How to choose linseed oil for painting?

How to choose oil for painting is the most common question for artists, both beginners and professionals. Trying and choosing right materials determine how long your painting is going to “live” and your painting experience.

What artists are looking for in oil?

When I start talking about oil as a binder for arts, I’m getting many questions from why not to use cooking oil for painting to why oil costs so different in stores. That’s a very broad questions and I’ll give all the answers in this and other articles. But let’s begin with the beginning – what are we looking for in “ideal oil”. This concept will help us choose the best oil for painting.

What would be an “ideal” best oil for painting?

1. Ideal oil should dry fast – you want to continue layering as soon as possible while your inspiration is still with you. You don’t want to wait for a week or longer
2. Ideal oil should be thin – you’re using oil as a thinner for your paints. If you need to change oil texture in any other ways, there are other mediums for that.
3. Perfect oil doesn’t yellow with time – you want to make sure that your work will remain as you painted as long as possible.
4. The best oil for painting is not reversible – that means that after drying it’s stable and permanent and will not melt and turn back to a semi-liquid form under different temperature or humidity conditions.
5. Ideal oil provides good adhesion – layers of paint should stick to canvas or other support and to previous layers without a risk of peeling off.
6. Perfect oil for painting doesn’t form cracking – of course, you don’t want your painting to get cracklings. If you want this “antiqued look”, there are some special mediums for that.
7. Ideal oil has matte finish – that’s not about tastes, that’s about practical aspect. Glossy finish is fine when you work in “alla prima” techniques, i.e. paint wet-on-wet with 1 single layer. In this case selection of mediums may be broader. However, if you work in multi-layering technique, only final layer should have gloss as glossy layers do not “glue” to each other. In other words, whatever we paint on top of glossy layer sooner or later will peel off. And “later” here is less than 5 years.
8. Ideal oil doesn’t contain toxic chemicals – if you’re sensitive to solvents and other chemicals or work in a small space with poor ventilation, you may prefer a safer options.

We hope all these help you choose the best oil for painting. Of course, “ideal oil” doesn’t exist, but we can try to get closer to this ambitious goal.

Why refined, bleached and thickened linseed oil?

Why I chose linseed oil for painting you can read in our other articles. They explain benefits of each kinds of oil. Let’s assume that we’ve chosen linseed oil and let’s find out the processing methods that make the goals of “ideal oil” real.

1. Drying time

   Initially, extracted oil has many components inside, from different acids and vitamins to proteins. All they are good for our health when consumed, but do not work well for painting. Some raw oil components make oil sticky, increase drying time and show low transparency. That’s why cooking oil doesn’t work for painting. It simply has a goal to provide our body with nutritions, which should be removed in painting purposes. So, the first thing to choose in oil for painting is the indication “refined”.

2. Consistence

   Most oils that just extracted have thicker texture than desired for painting. That’s why oil needs to be refined.

3. Yellowing / non-yellowing

   Most oils for painting have yellow colour and due to some acids that linseed oil contains this kind of oil yellows with time on your painting. That’s why bleaching is a necessary process, which can be done naturally or chemically.

4.  Adhesion

   For a better adhesion linseed oil should be thickened. In can be done in different ways or their combinations. Normally, this includes temperature and air or vacuum conditions.

5. Ideal oil is not reversible

   The best oil for painting should stay stable and permanent after drying, meaning the oil will not melt and turn back to a semi-liquid form under different temperature or humidity conditions.

6. Matt finish and permanency

   Due to linseed oil key characteristics, if it’s not stand oil or if there are no resins added, linseed oil provides matte finish and non-reversible.

7. Toxicity

   Refining, thickening and bleaching takes long time. And, of course, manufacturers want to speed up to gain greater profits. And there are many technical and chemical methods to do so. Some producers are “cheating” adding solvents or turpentine in oil to make it look more transparent and reduce drying time. However, some chemicals may cause headaches and other health issues for sensitive people. Also, turpentine and white spirits, for example, require a good ventilation to use.

How Elena’s Signature oil made?

Elena Nahum Leroy (Perelman), the only owner of RUSART, recreated naturally treated linseed oil recipes that artists were using in Russia throughout generations, until the new mass-production era began. Read what she’s saying about oils.

Elena used traditional recipes that artists were using for most precious works in Russia. Yes, it took almost a year to produce a batch, but it definitely worth it.

1. Raw cold-pressed linseed oil was naturally refined 3-5 times with water to remove protein and slime. We have to say, it took 2-3 weeks depending on quality of initial oil. And we drained about 20% of oil by volume. It’s not because the oil was “bad”, it’s because the oil has tons of stuff good as food or for wood-working purposes, but not for painting.
2. Then we slowly heated the oil for 15-20 hours to remove water residue, polymerize and thicken. It’s a very delicate process as if a temperature is too low nothing is going to happen, and if it’s too high, oil will boil and obtain amber colour.
3. Then we filtered the oil  2-3 times to finish refining and remove residue of sediments.
4. And the last step – we exposed the oil to the sun for 9-12 months for bleaching.

So, we used no harsh chemicals, just power or water and the sun. That is a traditional Russian recipe of oil preparation for painting used for hundreds years.

Buy Elena’s Signature Linseed Oil >>