In this oil painting tutorial, realist painter Alex Tzavaras shows you when, why and how to use to use oil painting mediums and techniques.

For Alex's courses on the fundamental principles of oil painting visit:
  / simplifydrawingandpainting  

00:00 Intro
00:28 Oil Painting Mediums for Glazing Techniques
01:45 What is an Oil Painting Medium?
02:00 Solvents and Thinners
02:42 Linseed Oil
03:18 Polymerisation
03:50 The Fat Over Lean Painting Technique
04:40 How to avoid Sinking in
05:37 Different Ingredients and Recipes for Oil Painting Mediums
06:40 Liquin and Other Modern Alkyd Oil Painting Mediums
07:28 Using Mediums with Alla Prima Oil Painting Techniques
08:42 Using Oil Painting Mediums on Less Absorbent Surfaces
09:30 Linseed Standing Oil
10:35 How to Mix an Oil Painting Medium with Linseed Stand Oil
11:15 When to use Oil Painting mediums
11:50 How much Oil Painting Medium to use
12:10 What is Oiling Out?
13:42 Retouching Varnish
14:50 How to Varnish an Oil Painting

We have this idea that oil painting mediums are some sort of magic ingredients that hold the secret to succesful oil painting. But do we really need to use them?

We have inherited the idea that oil painting mediums and techniques are necessary from rennaisance times, when artists used an oil painting technique called glazing. Artists would use oil painting mediums for glazing techniques, in order to make their colours transparent. Their oil painting medium recipes where often closely garden secrets.

If you are not using glazing techniques, but are instead using a direct or Alla prima oil painting technique, then oil painting mediums do not play such an important role. In fact, you can most definitely paint without using any oil painting medium at all. However, there are some circumstances in Alla Prima oil painting, when you may choose to use oil painting mediums and techniques. So, in this video Alex explains when these situations might occur and he shows you how to use oil painting mediums.

Alex Tzavaras is a contemporary realist artist offering portrait painting and alla prima oil painting tutorials. Alex teaches the traditional painting techniques artists used to draw and paint from life up until the start of the 20th century.

Here are some of Alex's other videos on the fundamental principles of oil painting.

Drawing:
   • How to Draw Using Comparative Measure...  

Light and Dark Tonal Values:
   • The Most important Thing I know About...  

Colour temperature:
   • Oil Painting Tutorial - Colour Essent...  

Colour Intensity & saturation:
   • Oil Painting Tutorial - Colour Essent...  

Connect with Alex:
  / alex_tzavaras  
  / simplifydrawingandpainting  
  / alextzavaras  
http://alextzavaras.com