How Oil Paint Dries - Fun Facts! (Chemistry for Artists - episode 1)
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- Опубліковано 12 лип 2024
- An in-depth look at how oil paint dries. In this video, I answer questions like: What actually happens to each oil molecule as it dries? Why is “Fat Over Lean” is so important? How do you prevent oil-soaked rags from spontaneously combusting and burning down your studio? How can you speed up or slow down the drying process without adding anything to the paint? There’s plenty of fun facts, visuals, and trivia sprinkled along the way to keep the learning light-hearted.
This video meant for oil painters who want to understand their medium at a deeper level. My goal is to make science understandable and usable for artists. I studied science in college, and have (self)-studied art after graduating. This video is my attempt to combine the two fields.
My website: tirysalgado.com
Note: this is the first video I've done in 4K. Is it worth it? Let me know in the comments.
Great info.
Thanks for the encouragement!
What an amazing explanation !
Glad you found value!
What an amazing explanation. When I searched on UA-cam I wasn’t expecting scientifically satisfying results but this was wonderfully above what I expected. You answered more questions than I had. Thank you.
That's awesome! Thanks for the positive feedback!
I found this video fascinating and especially enjoyed learning about some ways to exert some control over oil paint drying times. How clever are you? Thank you! (just subscribed).
Glad you found value! Thanks for your comment!
Thank you so much for this video, Naomi! Finest edutainment and you answered quite a few questions I always had about oil paintings.
Your handmade models are fantastic and you are an excellent tutor.
And Watson has earned another treat ;-)
Thanks, Thomas!! Watson is such a good helper! You’re right, he deserves another treat! I had no real good plan on how to end my video and was about to start rambling...he rescued us all! Haha!
Amazing. You better be a teacher and your students will do miracles. Nice video.
Thanks for your kind words! I used to teach art at an elementary school. Now I paint full time and teach an occasional workshop for adults.
That's awesome. I'm also teaching in elementary school but want to be full time landscape artist.
Thank you for this awesome explanation! Im an artist, and although I too have a science background. I did not know how oil paint dries. Thanks so much!
You bet!
Very interesting! But im wondering about the different drying times for different pigments. Is it some part of certain pigments, that prevent/slow down the oxidation?
Yes! The drying times of different pigments can vary widely! I'm not quite sure the molecular reason why the new organic pigments tend to dry slower than traditional pigments. I have an educated hunch on why earth pigments and especially Prussian blue dries so quickly. I believe that the pigment has a metallic component that acts as a catalyst to make the oxidation reaction run faster.
Thank you, this is just the information I was looking for!
I'm still curious about the fast-drying vs the slow drying pigments, and the chemical reason for that behavior... Is that the reason why Prussian Blue isn't commercialized as an acrylic, perhaps? Would it polymerize too quickly?
Either way, thanks again. I like understanding how things work. It's fascinating that oil paint drying on a canvas or miniature is the same process that happens when you season a cast iron pan!
Thanks for your comment! I never thought of it being the same process as seasoning a pan, but you’re absolutely right!
I’m not exactly sure why some pigments dry faster than others. But I do have an educated guess-my guess is that these fast-drying pigments contain metals that act as catalysts for the reaction. Catalysts facilitate chemical reactions-making them run easier. You can buy metallic dryers to add into oil paint and that’s what they do. So that’s why I’m guessing most of the earth pigments dry so fast.
I didn’t notice that you can’t get Prussian blue in acrylic. I haven’t bought a tube a acrylic for many years. Once I started painting outside acrylic was just too fast-drying for me. I would imagine that if Prussian blue speeds the drying of an already fast-drying paint, it would be very difficult to work with and a reason as to why they wouldn’t produce it. However, if Prussian blue also dries quickly in acrylic, my hypothesis above might be faulty. Acrylic dries by evaporation, which is a physical process. Whereas oil paint cures by oxidation, which is a chemical reaction. Metallic driers usually just work with oil paint-helping the oxidation reaction run faster.
You have given me some things to think about. Thank you again for your comment!
@@TirySalgadoFineArt Thanks to you, for your reply and kind explanation!
You're right, the catalyst idea sounds interesting, I think you might be on to something. Both the ochres and Prussian Blue are iron oxides, so they definitely share the same elements.
Makes me wonder about the colors that dry slow. I'm not experienced enough to know specifically which colors do, but I heard cadmiums and I think titanium white takes a while (might be my bias because that accursed color is everywhere and I usually need relatively thick layers). Those colors share a quality -- very good coverage, which implies large pigment size. I don't know if that could be a factor -- sounds like even the largest pigment wouldn't be that large near the fat chains -- but it could be a possibility, if it's enough of a factor to influence the coverage. Could be worth experimenting.
Thanks again. It's fun to nerd out about this stuff.
Pietro Giordani large particle size is an interesting idea! Could very well be. I don’t know enough about pigment particle sizes to know if there’s a correlation. I do know that titanium white dries relatively slowly. And I had one tube of Grumbacher “original formula” titanium white that I threw away because it took literally months to dry at room temperature!!! Maybe I got a bad tube? Or maybe the “original formula” has some weird recipe. But anyway, thought I’d pass it on so you and others know also.
Thank you for a very interesting video. I've got some more of your videos queued to watch and just subscribed. I'm very interested in chemistry and understanding the medium better. Would love to learn more about the properties of different pigments e.g. prussian blue being fast-drying.
Thanks for the subscribe and the video idea! I’m actually not sure why Prussian blue dries so incredibly fast…though I suspect that the pigment itself acts as a catalyst to make the oxidation reaction happen faster. Other earth Pigments also dry faster, just not as fast as prussian blue.