I have several themes in mind for today’s post. One theme is about varnish–intermediate varnish. An intermediate varnish is used to seal the surface and prevent subsequent paint layers from sinking into the earlier layers. This “sinking in” robs the colors of their light and life. Since I paint in layers, I use intermediate varnishes a lot. It’s an important topic for me. But I’ll wait until I have enough material for a proper rant.:-)
Today I’m going to stick to my other theme–glowing color. Mind you, this painting is still unfinished (I know, I can take forever), but even from this photo I think that you can see that some of the lights glow.
For some lights, I am using the wonderful sun-thickened oil I bought from Robert Doak (and that he no longer manufactures [sob]). What makes this oil so great is that it can be thinned and yet it holds its body, which means I can use thin veils of color that cover–and glow! Great stuff.
I’ve thickened some of my own oils and they have some of the good qualities of Doak’s oil but not as strong. I’ve also tried sun-thickened oil from other vendors and none approach the stuff that Doak used to make. In fact, my homemade oil is better.