Subtle Changes and Safflower Oil

About a month ago I came across the book Traditional Oil Painting by Virgil Elliott. I refer to it often while experimenting with the technique of glazing over underpaintings.

In Chapter 7, Oil Painting Materials, Elliott suggests using safflower oil for cleaning brushes followed by soap and water rather than using turpentine. I have always used soap and water on all of my brushes, but never thought of using a vegetable oil for the preliminary cleaning. Safflower oil is a common binder in many oil paints. It can also be used judiciously to thin paints while glazing. I was surprised by the successful results as both a cleaner and a medium.

I applied a very thin glaze on the painting illustrated here. I wanted to get a feel for the coloring of the sky before I worked color into the trees. After the first glaze on the sky and a bit on the road, I mixed a cool, dark glaze of alizarin crimson, viridian and a touch of manganese. I glazed over the trees and grassy areas attempting to establish a sense of the clustering of the trees. It is difficult to see the subtle changes of value in these photos. The manganese helps to create a sense of the same atmospheric light. I'll let the painting dry completely before going back into the trees with a greater variety of greens, both warm and cool, the cool being dominant. After establishing the final range of values in the trees as well as a stronger palette for the trees I will glaze another layer onto the sky and the road. I want a sense of rich darkness in the trees, but I want the grass of the medium to be lighter, reflecting more sunlight and sky. The foreground road will be darker; the foreground grass will be lighter. The challenge at this point is finding a suitable hue for the lightest lights in the foreground grass.