Hi all,
I am having a huge problem in the painting I have been working on over the 18 months. I have been unable to find a cause and solution to the issue.
The paint doesn’t appear to be crosslinking. I work in many layers, but if I run the back of my nail across some parts of the painting, I can remove all layers of dried paint back to the underpainting.
I have had this problem before in other paintings, but never this bad. I removed as much of the unstable paint as possible at one point, removing around three months’ labour. But if I test the recent layers, it appears that the problem is still occuring.
Panel was gesso’d with a rabbit skin glue to water ratio of 1:12. Whiting was added in a 1:1 ratio. Titanium white pigment no more than 10%.
Once fully dried, the panel was sealed with a 1:3 damar varnish to turps layer. Sidenote, I have heard rabbit skin glue in 1:15 dilution is better?
A thin coat of ultramarine and burnt umber was used to tone the panel. Potentially thinned with a small amount of turps (I can’t remember).
The first coat of paint was applied without any medium.Subsequent layers have had larger quantities of liquin and trace amounts of linseed oil (from cleaning brushes) added.
Initially I thought that it’s because I’m using too much liquin. I do need to thin my layers out as much as possible, to the point where they are extremely translucent, but when the paint is scratched, it scratches down to the ultramarine/burnt umber tone.
You’d think that the lack of crosslinking was due to overdiluting paint with alkyd resin, it would remove paint down to step 4. It doesn’t. It goes all the way down to step 3.
I have used massive amounts of liquin in the past (up to 90%) and not had this problem.
The other issue is that the areas of ivory black are not tending to dry. They will remain just slightly tacky, indefinitely. It dries where I’ve used larger amounts of liquin, but without that, there’s always a slight sticky feeling to it. The painting is monochromatic with large amounts of ivory black throughout. I have also used titanium white.
Lastly, the oil is sinking a lot. I believe that I may have overdiluted my damar varnish layer to seal the gesso. I haven’t painted for a few years. I believe I did a 1:4 ratio by mistake. This issue is easily resolved with retouching varnish, but I haven’t been able to use any yet due to fear that I’ll remove all of the non-crosslined layers. Especially the pure black parts that are slightly tacky.
It’s making painting a nightmare as a result because I can’t accurately judge the values. My blacks are appearing greyish. I need to use a retouch varnish to view it accurately, then I can finish the painting. I’m so close. I have thought about whether using a spray retouch varnish would be best, as it’s less likely to disturb any dodgy areas. What’s strange is that I have oiled out an area of ivory black with a very small amount of linseed oil. The linseed oil has remained tacky.
I would be so grateful for any help with this matter.
Essentially I need to stabilise the paint layers, get some retouch varnish down and finish the painting with some final adjustments.
Many thanks,
James
Please see attached images of scratched paint, linseed oiled out area that is still tacky, and the appearance of an ivory black area.20220709_130542.jpg20220709_130517.jpg20220709_130531.jpg
Hiya – I’m having a similar issue to what you’ve described in terms of “tackiness” on the surface – I believe it’s because I used a medium that has a little too much stand oil in it to oil out a few areas, and the stand oil is refusing to dry. I’m wondering if you ever figured out how to accelerate the drying? I’m not able to varnish the piece yet despite leaving it for several months as the tackiness refuses to go away, so I’m hoping someone has some answers!
Hello James,
Sorry for your experience. I sympathise with your pain trully. I’ve had some indigo hue coats that also turned into play-dough more than a real film in the past.
I won’t have all the answers but some elements that might help.
First thing is sadly, sealing the non drying painting with retouching varnish. It will become touch dry but never really dry and turn permanently soluble. Meaning the varnishing or unvarnishing could destroy your work.
– First two questions to ask yourself are whether you gave enough time for each layer to dry, and whether you’re not painting too thick layers.
– Liquin in humid conditions can take a significant while to dry properly. It’s magnified if you paint a milimetre thickly.
– What was the quality of your dammar resin? Dammar dries ever so slowly and keeps that tackiness. It may not be the best choice for sealing the ground.
– And turpentine ? Cheap turpentine like cheap white spirit will ruin everything with greasy mineral compounds.
– Ivory black not drying is a common issue. Don’t use too much of it pure nor in thick layers. Try the others or mixes of transparent colours.
As for repairing the work, I recall trying to soak the undrying parts with solvent with added driers mixed in. It kinda helped but wasn’t a panacea overall.
That being said, if you give up entirely on crosslinking and solvents resilience, infusing your layers with retouching varnish will at least solidify everything in place.
Another tip that isn’t an all-cure either: put your painting to face sunlight and warmth for a month.
Sometimes the drying process can be kicked into progress with the help of direct sunlight.
I’m afraid your work might never be able to properly and fully dry but good luck still, and hopefully easier with the next.
Lussh
I am away from the internet until August 1st
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