Dear MITRA,
I had something unexpected happen in the studio this week, so I welome your guidance. Some background on my practice is that I have painted for decades, and use high quality artist’s materials — professional grade walnut oil-based paints with that manufacturer’s walnut oil-alkyd medium, and a little high quality OMS, on a substrate of oil primer applied on a recommended brand of panel for longevity. For my current project, I am using almost all transparent colors, and have introduced a few new-to-me pigments to my palette. I use very little medium and OMS, so my pigments are definitely not underbound (nor overly oily).
I am working more rapidly than usual due to a deadline, but my initial underpainting layer (applied very thinly and in many places, wiped even thinner with a rag to achieve lighter values) had been drying for three weeks in a studio where I am currently running two dehumidifiers. This underpainting certainly seemed dry enough for a second layer, and in the first area (the face of a portrait) the first layer behaved as expected as I applied a thicker top layer (though still not “thick” per se). However, after I had been working on the hair for awhile, I wondered at first if a brown admixture was being picked up by the brush in a couple of areas, but it seemed to be glazing on since the brush didn’t appear to be picking up any of the earlier pigment. I even wiped off the second coat in one small area to check, but the underpainting seemed intact, so I proceded to work. Then on the very last area where I was applying the second coat, I realized that the brush actually *was* picking up some of the earlier pigment.
I recall seeing a scale for the multiple stages of first-layer oil drying hardness from touch dry to bone dry but I can’t find it now — I just recall that my former “bone dry” habit wasn’t actually the best for longevity, and that the fingernail test (which I did find referenced in a couple of previous posts here) was a good rule of thumb (no pun intended) for when a first layer is ready for a second layer.
It is what it is for now for me to meet this intense exhibition deadline, but does this sound like I might have longevity issues in the future with this particular work due to this situation?
I really appreciate your help and time.
Amy
Amy,
it is a common issue due to many reasons.
i notice you use oil based primer, which can be fat and slippery. oil primer is okay choice if you direct paint on top, some people find brush spread easier on slippery oil primer.
but it could be a problem if you paint in layer, simply the oil primer is already fat, then your first layer is solvent diluted, which becomes leaner than your ground. as a result it is harder to adhere to ground.
unless you wait very long like years for oil primer to be fully dry and becomes “lean”, but it had additional issue is after this long, the oil surface will form closed, thus you would need sand paper and garlic juice to reopen the pore.
so if you change to acrylic ground, you will be better start there.
