Further Information

This section gives you some additional information and useful facts about Griffin Alkyd Fast Drying Oils. 

Using Griffin Alkyd Colours with traditional oil colour (including underpainting and glazing)

Griffin Alkyd colours can be either mixed with or used underneath oil colours. Because the alkyd film is slightly less flexible and faster drying than traditional oil, applying Griffin Alkyd films over oil colour or Oilbar layers is not recommended.

Griffin colours are particularly popular for making a quick underpainting, followed by Artists' or Winton Oil Colour for overpainting. Griffin Alkyd is not intermixable with acrylics.

Advantages of Griffin Alkyd Colour vs. traditional oils and acrylics

Griffin Alkyd Colour vs. oils

• Quicker speed of drying
• Greater transparency and luminosity from the tube
• More fluid consistency
• Harder paint film for outdoor or craft use

Griffin Alkyd Colour vs. acrylics

• Oil colour consistency
• Depth of colour of oils
• Longer drying time
• Looks like oil colour painting when finished

Oil Painting Rules

Oil painting with Griffin Alkyd Fast Drying Oil Colour requires attention to a couple of conventional oil painting rules:

• Fat over lean (flexible over less flexible). When oil painting in layers, each successive layer must be more flexible than the one underneath. This rule is maintained by adding more medium (e.g. Liquin) to each successive layer.
  
• Thick over thin. Thick layers of oil colour are best applied over thin underlayers.
  
• Due to differences in flexibility, never use Griffin Alkyd Colour on top of conventional oil colours unless the oil colour is completely dry (6-12 months). Conventional oils may, however, be used over Griffin Alkyd Colour.

Colour Mixing

Pigment purity in the Griffin Alkyd Fast Drying Oil Colour range ensures the brightest colour mixtures.  Artists are however, often interested in the colour theory of painting.  The three primary colours in the Griffin Alkyd Fast Drying Oil Colour range are Winsor Lemon, Phthalo Blue and Permanent Rose.  These colours are the best selection when only three colours are used.  When using a six colour mixing system, we recommend Winsor Lemon, Winsor Yellow, French Ultramarine, Phthalo Blue, Permanent Rose and Cadmium Red Medium.

Whites in the Range

White is the most popular colour in the spectrum and is most useful for producing ‘tints' when mixed with other colours.  The three whites which are available in the Griffin Alkyd Colour range offer the artist different working characteristics.  Titanium White is the most popular modern white.  It is the whitest, most opaque white and gives excellent covering power in a painting.  Mixing White is the most transparent white available which makes it ideal for tints and glazing.  

Underpainting

Many artists complete the underpainting of a project in alkyds to save time and then go on to complete it with conventional oil colour.  Underpainting can be done in monochrome using any colour, or it can be done in full colour because of the rapid and consistent drying time of Griffin Alkyd Colour.

Other methods of using Griffin Alkyd Fast Drying Oil Colour

Alkyd resin dries to a hard paint film that has good resistance to physical wear and weathering.  This makes Griffin Alkyd Fast Drying Oil Colour the ideal choice for using on surfaces such as wood, glass, metal or porcelain to decorate both functional (non-food use) and decorative items.

Griffin Alkyd Colour is ideal for the decorative painting which is popular in Northern Europe and also with folk artists.  The speed of drying and hard paint film make Griffin Alkyd Colour ideal for outdoor signs and oil colour murals.

Bright colours and fast drying make Griffin Alkyd Colour an exceptionally good choice for design work.  Unlike gouache and water colours, Griffin Alkyd Colour is water-resistant.

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