Linseed oil is one of the best things for oil painting. It makes a strong paint film, makes paint behave kindly to the painter, it's the base of many mediums. It's also handy for cleaning brushes while painting. We don't need much Linseed oil, but even still, with the amount I paint these days, I go through it.
One big downside of modern Linseed oil is the tendency to yellow as it ages. Depending on the quality of the Linseed oil, it can take weeks or a century before the yellow shows up. And there are different factors that cause yellowing like being in the dark (reversible by exposing to bright light) or age (not reversible).
The general theory going around these days is that modern Linseed oil yellows primarily because of extra non-oil stuff in it. One theory says we can clean it, like artist refined linseed oil, it's fine, another theory says we should start with cold pressed Linseed oil as there is less extra stuff in it to start with.
From there, it gets complicated.
But they all agree, the oil should be clear when we start to paint with it. Or mostly agree. If it's yellow, it's going to keep getting yellow...
Nicole's dragon helping with my still life painting
The little bottle is my normal oil - W&N refined linseed. The big bottle is "premium quality oil made from 100% cold press flax seed". I took that and combined it with the maker being a high end art supply brand to mean it had been cleaned like refined linseed, just starting from a better place. Now I see it, I have doubts. It looks like edible cold press oil before cleaning. So yellow!
Do I trust it? Or is this for practice painting only?
