Oil for Thinning

ironchefmitty

I’ve begun to rewatch more episodes of The Joy of Painting. In some episodes Bob used paint thinner to make an ink consistency to the paint and in some other episodes he said he used oil to do this, specifically in Purple Splendor. Anybody have any idea what oil to use for this?

Felix

ironchefmitty Linseed or saffloweroil are commonly used to thin paint

Ian_Adkins

There's copal oil, which Bob uses as a thinner for his signature in earlier seasons, walnut oil, which can also be used as a hard, varnish-like, attractive glaze, and stand oil, which is polymerized linseed oil with a gel-like consistency. There are probably many other possible oil media, but those (including linseed and safflower) are probably the most common.