If you’re looking to expand your oil painting techniques, we’ve compiled essential guides to realising four unique effects with mediums inspired by artist Nick Scrimenti.
Read more on Nick’s pragmatism and exploration beyond his own immediate palette, as well as the important role Winsor & Newton mediums play in his work here. And if you more frequently use Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour, discover how to use mediums with the product here.
Glazing
Want to make your paintings glow? If you opt to glaze your works, light travels through the glaze and is reflected off the opaque layer beneath, creating a radiant shine.
When an applied layer of Artists’ Oil Colour has dried or semi-dried, you may choose to glaze it by adding a thin, oily, transparent layer of paint. An often-lengthy process of applying layer upon layer, glazing is one technique that benefits from a professional-grade medium, such as Liquin Original or Blending & Glazing Medium. If you choose to work with Liquin Original, you’ll notice an improvement in drying times and flow and less visible brush strokes. Blending & Glazing Medium improves transparency and depth, before drying to a durable, glossy – and glowing – finish.
Scumbling
If you’d like to give your work a sense of depth, texture and colour variation you can opt for scumbling. This medium allows you to build up multiple layers of ‘broken’ (speckled or deliberately cracked) colour where the base layer peeks through.
Though the technique can be skilfully achieved with either opaque or transparent colours, the effect is stronger with opaque shades. Make sure to thin the base layer with Liquin Original, as it must be lighter than the upper layer.
Stippling
You may find that blending a light area of oil paint into a dark area doesn’t give off the smoothest shine. This is where stippling comes in. A stippling effect can give your finished piece an incandescent glow.
Your best bet for stippling is to use one of our Artists’ Hog Brushes. Their stiffness, when used with thick, viscous colour, creates a bold, stippled texture. To achieve the most professional finish, mix your oil colour with Liquin Oleopasto, which will both extend and thicken Artists’ Oil Colour.
Impasto
The term ‘impasto’ comes from the Italian for dough. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the medium is a particularly popular technique for exploring texture. By applying thick layers of paint with the right brush and mediums, brush strokes remain visible and create a highly textured effect. Rembrandt employed this technique to pick out jewels on a costume, while Van Gogh used it for expressive purposes.
If you’re seeking an impasto effect, Liquin Oleopasto adds texture, thickens rapidly, dries to a matt finish and increases transparency. Liquin Impasto Medium is also designed to retain crisp texture, but it dries to a slight gloss finish.
Whether you use Liquin Oleopasto or Liquin Impasto, your painting will be touch-dry between one and six days, making both mediums particularly useful when layering for an ultra-thick impasto effect.
Whether exploring glazing or scumbling, stippling or impasto, be sure to refresh your knowledge of the three rules of oil painting.