Feb 17 2008
Using Max Grumbacher Oil Paints
Today was experiment with the Grumbacher MAX Oil Colors day. I had not used these paints before – I bought them awhile back but just had not had the time to work with them. My grandson came over today so I got them out and we used them to paint on stretched canvas.
I did not have any larger oil paint brushes that I am used to using – I threw all my old ones out last September when I moved because they were so worn out and I had not used them for a couple years. I planned to buy new ones but I had not done it yet. I was sorry during painting that I only had the small brushes that are for oils or acrylics – I am used to using bigger brushes for painting with oils.
They thinned very nicely with water and they had the same soft buttery feeling as the oil paints I have used. We created the beginning under-painting for a seascape – I was teaching my grandson about using oil paints, primed pre-stretched canvas as well as about how I start a seascape painting. The canvas is drying now and I will use the paints probably next week-end to put in some more color and to paint at the horizon line.
Clean up: The paint came off my hands and palette quite easily using Dawn dish soap with water.
If you are wondering how I got paint on my hands, it was from trying to get the paint out of the brushes. I wiped the excess paint off the brushes with a paper towel. I found it impossible to get all the paint out of the brushes even using dish soap – I did not let them soak in soapy water for a couple hours or so being natural bristle brushes – that was the only thing I did not try. I finally gave up and threw the brushes away. I am thinking I need to get some actual real Brush Soap to use to see if that will work to get the paint out of the brushes for me. I had dish soap in the house and it never even occurred to me to consider that I might need special brush soap to get the paint out of the brushes.
I will not be buying expensive brushes to use with these paints yet anyway until I figure out if I can get the paint out of them … so it will be the cheapest house painting brushes I can find … at least with cheap brushes that shed with oil paints … any shed brush hairs will probably come off the canvas much easier than they did using watercolor paints on watercolor canvas IF these paints behave similarly to regular oil paints, which they appear to do so far with the exception of getting paint out of the brushes.
The great news was that we had a good time painting with them.
