Stanka,
I used to use poppy oil a lot, but I also found out a few drawbacks and so have stopped. Also, I've gotten so I want my paint to dry faster than when I first started.
What I found out:
1) Poppy oil is slower drying, so it's easy to get a leaner mixture over it, unless you're careful, which leads to "fat over lean" problems. Also, it skins over as it dries, so you think it's dry when it's not. Next layers wrinkle.
2) It is a weak binder, compared to other oils. This promotes cracking. Better (according to Old Holland) to use some other fuller bodied oil - stand, linseed, whatever, in the first layers, and only use poppy oil as a last (on top) glazing medium if desired. Especially since poppy oil is non-yellowing (this is perhaps its best attribute).
I used to use a lot of it in the first layers, and now I worry about the adhesion of the paint over time.
Have you tried using clove oil to slow your drying? ONE or TWO DROPS on each pile of paint on the palette, and the drying time extends from a couple of days to a week or more. You can get it at the "health foods" store, usually. Watch adding too much, though, as you can compromise the linseed oil binder (maybe) and sometimes have an area of paint that seems to NEVER dry (happened to me).
Best,
Tom Edgerton
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