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Clove oil - something to be aware of
I have a query regarding the section in the MITRA documentation on Solvents about Clove Oil for Oil painting:
"Essential Oil of Cloves or Clove Oil has been used as a preservative in emulsions and as an additive to mediums to substantially slow down their drying rate. There are far better preservatives available today. The use of clove oil as a drying retarder is greatly discouraged as its addition tends to substantially weaken the dried paint film.
Other Essential Oils and Extracts are also periodically used in art making. Oil of rosemary sometimes served as a substitute for clove oil and as a component in the creation of complex oil-hard resin mediums. Like clove oil, artists should forgo the use of these materials as their dangers far outweigh and perceived benefits."
I and many other painters I know use Clove Oil to extend the drying time and I have never read anything negative about using it before.
Please can you tell me what evidence led to the conclusion that clove oil weakened dried paint film.
What were the numbers for the control, clove and rosemary in the studies that were done?
- Moderator Answer
Actually we would LOVE it if someone in the conservation field were to conduct a study to look into concrete numbers regarding paint additives...so I will just leave this statement here for my conservation science colleagues to read (and hopefully someone will become inspired!). The information in our document is based on actual experience with cleaning works of art...both from our own experience and anecdotal evidence provided by other conservators. Every so often we will encounter a painting by an artist who is known to have used clove oil or a painting that lists clove oil on the reverse as an ingredient in the paint. Many of these paintings have proven impossible to safely clean, meaning the yellowed, degraded varnishes used to coat the surface cannot be removed without causing irreversible damage to the paint layer. Clove oil is an attractive additive BECAUSE it hinders drying...but adding too much can create a film that remains sticky and does not form a cohesive, healthy paint film, one that will remain sensitive to even the mildest of solvents. Most likely adding a drop or two to a substantial amount of medium is not the end of the world, but artists often add far more than is necessary in order to combat the drying processes. As with anything that is potentially problematic we simply request that you record your use of any materials/additives on the reverse of your painting so that your work of art can be properly cared for later on down the road. It may be possible in some cases to remove a degraded surface coating from your painting using aqueous methods, for example (should your painting require such a treatment...remember just because you might use a stable varnish does not mean that someone else will refrain from re-varnishing your painting later on down the road), something that a conservator would know to look into if they know that an artist used something like clove oil as a paint additive.
Kristin deGhetaldi - User Comment
Thank you Kristen for your reply.
I (and many others) are using Geneva paints made by Mark Carder which are a very highly pigmented and fluid consistency made with linsead oil and with added clove oil. They are so fluid they don't need to be thinned with solvents and I believe there are no stabilisers or other fillers added.
The paint (and other commercial beands with a slow-dry clove oil based medium) have been used by many artists on Mark's forum (drawmixpaint.com) for many years and there doesn't seem to have been any problems with a sticky undrying layer or varnish issues. So not sure why we haven't seen these issues?
Mark's website for Geneva paints is here if it helps:
- Moderator Answer
I would not expect you (or others) to have experienced any issues with varnish removal...at least I certainly hope not at this stage! It is far too early in the lifetime of a painting to attempt to remove a varnish unless absolutely necessary. What may be problematic is varnish removal further down the road as I stated above. I suspect that Geneva does not add driers to their paints and probably adds just enough clove oil to create the desired effect (and therefore avoids the creation of unwanted "sticky" fillms)...but without additional testing it is hard to know what kinds of problems may occur during future varnish removal. Again I emphasize that the field of conservation would be well served to look further into such matters...one can find similar claims made by artists who are wetted to Maroger mediums...that they are stable and will withstand the test of time. However we know full well that such paint films remain soluble for many, many years and are sometimes impossible to safely clean (again, the problem of varnish removal comes up). I suspect it is much less of an issue with clove oil but I would still recommend recording the brand and/or material you use on the reverse so that future conservators will know to tread lightly (even though trained conservators ALWAYS read lightly
). Kristin deGhetaldi
Comments
@Mark_Carder did have a conservator look at his paintings and paint when he was using his slow-dry medium formula (I believe) years ago and they okay'ed it, and I'm pretty sure that had a small amount of clove oil in it too. He'd be able to elaborate on that, though.
This only happened with larger plates, (11 x 14) or larger series of plates, like 6- 8.5 x 11.
I have not had any issues with the clove or poppyseed oils.
I use it so sparingly.
I try to use as much litho/block printing ink as much as possible (vs. oil paint) because the ink is designed to sit on the paper (Rives BFK) without rotting it, or blooming all over the place. I'm embarrassed to say that some of my earlier all OP monotypes have bloomed terribly.
What I don't understand is that clove oil is supposed to evaporate from the painting, so why would it cause problems 100 or 200 years from now. Is the main longevity factor more to do with how long we wait to varnish our paintings? Or is there a certain type of varnish that conservators prefer for use on clove-oil paintings?
More info would certainly be nice to have, but according to the original responses on the MITRA forums, there doesn't seem to be a whole lot of studies that were done on this topic, so the info is quite limited.
If any of this is incorrect I hope someone will set me straight.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/symbiartic/httpblogsscientificamericancomsymbiartic20110802the-chemistry-of-oil-painting/
That is why too much clove oil can weaken paint films to a dangerous level. However bear in mind that other drying oils besides linseed oil will also supposedly form weaker paint films.. So it's a matter of degree I suspect.
I have no information about the components of the Geneva product, except that it has linseed and clove.
Varnishing can safely be applied in six months. Though, the drying rate is temperature and humidity dependent, thickness of paint is also an important factor. Keeping a ‘thin’ painting on the warm side 24/7 would be dry in say, four months.
Denis
You can see that burnt umber gets a large amount of clove oil, but all other colors get a very small amount. Titanium white gets none.
Mark doesn't disclose formulas for the Geneva Paint, but it is almost certain that his method of manufacture is very similar to his posted instructions.
The MITRA warnings are based on an "abundance of caution" due to a lack of evidence. The anecdotal information is not useful except perhaps to identify a topic that should be researched further. This would be a good topic for a Master's Thesis. It's impossible to draw an accurate conclusion based on a lack of evidence.
Regarding burnt umber, I've been mixing my own from the three primaries and I can come very close to the burnt umber that Mark makes. I also mix my own black the same way. Once I have my burnt umber mixed, I use it along with the primaries and white to follow Mark's mixing strategy and can mix almost any color I need.
As for varnish removal this is something easy to test yourself. Maybe I'll do some tests myself, as I have some paintings done with Geneva paint that still aren't varnished.
@mstrick96 to be able to mix all colours that are mixable with oil paint, you actually need 20-25 tubes of paint. You can mix a lot with 7 or 8, but there will still be many that you won't be able to match. For example, if you want to have cad orange, you have to buy a tube of it since it's not possible to mix with other pigments.