Make your own eco-friendly oil paints with this short guide!
Making your own natural oil paint is not only super quick, easy, and economical, but it also makes the most archival, vibrant and pure paint on the planet.
Unlike tubed conventional oil paints, these paints don't have fillers (bulking agent), toxic preservatives, heavy metal or petroleum-based pigments, solvents or chemical additives. These paints will last for thousands of years, be 100% lightfast and humidity resistant, and won't off-gas into your home.
Supplies:
Natural Earth Pigment
Refined Walnut Oil
Palette knife
Glass surface
Optional:
Dropper/Syringe
Glass Muller
Aluminium Paint Tubes
1. Add a pile of pigment to your glass palette.
2. Create a small hole at the top of the pile, like a volcano.
3. Add about 30% by volume of oil to the pigment or just add drops of oil and start mixing. You can use a syringe or dropper to make adding oil easier or simply pour carefully from the bottle.
Note: All natural pigments absorb liquid differently and in different amounts, for example green may need a lot more oil to make a thick paste than yellow. Just add drops of oil and mix until a thick paste forms- you don't want it too liquid.
4. Mix the pigment and oil with your palette knife.
5. Add more walnut oil as necessary until you reach the desired consistency for your paint- a creamy, thick paste.
Optional Step:
Some artists use a glass muller after mixing their paint with a palette knife. This is simply to make sure that every single particle of pigment is completely coated in oil and there are no air pockets that my crack a painting surface in the future.
6. To store your paint, you can transfer it onto a piece of aluminium foil, fold it up, and save it for your next masterpiece. Or, scoop into an empty aluminium paint tube.
If you know you'll be painting throughout the week, you can also leave the paint on your glass palette since it takes over a week to dry!
