Oil Paint Won't Dry...Help
 

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, please move it to where it will be more appropriate.

Here's the thing, my dad recently painted a picture on a small canvas with oil paint. It's been drying for nearly 5 days now and still as wet as it was when he first finished. He told me that he used olive oil mixed with paint because he didn't have some special kind of oil. Can somebody advise on what to do to make the paint dry faster? Thanks.

olive oil? yummy :)

isn't linseed oil what is typically used?

heh. i dunno. it may never dry! i could well be wrong.
anyway, here's a bump for your thread at any rate.

got any pics of this painting?

Well, this artist that I work with said that it may take as long as a month to dry. So I guess it'll be a while. I might post a pic if he lets me. My dad is not an artist and hasn't done anything more than a few sketches in 7 years. This is the first time he painted something with oil, so it's abit amateurish, but looks cool nontheless. Maybe tomorrow.

It's a small practive 6x4 pic. The reason he drew it is because he wants to paint a large painting and put it in the living room. So that was a practice run.

Well, he gave it a go, so here's a pic of the painting that he did. It's his first.

awww your dad rocks!

while it's not a "great" painting, he's actually got a lot of good things going on.

please, encourage him to keep at the painting.
...but maybe hit up the art supply store instead of the kitchen cupboard. :lol:

linseed oil is what he needs- to make a medium to make the paint workable, you can mix linseed oil with odorless paint thinner. make sure it's REFINED linseed oil, not just raw linseed oil like you can get at the hardware store. refined is more expensive but worth it! and expect it to take a while to dry- however it will be more durable and archival (last longer).

It'll dry eventually. The more oil you add, the longer it takes.

Here's an update with another mini painting that he did. Third one will be done shortly.