I have been studying with interest the discussions on the advantages of using lead white oil paint. However, I’m concerned about the potential risks of using lead white. (Long story!)

What are the characteristics of lead white that would need to be emulated in a lead white substitute using other pigments? From my studies into lead white,…

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Paul Foxton has a video in which he mixes the neutrals using raw umber and burnt umber to make a neutral dark. Then he adds white as needed, adjusting as he goes.

Shellsol A is naphtha and has about the same solvent strength as turpentine. It evaporates quickly like mineral spirits.

Odorless mineral spirits has less solvent strength than regular mineral spirits and regular mineral spirits has less solvent power than turpentine. Any of them has the potential to remove the cured paint.
When removing…

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Looking at Sennelier products, I see that they also have an acrylic spray varnish. Which varnish did you use?

I looked on the Sennelier website (as you probably did) and couldn’t get much help. They only point out that their varnish is “difficult to reverse”.

Winsor-Newton has instructions for removal of dammar varnish and recommend using distilled turpentine. It is also the solvent used in the Sennelier varnish. Distilled turpentine is a…

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I have been using mostly “universal” acrylic primed supports for my painting, but have been reading various objections to universal priming for oil painting. The usual objection is that they are somewhat absorbent with the first layers of paint. However, I also have gotten reports that some oil primed surfaces are rather “slick” for…

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I like the Geneva brand paint that Mark Carder manufactures because it flows on smoothly and dries slowly which I find very helpful when painting portraits. He adds a small amount of clove oil to the paint to slow the drying further.

What is your opinion of the Geneva paint and it’s use of clove oil?