Gadget Pro: Harold Speed on Oil Painting Mediums

Sunday, December 11, 2016

Harold Speed on Oil Painting Mediums

Welcome to the GJ Book Club. Today well cover pages 217-227 of the chapter on "Materials," from Harold Speeds 1924 art instruction book Oil Painting Techniques and Materials.

Ill present Speeds main points in boldface type either verbatim or paraphrased, followed by my comments. If you want to add a comment, please use the numbered points to refer to the relevant section of the chapter.

1. Oil is a more challenging medium than watercolor because it often tends toward muddiness and it doesnt lend itself to accidental effects.
Another way to say it is that in inexperienced hands, its easier to get an awful painting in oil, but harder to get a great painting in watercolor.

Oil painting by G. Hayes before and after cleaning
(and maybe some Photoshop) from Oil Painting Restoration blog

2. Modern painters should use a more primitive medium, such as mosaic tiles.
How about aerosol spray cans, silk screen, and house paint? Its as if Speed got his wish. Oil paints are expensive, slow to apply, slow drying, and comparatively dull, so its no wonder that modern painters adopted other methods.

3. Artists should have the experience of mixing their own paints.
He says we can learn something from house painters, who in Speeds day would still mix their own paints. By mixing your own paints, you can control all the variables of the paint mixture

House painter circa 1915-1920

4. House painters mix their early coats "sharp"

Sharp means mixed largely with turpentine which leaves a dull surface with a good tooth to take the final coat; this final coat being mixed with more oil or varnish.

5. Painting material books that Speed recommends:

• The Chemistry of Paints and Painting by Sir Arthur Church

• The Painters Methods and Materials by A.P. Laurie

• Materials for a History of Oil Painting by Charles Eastlake

6. Oil mediums and varnishes inevitably darken.
He notes that the early tempera pictures of the Italian school havent darkened. Therefore, Speed recommends using as little oil or varnish as possible.

7. Linseed oil.
Regular state is a good drier; boiled linseed oil is a quicker dryer. Dont use too much or the surface may wrinkle in time.

8. Poppy oil.
Lighter than linseed, doesnt darken as much. Slower dryer

9. Turpentine spirit.

Test gum turpentine for purity by letting some dry off a white rag to see if it leaves a residue. He discusses how turpentine may be a factor in paint becoming more transparent over time.

10. Petroleum spirit.
Used in mixtures for oiling out. Use as little oil as possible when applying oil to freshen surface.

11. Copal, mastic, and amber varnish.
He says copal and amber are harder, used as painting mediums. "Picture copal" should be used only for a finish varnish. Mediums often include equal mixtures of oil and turps, or oil, varnish and turps.

12. Mastic varnish used in Speeds day for a finish varnish.
Speed recommends not varnishing unless you need to. As long as the painting doesnt depend on a lot of rich darks colors, relatively matte surfaces can show the colors better and be less subject to yellowing and darkening.

Next week—Well continue with pigments on page 227.

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In its original edition, the book is called "The Science and Practice of Oil Painting." Unfortunately its not available in a free edition, but theres an inexpensive print edition that Dover publishes under a different title "Oil Painting Techniques and Materials (with a Sargent cover)," and theres also a Kindle edition.

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