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Sunday, March 4, 2018

Brayer painting with water-soluble oil paint

This is what I've been doing the past year and a half -- painting with brayers instead of brushes, using Cobra water-soluble oil paint and Gamblin Solvent-Free Gel and Fluid. It's usually a two-sitting process, first for developing under-painting, and second sitting (about a week later) for layering glazes. I also use squeegees, silicon scrapers, Q-tips, fingers, and paper towels to scrape and wipe paint off to show the white of the panel surface for lighter areas of a composition.

I recently tried using Weber Res-N-Gel instead of Gamblin's Solvent-Free Gel and Fluid for the same process. Since RNG contains modified resin that doesn't give me headaches or sore throat, it works well for small spaces. But! It has a really slippery feeling when applying with brayers: brayers slide on the panel surface instead of rolling. I know it's really a specific problem for me just because I paint with brayers, but it's a huge enough issue that I'm sticking with Solvent-Free Gel and Fluid!

Transparent Oxide Red/Yellow under-painting

Ultramarine Blue glaze layer
(before wiping and scraping light areas)

Tailin'
oil on panel, 24"x18"

There are about 6 soft brayers in different widths in my rotation. Squeegee is about 12" wide. It is amazing what these simple but versatile tools can do, and how easy it is to obtain soft edges and transparency. Cleaning is fun with just soap and water. Yay!