed oils are noted for quick drying: a) Sun-Thickened and b) Thickened where the key words are “accelerates drying time.”

I like to add that brush cleaning is also an issue. Do you clean brushes with linseed oil and soap? Safflower oil and soap?

Thanks for the informative and energizing website.