On the topic of mediums....

I received this note from a fellow painter.


After attending the Kim Casebeer workshop I purchased some Galkyd Lite.     You get an immediate benefit after adding it to a pile of paint in that the paint flows on more easily.  But in a very short time it starts drying and makes your paint sticky and unusable unless you add more Galkyd and start the process all over again.  The more I use it the less I like it.  For me, the Liquin  works much better.


I also purchased the Galkyd Lite medium after the workshop with Kim.  I used the medium this week painting at the Nelson, and had the same results.  Very sticky paint palette within minutes, and unusable paint.  Kim did suggest adding turpenoid or Gamisol to  the Galkyd if it starts to get thick in the container.  I also added Gamisol to the medium/paint mixture, but I was pondering over why I would use the Galkyd when the Gamisol worked just fine for me.  Adding a medium changes the vascularity of the paint one is trying to improve or control. Kim was using it with her 'underpainting' which allowed her to use less paint and cover larger areas.  As we watched her mix up her paint, I even asked her why such a small amount of paint for such a large canvas.  She said she would get the coverage by mixing the Galkyd lite with the paint, and she did.  We were also in her studio, and not battling winds as I did at the Nelson.  This is part of the learning curve in workshops.. she made everything look easy....and usually it's not!  If anyone has a comment on these products, please leave a note.  Maybe I have missed a trick in using the Galkyd lite properly.  Or, maybe the best results are in the studio with this product, minus the wind, sun and heat.  I also prefer Liquin as my medium of choice, but maybe there is that 'learning curve' with the Galkyd Lite that I am impatient to wait for!