Question on medium

One thing I like about the LOP dvds is how they really tell you the materials and techniques that are necessary to learn. Nothing is vague. However I found one area that you seem to not touch on as specifically as everything else and that is medium. I have been using liquid but I find myself having an easier time making the transitions without any medium at all. I think I might be using too much because it seems to just moving paint that’s already down and show brush strokes. Any advice on that?

Thx so much. It’s amazing to see how much u give back to people like us who want to learn.

Thanks for a great question Mark. You are absolutely correct that we left the area of medium at a far more coarse granularity than other materials in the LoP. There is such a vast ocean of possibilities with mediums that I felt it just better to just mention the ones that we specifically use as well as the reasons we might use them.

Gambling has a brief overview of some of the most common mediums here:

And a more thorough look via Natural Pigments:

https://www.naturalpigments.com/art-supply-education/cat/medium-supplies-art/post/oil-paint-mediums/

As to medium use—the ideal heuristic is to use it only when you need it. If you can control the paint better without it—you don’t NEED to add it. I use medium only to thin heavy bodied paint when I need something like a very fine line or to “oil-out” something that had sunk (a concept you’ll eventually get to.). Please don’t feel the need to use something just because it is there. I’d rather you question every step and component than just chucking items in the stew for no reason.

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thanks so much. very helpful