Liquin is a quick-drying medium for

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

and

alkyd An alkyd is a polyester resin modified by the addition of fatty acids and other components. Alkyds are derived from polyols and organic acids including dicarboxylic acids or carboxylic acid anhydride and triglyceride oils. The term ''alkyd'' is a m ...

paint Paint is any pigmented liquid, liquefiable, or solid mastic composition that, after application to a substrate in a thin layer, converts to a solid film. It is most commonly used to protect, color, or provide texture. Paint can be made in many ...

. Used as an additive in many forms of artwork, Liquin is produced by

Winsor & Newton Winsor & Newton (also abbreviated W&N) is an English manufacturing company based in London that produces a wide variety of fine art products, including acrylics, oils, watercolour, gouache, brushes, canvases, papers, inks, graphite and coloured ...

and has a number of uses.

Origin

Alkyd resin medium for artists was first invented in the 1970s by Arthur DeCosta, a longtime professor at The

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Jacques Maroger Jacques Maroger (; 1884–1962) was a painter and the technical director of the Louvre Museum's laboratory in Paris. He devoted his life to understanding the oil-based media of the Old Masters. He emigrated to the United States in 1939 and bec ...

), the fast drying, supposed medium of the Old Masters. Because Maroger medium must be cooked with lead, Turco lacked its inherent danger and had a similar, if not faster, drying time. "The Kid," as DeCosta called the young man responsible for the manufacture of Turco, often made poor batches of the product and DeCosta, being a full-time professor as well as a prominent Philadelphia painter (notable for his portrait of former mayor

Frank Rizzo Francis Lazarro Rizzo (October 23, 1920 – July 16, 1991) was an American police officer and politician. He served as Philadelphia police commissioner from 1968 to 1971 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1972 to 1980. He was a member of the Democr ...

), gave up on the enterprise sometime in the early 1980s. Since then many companies have produced similar products, Liquin being the most popular.

Method

Winsor & Newton suggests the use of Liquin as a ''fat'' or ''flexible'' agent, to increase the flexibility subsequent layers. While Liquin ''Original'', and Liquin ''Light Gel Medium'' are mixtures of petroleum distillates, Liquin ''Oleopasto'', and Liquin ''Impasto'' are mixtures of

alkyd resin An alkyd is a polyester resin modified by the addition of fatty acids and other components. Alkyds are derived from polyols and organic acids including dicarboxylic acids or carboxylic acid anhydride and triglyceride oils. The term ''alkyd'' is a ...

and petroleum distillates.

Innovation

Notably, it is used to speed the drying time in oil painting, though it may also be used as a barrier layer to achieve some effects. Painted over the top of etchings, India-ink drawings and other line art, it enables the application of colours by tinting with thin glazes of oil paint. This technique was first discovered by the artist

Patrick Woodroffe Patrick James Woodroffe (27 October 1940 – 10 May 2014) was an English artist, etcher and drawer, specialised in fantasy science-fiction artwork, with images that bordered on the surreal. His achievements include several collaborations wi ...

and is outlined in his book ''A Closer Look'' (Paper Tiger, 1986, ). Liquin also permits the creation of "save" layers in painting. Painted over all, or part, of an artwork in progress (and left to dry), Liquin allows the artist to scrape or wipe back subsequent work to the Liquin layer, while preserving all work beneath. It can also be used as a simple carrier base and, when compressed together with paint under a layer of

plastic wrap Plastic wrap, cling film, Saran wrap, cling wrap, Glad wrap or food wrap is a thin plastic film typically used for sealing food items in containers to keep them fresh over a longer period of time. Plastic wrap, typically sold on rolls in boxes ...

, produces effective

decalcomania Decalcomania (from french: décalcomanie) is a decorative technique by which engravings and prints may be transferred to pottery or other materials. A shortened version of the term is used for a mass-produced commodity art transfer or product l ...

References

Painting materials {{art-material-stub