Langridge Underpainting Medium

Langridge Underpainting Medium is a lean medium used for the ‘first-sketch’ in oil painting. The underpainting medium is low in oil content for rapid drying, minimising chances of cracking when overpainting with full strength colours. Langridge Underpainting Medium is highly fluid, yet contains the correct percentage of oil to bind colours with which it is mixed. This affords the artist complete security in adding large volumes of medium without the fear of underbinding the paint. A film of 100% Underpainting Medium will dry to a stable, non-yellowing, non-reversable layer. Underpainting Medium may be added to oil colours in quantities at the discretion of the artist.Initially small additions will purely aid the flow qualities of existing oil colours.As more medium is added to the oil colour so the opacity of the resulting paint will be reduced. After 15 minutes of applying Langridge Underpainting Medium the surface will set-up to a soft tack that lightly grabs any succeeding brush strokes. Underpainting Medium stays wet for a much shorter period than Painting Medium and is best employed for successive layering rather than a wet-in-wet technique.The Stand Oil base ensures pale colours stay bright whilst deep tones are enriched.

• Techniques such as a watercolour style ‘wash’ effect can be achieved without losing richness and vibrancy. Diluting purely with solvents such as Gum Turpentine can easily underbind paint and lead to a dull, dry lifeless film with potential for dusting or flaking off.
• Langridge Underpainting Medium has a low oil content and, as such, is a ‘lean’ medium. It should not to be used for overpainting very fat or slow drying layers of paint.
• Constituents: Stand Oil (40 Poise), Distilled Gum Turpentine, Alkali Refined Linseed Oil, Cobalt Drier.