I want to paint solvent-free with walnut oil paint straight from the tube, but I want to tone my canvas and then do an initial block in with a thinly applied fast-drying paint. I was going to use acrylics for this, but Golden recommends adding oil to paint from the tube if you underpaint with acrylic colors (as opposed to acrylic gesso). I would rather not add oil to the paint for my first layer. What is recommended for a fast drying imprimatura and first block in layer: watercolor? gouache? Water mixable oils thinned with water? casein? Thank you.
I realize my question is ambiguous. I mean that Golden advises to add oil to the oil paint layer if underpainting with acrylic colors, not to the acrylic layer. Sorry for any confusion.
Thank you, Brian. I read about this in Golden’s Just Paint newsletter, in an article entitled “Revisiting Oils Over Acrylics,” by Greg Watson, dated April 26, 2022.
Thank you, Greg. Much appreciated.
I have contacted Golden before answering here. I will get back to you.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to test all the potential solutions for this problem, especially when working solvent free. We have tested a thin application of watercolor over Acrylic Gesso/acrylic dispersion ground before oils and that seems to work well with no apparent issues with adhesion or reactivations etc. That said, we do not have long term testing to prove this combination out. Brian may have some experience with oils over thin watercolor?
As for using oils over acrylic colors, while we did see the potential for cracking over acrylic colors with lean oil paints, this was mostly when the acrylic colors were applied directly over a gloss acrylic mediums. But when acrylic colors were applied over Acrylic Gesso, cracking in oil over top was either non-existent or microscopic, requiring 20X magnification in most cases to see any issues. So, oils over thin acrylic colors over Gesso should be fine, but its best to add some water to the acrylic color and, if possible, to not use colors that dry to a glossy sheen. We did not see any cracking in oils over our SoFlat color line, which are our matte acrylic colors. A thin underpainting in SoFlat should be fine.
Another alternative would be to simply scrub oil color thinly over the prepared surface to provide a stain or initial layer of color. Minus the binder, it might not technically be called an imprematura, but could serve a similar purpose to get the process started.
Thanks, Greg
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