How do you make oil paint dry faster?

Oil paint drys through the process call oxidation. In other words, oil paint needs to "breath". So it takes time.

Unless you can "dry" your paintings at a place where it has much higher oxygen content, like the hospital.

You can also use alkyd base mediums to speed up the drying time.

"Galkyd" medium by "Gamblin" and "Liquin" medium by "Winsor&Newton" are the most popular brands use by students and artists.

There is more. Some earth tone colors like raw umber and burnt sienna dry faster than the others. The shapes of their pigments are much rounder and pigment surfaces contain much less linseed oil, therefore, they dry faster.

So, you can mix some of those faster drying colors into the slower drying colors (yellow ochre, white,etc..) to speed up the drying time.

oils take a looooong time to dry unfortunately, and yes you are right in saying that mixing the paint with thinner WILL make it dry faster, the paint you have already applied is still going to need days to dry on the surface (depending on how thick you applied the paint) and weeks to months, (once more depending on thickness) to dry from beneath, you CAN try to put it under the sun during daytime or as someone else suggested to use a hair dryer on it, this way u can speed up the drying process of the surface and you will be able to touch it without getting messy and be able to give it to him in time. sorry for not being able to help more =[

There are mediums you can buy at art stores that you can mix with your paint to make it dry faster. Just go in there and ask, or look in the oil mediums section of the store. If you find generic linseed oil it will likely be close by.

ALKYD!!!

Why does NOBODY use alkyd oils anymore! They are GREAT, TRY!! Windsor Newton makes/made very good alkyd oils--

alkyds dry in 1/2 the time, behave and mix just like oilds but BETTER THAN THAT: the pigment to vehicle ratio is better, so your colors are much richer, like a tube of good oil paint, but cheaper or comperable.

In other words, the colors are more consistent-- ever get a soupy tube of paint like a phalo or veridian green and it doesnt seem as opaque or its seperated froim it's medium?

To speed just oil alone, use just the ALKYD medium, clear. It dries glossy.

Good stuff! Living in dry climate like desert helps. I've had luck with bathroom wall heater, like the kind where the coil heats up, and a fan. Dry heat, circulating.

A good art-is has lots of patience.He does-not want his painting to dry very fast,so that He can manipulate the colours over and over till its right.HE also knows that it will take six month to dry,before you can varnish it.When you first start out,you want the painting done now.If so! A beginner uses mediums from the art store,instead of making his own that he will field ok with.By the way using pure thinners,is the worth think you can do Mon Ami!.Develop your skill with patience.

1. Blow on it.

2. Use a hair dryer.

3. Run around with it.

4. Get hold of a madly wing-flapping bird and keep it close to it.

By adding turpentine or white spirit to the paint when applying

Add Liquin and paint with thin layers.

a fan...outside in the sun with a gentle breeze!!