I have a question about an oil painting I've started. I painted a thin layer on a lead primed aluminum panel about a week ago. I wanted the layer to fully cure before continuing, but the ambient humidity has been low, between 28-20%. The temperature is already carefully controlled, at least now, but I wanted to ask about this humidity. I am trying to slowly raise it to 45% over the next 8 days. In the time since I began has any kind of damage begun? I haven't noticed any but I'm asking because I suspect this kind of damage can't be seen right now

The only other relevant information (I think) is that the studio is between 18-24 celcius/75-64 Fahrenheit, and it could drop to the low-mid 50's while I was away for my work shifts during the week (it would naturally be raised back up to a good temperature over another few hours) but those swings won't happen anymore, the temperature will remain stable and the humidity will now slowly rise and stay at a good range.

Do I have anything to worry about?

I will sign them on the back, and most are on acrylic-primed linen. My paintings tend to be light in color and are frequently thinly painted. So to prevent show-through of any kind, I think I will sign the edge of the linen near the staples. Is this acceptable for long-term authentication? Or do you have other suggestions for almost-white paintings?

I have considered the following mediums, but each have drawbacks.

Pencil: is it permanent enough? Might it rub off onto another painting if they were ever leaning together unwrapped? is there a way to make pencil more permanent and less likely to rub off?

Acrylic paint markers: I have read that these may not adhere well to acrylic gesso, but I have not tried them.

Lightfast pens, such as Pigma micron: I have found these to smear on gesso sometimes, but maybe they are okay if allowed to dry thorougly. Are they permanent enough? Do they look okay?

I would rather not use a brush to sign, but I would if it is best option.

Are there other types of pens or pencils. People have used that work well?

I welcome any thoughts or ideas.

This forum has been phenomenally helpful for me before and I’d really appreciate your expert advice (I’ve reached the end of my amateur internet sleuthing)!

I’ve been looking for the best varnish to complete some commissioned miniature paintings (I’ve asked about them before on here) - tiny oil paintings on solid 23ct gold, primed with Rublev Lead Alkyd Ground. They are produced for a client’s collection of high end jewellery to be worn as occasion pieces. My medium was progressively fatter linseed oil, Galkyd and Gamsol, sparingly used. They are convex and concave domes.

They will be encorporated into jewellery pieces, but sadly without a glass covering; this isn’t posssible with the frames and my client is aware that varnish can’t provide the same protection, but is the next best thing. The pieces will be sold with hefty care caveats such as avoiding perfumes and makeup touching the painting, not wearing the pieces under clothing, submerging, temp extremes…

As they will be worn the varnish needs to have a high glass transition temperature and be as durable as possible (hard, moisture resistant etc) – be stable on the domed surface and of course age well. Being skin safe isn’t critical as the painted surface won’t touch the skin and buyers will be encouraged not to touch the painting itself.

So I’ve been searching for this wonder product in the UK for a while now - my ideal varnish would seem to be Rublev’s Conservar Polymeric Varnish made with Paraloid B44 – it even has an affinity for metal bases – but they won’t ship it over!

My client doesn’t want a traditional varnish because of the yellowing. Nor a non-removable epoxy resin/urethane resin.

I’m limited by what I can buy in the UK (I don’t want to mix my own varnish from resin pellets) - after lots of testing and emailing technical departments I’ve narrowed it down to two varnishes, both made by Roberson’s; one is a gloss made with Laropal A81, the other Paraloid B67 with microcrystalline wax for satin finish, both in mineral spirits. They both look good in tests and don’t seem to react to the ground (I tried it directly on the cured ground as well as a cured paint test).

- Is there any property that I’ve missed that would make one or the other unsuitable/a better candidate for these pieces, given how they’re made please?

- I have to heat the Paraloid B67 with ‘very hot’ water in a bain-marie before brushing it on – could this hot/warm varnish cause a problem? My test seemed fine.

- Would a very thin layer of Renaissance Wax (microcrystalline) over the glossy A81 varnish to bring the shine down undermine all those useful properties from the varnish? It seems compatible in tests, but may be too soft?

Thank you so much for your time in reading all this, and any advice would be very much appreciated!

Kind regards,
Ellie

I'm planning on mixing my own oil paints in my studio without the use of additives. I have prepared a fair amount of research about the tools that I need and the measures I need to take, but my only concern is mixing toxic pigments.

I am completely fine with handling toxic substances, but I have a family who I would prefer not to be exposed to any of them. I do not know if lead white is a heavy or light pigment, or if the pigment simply goes into the air at the mere motion of spooning it onto a mixing palette.

If for some reason I cannot grind toxic pigments because of health concerns, I was wondering if I could purchase some lead white without additives. Even though the pigment would separate from the oil over time, I thought that I could just mull the color together with the separated oil for it to be usable again. I have also heard about painters somehow grinding the pigment into water, and then into oil, but I do not know where to find the sources to learn more about this.

To anyone who answers this: thank you so much! I have many technical questions to ask, but I do not know how frequently one should post on these forums. I hope somebody can help me with going about with this.

I have some layers of egg tempera on my traditional panels that remain very fragile after a month (thus far) of curing while other areas of the painting with different pigments are much harder already. Specifically, some areas with 3 or 4 layers of a single pigment paint of somewhat small particle sizes such as Cobalt Teal, and Napthol Scarlett. It is not that the areas are under-bound and pigment sloughs off when I rub it. Instead the areas are just very very fragile, to the point that resting my hand on the painting in my nitrile glove while painting other areas of the picture will damage these fragile sections and rub away paint layers down to the ground. It is noteworthy especially because many other areas on the painting are already strong and stable by comparison.

Nourishing layers in test areas have not done much to remedy this problem.

Should I expect these areas to cure to a harder layer eventually?

Or should I try to fix this problem by another means?

For what it is worth I do my best to temper my paints properly...

cheers and thanks for any advice,

eli

Not sure if this ratio would cause a weaker film. I know that if I did this with plain oil: the oil would make for a weak film, but I've heard that alkyds are stronger. As it's a ground/primer, yellowing is not an issue.