Michael Harding Walnut Oil

Why use walnut oil? Walnut oil dries at the same rate as linseed oil, but it does not yellow as much.

Use Michael Harding Walnut Oil to thin whites and to bring out the brightness in other colours.

The use of walnut oil in paint can be traced back even further than that of linseed. When 15th century artists began to add oil to their tempera colours it was walnut oil that seemed the obvious choice.

There was in fact good reason why walnut oil was preferred as a binder for whites: it has the reputation for yellowing slightly less than linseed, and so paler and cooler colours bound with it underwent less change in drying. The film of dry walnut-bound paint is not quite as strong as that bound with linseed, but it is stronger than that of poppy seed oil, and this permits walnut-bound paint to be overpainted in a way which would risk later cracking if poppy seed oil had been used. Walnut oil dries at a rate comparable to linseed.

- Michael Harding