Well,here we go…this is my very first article(what emotion) and i ‘d like to talk to you about something magic…which is LIQUIN! What would be magic powers of this amazing medium? Well,i’ll tell you once you’ll discover them ,you can no longer live without,but first things first; above all what is LIQUIN? Nothing but that an alkid resin that is a thermosetting polyester useful to speed up the process of drying of enamel,varnishes and colours,in this case we’ll deal with colours ,to be specific Oil Colours!
We can say without any doubt that Oil paint has so many qualities,let’s see the main:
VERSATILITY: Oil colours well suited to any technique and way of painting like no other type of paint; you can use them as impasto (like van Gogh) due to their consistence thick and creamy,or diluted with turpentine(or odourless diluent) and little Oil to create a watercolour effect,or alla prima like impressionist painters with just few retouches and diluted just with Oil without turpentine and what about of famous glazes, which are thin layers of colours applied on fat layers in order to create deep shadows and not only( we’ll see it in next articles)
BRILLANCE: Oil colours have a brillance and brightness unmatched in the world of painting because of reflective power of molecules that make up Oil.
RESISTENCE TO LIGHT: basically Oil paintings never fade, more like they can get darker more or less,but it depends on several factors that we will review in the next articles.
RESISTANCE TO AGING: oh yes,even Oil paintings get old like all things in this world,but the good new is that they age well! Modern acrylic paintings can’t compete with oil paintings,we need only think about paintings of the Flemish painter or Renaissance Masters which are centuries old,but always incredibly youthful (beside loving care of restores); honestly when painting have the famous Craquelé, it become most fascinating.
MARKET VALUE: another great qualities about Oil paint is surely its market value,(which can grow over the years).Without any doubt oil paintings have a basic market value greater than other type of paint, no matter artworks have been painted by famous artist or not.
Well, so far someone could say “it seems too perfect to be real” Oil paint is the perfection and there are no problem to face. If only it were! Actually despite all these Pros there are,naturally,even some Cons…and that’s where comes into play our magic friend LIQUIN!
We just mentioned about possible Cons of Oil pant. What would be? Well,actually there would be some,but one in particular could discourage those who approach for the first time in the world of oil painting. The main issue about oil colours is the SLOWNESS of drying. Those who already know oil paint, know well how much patience it takes,really much! Provided that drying time change depending on the specific pigment,the rule is valid for all oil colours,that is a slow drying,soooooo slow,sometimes really too slow! It would test patience of most patience man on Earth. Surely you must be patience to paint,especially with Oil, some pigments need weeks to dry. You think that drying time can be longer in the wintertime and in contrast be reduced in the summertime. There are several items on the market helpful to dry oil colours, but none can’t compete with magic LIQUIN...and now we’ll see why. If you’ve read so far ,you’ve already guessed that the first and most important magic power of LIQUIN it is nothing more than its drying power. You can forget days and weeks of waiting between sessions of painting! Just add a little LIQUIN to linseed oil or other kind of oil for painting and the day after the paint layer will be dry without any doubt and ready to be retouched yet. In the photo below you can see our magic friend in size from 250 ml…
It is nice,isn’t it? In my opinion the size by 250 ml is ideal as Quantity-Price. There are also sizes of 75 ml,500 ml and even 1 litre! What firm makes it? The English company Winsor and Newton which is very famous all over the world. Are you curious to know the other magic powers about our magic friend? Let’s see them togheter:
Increase the brillance
Reduce the marks of the brushstrokes
Make more fluid and smooth oil colours
Non-yellowing, It is perfect for whites that tend notoriously more or less to yellowing mostly when mixed with linseed oil
Make colours super elastic minimizing the risk of cracking on paintings both in the short term and long term…
…and lastly it is simply perfect for glazes to whom i will dedicate a separate article in the future.
What more could you wish for? Perhaps other kinds of LIQUIN?
Wish granted!
Oh yes,Liquin Original is not the only child of Winsor and Newton but it also has brothers!
Liquin LightGel,Liquin FineDetail,Liquin Impasto and Liquin Oleopasto…really a good and large family,don’t you think? You know i ‘m already looking foward to write next article about brothers of Liquin Original but in the meantime it’s now time to conclude my first article in hope that may be useful to someone.
Oh, i almost forgot! If you wanna try LIQUIN i’d like to give you some simple tips. Before you use it,shake the container well in order that alkyd resin becomes lighter, more homogeneous and malleable.
Oh just one thing before we close,when you use Liquin, either alone or with oil, you should wash your brushes as quickly as possible,otherwise you really risk to throw them away for ever.