I'm tired of baking my chaps in the slow cooker so I tried Dorlands wax medium to matt my oil colours. You certainly obtain a matt finish but I hated the medium as I can't work the paint properly. Of course, wax medium isn't designed to do this so that was my mistake (curses!)

And then I tried Spectrum Matt Spectragel. Deep joy. You mix a dab of this stuff into your paint and it dries overnight to a flat, matt finish. It's a very thick gel in the tin but it smooths out and thins as you work it into your paint; it's a bit like using Liquin. Your paint flows and blends beautifully. I've tried it with my regular Winsor & Newton and Schminke paints and these dry matt overnight. I was trying out those Sennelier Rive Gauche safflower oil paints; these are really nice paints and usually dry overnight to a satin finish. With the Spectragel they dried matt in around 4-5 hours.

Here's a picture of my palette. The red and the blue on the left are the matt finish, the blue on the right is Rive Gauche Prussian blue without the medium dried overnight.



I bought my tin of the wonder gel from Ken Bromley https://www.artsupplies.co.uk/item-matt-spectragel-medium.htm. The bad news is that the smallest size tin they sell is 250ml and it'll cost you over a tenner. But it works.



I'm a newbie on this site so here's a newbie's question...

How do we get our pictures the right way up?

Happy days.

Thanks for the tip. I will have to see if it is available in the States.
Cheers
John

You have to rotate your camera to the right.

It's a common problem with iPhone. You google "ipone pictures sideways" or whatever brand of phone you have and you can get your answer.

It's not just iPhone pics. One's I've taken with a camera and appear 'the right way up' (ie portrait) on the thumbnails and viewer come out sideways.

Neil, there’s always this stuff. It sounds exactly ŵhat you need. Yes it’s for oils.

Abteilung 502




Mark.

I use it, bought it recently, and it works fine. So does Spike Lavender Oil, but has a strong aroma. Of Lavender

Alan

Thanks for the tip Steve. I recommend Malmittel zu Olfarben from Fredericus Rex in Germany. Has a great matting and thinning effect for oils.

I'm just off to the chiropractor's now....

Do you still need to thin the paint with thinners when using these mediums?

Steve

Sorry, bit late in responding.

Do you need thinners? Not for the Spectragel, just mix it up with your brush so that the gel liquifies and then it flows very nicely.

Steve, you do not need to add anything to your oil paint - mix the stuff on a piece of scrap card and allow some of the oil to
leech out. Thin the paint as usual when you work - the paint will cure much more quickly than normal and have a matte finish.
If it appears to stiffen as you're using it just add a touch of linseed to make it workable again and carry on.

Mike