SchmaltzArtist Oil Impasto Gel Medium 150mL Tube - Quick Drying Impasto Gel to Increase Shine & Volume and Improve Transparency & Gloss - Single

Can gloss, speed up drying time, thin, make transparent, thicken, or do texture!This medium is AMAZING! It has been an absolute game changer for my painting and has helped me in so many ways. It can thin down colors to add as a background/wash, add body to your paint, add gloss, or if you want some really good texture add a bunch to your paint. The tube is huge so it will definitely go a very long way, you get great value for your money. It also GREATLY speeds up drying time, which has been a bit of an issue in my oil paintings, you have to wait a while before putting more layers. But if you put a glob on your pallet, it will be dry to the touch within 3 days.10/10, if you are an avid oil painter I highly suggest getting some!

The medium helped my painting of a sunset over water glow beautifully.

Somehow in looking for gels I picked this one, thinking it didn’t have solvents. Well it sure does, and quite smelly. Had to take the painting out to the porch to dry.

It really *does* look like “schmaltz”, lol. At least, it looks like my understanding of what real schmaltz is ( chicken fat from boiled chicken, after it hardens). Hilarious! Anyway, this helpful little tool really saved the day for me. I have a tube of expensive oil paint that is quite a beautiful color. Unfortunately, the color is quite runny. It is a new product from a reputable company that utilizes an innovative new binder, but they haven’t yet worked out all of the kinks. Well, I didn’t know any of this so I tried to use it in an important painting, never suspecting that such issues even existed. So, there I am, doling out paints for my palette, and becoming very chagrined once seeing the runny liquid come out of said tube. Not having many options, I remembered that I had Schmaltz! Good thing that I did, because it really saved the day. I mixed some of the runny paint with some Schmaltz, and it thickened the paint up to being more workable. No idea how Schmaltz will hold up over time,….but I do like what it did in this instance. It didn’t make the paint too thick, but it did add enough body to save the paint and make it workable. I hope to discover many more uses for it, too. I have been very focused on learning watercolor painting, so I haven’t been oil painting as much as I should, but that will be corrected soon.

I like being able to speed up the drying time for oils. I usually use Liquin as a medium for this purpose and am rather happy with that. I decided to try this out to see how it compares.It does have a fantastic creamy texture that it conveys to the paint. Very pleasant on the brush. I tried it with some older paints and it seems to have revived them a bit. Liquin also gives a nice creaminess, so I'd say about equal on that measure.It does accelerate drying time. You still have plenty of time to work your colors on the canvas, but they are starting to set already within a few hours. Seems to be fully set within a couple of days. This is also a lot like Liquin.Maybe the best advantage of this is how you can achieve textures, peaks and preserved brush strokes in your painting for some great effects. You won't really get that with Liquin. It basically makes impasto much easier.This also adds a measure of gloss to the finished painting. Sometimes I like that. Sometimes I don't. Liquin doesn't really add any gloss once set. I mostly prefer a more matte finish, but that is just my preference most of the time. I'm not too bothered by the gloss because I can always fix that with a varnish later on.I am overall very impressed. I will still keep my Liquin handy but will defer to the Schmaltz depending on the effects I'm after. I am also very pleased with the amount I received. Two rather generous tubes should go a long way.

I was so excited to get this and give it a try. I first experimented with using it as a glaze over a painting I did a week or so ago. I was painting over red and it must not have been quite dry because I lifted some of the color off (rookie mistake, I'm sure), so be careful that you are working on a painting that is completely dry. The end result was gorgeous. It left a glossy finish almost like I had varnished it. It was so much fun to use because the paint would just glide on! Next I tried mixing it with paint to create an impasto effect to a painting. It was interesting to play with the translucent versus transparent colors and see the different effects that I could achieve. I have really enjoyed using it and have found that it’s pretty versatile. By far the most wonderful thing about it is the buttery texture gives my paint!! The only two downsides for me is that it didn’t explain how to clean it up. My assumption is that I just use mineral spirits/Gamsol. The other downside is that since it contains linseed oil, the package says “to avoid spontaneous combustion during temporary storage, soak soiled rags and waste immediately in water-filled closed metal container.” Since I’m not used to using a product that requires this kind of care, it felt a little scary to me. Even so, it’s so fun to use it’s worth the extra steps to ensure safety. Highly recommend!!