Description
Please note: Due to the batch process of making Water-Washed Linseed-Flax oil, delivery can sometimes take up to 10 days.
This water-washed oil is very different from the linseed oil usually sold for painting. We refine this oil ourselves, beginning with pure cold-pressed organic flax oil (Actually, “linseed” and “flax” are two names for the same basic oil. If you buy the oil at the health food store, it will be called “Flax Oil”, but in the paint world it is called “Linseed Oil”.) We filter the oil and cleanse the mucilage and particulates from it, washing it with water. The result is a much clearer oil with many added benefits: the oil dries faster, has greater gloss, works better with impasto techniques, has excellent color depth, and is more viscous than chemically refined oil.
Linseed oil, as commonly sold for artist use, is processed using high temperatures, chemicals, and solvents. The resulting oil has very little of the fatty acid content that is essential for the oil to dry. This is why linseed oil has the reputation of drying so slowly. These chemical refining processes are fast, but leave the artist with a less-than-ideal oil.
Interestingly, throughout much of history artists have been aware of the need to “clean” their linseed oil. For example, in the 16th century friends of the artist Perugino taught how to clean oil by putting it in a horn-shaped glass with an opening and a stopper at the bottom. Water was added and the mixture was stirred. After the water settled, it was drained from the bottom and fresh water was added. The process was then repeated seven or eight times. The painters referred to the resulting oil as “purified”. Today, because of the availability of large scale chemical refining, most artists have never even heard of this process.
The Artist Grade Linseed-Flax oil we offer takes weeks to refine using slow organic washing processes, but the result is a superior painting medium in the traditon of the great “purified” mediums of historical artists.
Bottle size: 4 oz.
For CANADA, ship by USPS.
For United Kingdom, Italy, and Australia ship by USPS.
READ MORE ABOUT WATER-WASHING ARTIST OILS HERE.
SEE ALSO OUR WATER-WASHED WALNUT OIL HERE.
