Geneva pigment oil separation?

mstrick96

i've found that my Geneva paint tends to have the oil and pigment to separate.  So, I started "massaging" the tube before squeezing it out.  Sometimes it still comes out too thin. 

how do other Geneva users prevent the pigment and oil from separating?  

By the way, I LOVE the paint!  If I need to, I'll just deal with this problem.  The benefits of not having aluminum sterate or beeswax added is worth any inconvenience!

PaulB

This happens to me too, and you can't prevent it.  What I do is make sure the lid is closed, put my finger on the lid to ensure it stays closed, then shake it as hard as I can for a few seconds.

After that I unscrew the white cap, because it contributes nothing, and just provides an additional location for a mess. Then I squeeze directly onto the palette, keeping the nozzle very close to the palette, because sometimes when there is air in the tube, it comes out explosively.

I try to keep air out of the tubes.

Summer

I just remix when this happens to me.  It usually happens when I have thick piles of colors already on the palette.  Also try not to put heavy "steps" on a tilted palette lest the oil separate and migrate and contaminate the other steps and eventually drip all over your palette stand and onto the floor.

alsart

Me too -  shake & stir is the way to go I like these paints and don't mind the smell at all 

mstrick96

I love the odor!  Reminds me of Christmas!!

thanks for the info.

bigal2

Same trouble with paint being so thin it is almost works like thick water color, On my last painting my black leaning toward blue side ran off the canvas in areas exposing the canvas, Boy was that a wake up call.
 Love the colors and just the thickness I am not happy about.  Been following methods above since this happened, but still to me it is to thin for certain applications.

PaulB

@bigal2 There's also the trick of leaving paint on the palette for a few days, which thickens it a little and improves coverage. Mark does this.

Jbuckley

I've been using Geneva paints for a year now, and I'm having the same issues. It's just too oily for me. Regardless of how much I shake, knead, etc. The oil even seems to separate out when the paint is on the canvas - that is, after a day or so the oil seems to bind to the canvas in a thin film, and the pigment seems to "float" on top of it. Makes it difficult to rework a previously painted area because the paint wants to slide around. Blending can be difficult as well.

Leaving the paint on the palette has no noticeable effect. Once when I finished a painting I still had some nice blobs of paint on the palette. I set it up on edge for some reason, came back 15 minutes later, and a couple of piles of paint had slid down the glass palette, leaving a thin film of oil.

This is disconcerting, because everyone seems to rave about the paint. I've watched Mark's videos endlessly, and he certainly doesn't have any problems. So I don't know. But I don't think I want to buy any more of it just yet.

Lately I've been "fortifying" the Geneva paint with paint from tubes to get a decent consistency. Rembrandt cadmium yellow light, W&N Alazarin Crimson, Titanium white, etc.