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Thanks, Marvin. I use linseed and mineral spirits in a 50/50 mix for most layers, more linseed in later layers. I'll try adding stand oil, too.
Perhaps what I'm looking for isn't just a matter of which medium to use. Maybe I need to be using different brushes: more sable brushes in larger sizes, rather than always using the bristle brushes that leave those ridges.
What combination of bristles/sables do people use? Do other artists use sables only at the very end for detail work (as I do), or do you have some big half-inch ones? ($$$!)Maybe there is some type of bristle or hair (I use hogs bristle) that would be an in-between solution.
I was studying an original Sargent portrait and a Hals painting in the Seattle Art Museum not long ago and I loved the very smooth surfaces they had. There was no texture, with the exception of some impasto whites on the collars. Even where Hals' brushwork was very apparent, it was not raised off the surface. Any ideas how that was done? It looked like he painted with a mixture that was so loaded with oil I wondered how it survived this long.
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