Product Review: Gamblin Solvent-Free Oil Painting Gel

Creamy. Very creamy. I have found my new addiction!

Initially I was reluctant to use this product because it’s hard enough to paint without throwing yourself a curve ball and adding a new product to the lineup.  After reflecting on numerous bad experiences with Res-n-Gel, and admitting to my long-term addiction to Liquin, I surrendered and cracked open a tube.

Verdict: I absolutely love this product! Here is why...

Let me preface this text by saying that up to this point I have only tried it for outdoor painting. I always use some kind of medium additive when painting outdoors because straight thinner dries at a blistering pace. Other products seem to be either too greasy or get tacky too quickly.

The Straight Dope:

• Thinner only - dries too fast.

• Walnut or Linseed Oil - gets the paint too slick, making subsequent layers slide around.

• Walnut Alkyd or Liquin - starts to get sticky and tacks up in half an hour. Brush marks drag over each other. Smurge!

• Res-n-Gel - is greasy, slippery and doesn’t readily accept the paint. Over-mixing is the danger with this medium.

Gamblin Solvent-Free Gel benefits:

• Non toxic and non smelling.

• Slow drying and won’t tack-up at all during a three hour painting session in the hot sun and wind. (even longer working time in studio)

• Readily mixes into paint without being greasy.

• Mixes great with thinner allowing for layers of paint to get fatter and fatter. (Kind of like me when I quaff too many chicken wings.)

• Comes out of the tube readily

• It’s a gel so it stays where you put it on the palette.

• Holds the shape of your brushstrokes.

• Gives colours more gloss and transparency.

• You don’t need much for it to work it's magic.

• Being solvent-free you can transport this product when flying.

• Creamy. Very creamy. I have found my new addiction!

Your friend in art,

Doug.

P.S. Since writing this review I had a chance to use the gel in the studio and I have to say that this is by far the best painting medium I have ever used. Its consistency and workability is fantastic.