{"id":7662,"date":"2018-02-25T21:05:54","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T02:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=7662"},"modified":"2018-02-25T21:05:54","modified_gmt":"2018-02-26T02:05:54","slug":"review-groves-coles-copal-varnish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2018\/02\/review-groves-coles-copal-varnish\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Groves’ Cole’s Copal Varnish"},"content":{"rendered":"

My painting medium consists of oil, essential oil (turpentine), copal varnish, and driers.  I like my medium, and it’s suitable for everything painting-wise except a few corner cases.  For the corner cases, I add a small<\/em> amount of this or that, depending on the case.  I like my medium, and I’m happy with it, but I’m always willing to try new things.<\/p>\n

James Groves, that inestimable varnish maker, supplies two ingredients in my medium: copal varnish, and Courtrai direr.  I’ve tried most of Groves’ products, and while not all are suited to my taste, they are all high-quality products. <\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio Oct. 14 2012<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Groves claims that the recipe for Cole’s Copal Varnish<\/em> is based on the medium used by Thomas Cole<\/a>, the 19th-Century Hudson River School painter.  As with nearly all of Groves’ products, James provides a wealth of information about the varnish: how the product is made and how to use it<\/a>.  His literature for this product is long on examples but unusually terse on technical details.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Stephen Pentak at Bonfoey<\/span><\/a><\/div>

With Cole’s Copal, Groves now sells three copal varnishes.  His 19th Century Copal Varnish<\/em>, an oil-based varnish (some varnishes, such as the ubiquitous Damar is resin and essential oil), is derived from old recipes, as are most of Groves’ products. This is my favorite varnish.  His 19th Century Drying Copal Varnish<\/em> is the same varnish with added driers.  It too is excellent, but because I add my own driers, this varnish makes my medium too tight unless I modify the recipe.  The last time I ordered varnish from Groves, he sent me this product instead of the one I ordered–19th Century Copal Varnish.<\/p>\n

He also produces several copal-based painting mediums.  You might be wondering what the difference is between mediums and varnishes?  Oil paint is thick, slow-drying, and difficult to manage.  A medium is a substance used to make paint manageable.  It might be something as simple as oil and turpentine, or it might be a complicated concoction composed of several ingredients. A varnish, of course, is a substance used to protect furniture, musical instruments, and finished oil paintings. Varnishes are also frequently used as ingredients in mediums.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Cleveland Museum of Art Staff Exhibition<\/span><\/a><\/div>

I’ve tried several of Grove’s mediums but I am wary of relying on commercial mediums, and I prefer to make my own. <\/p>\n

Cole’s Copal Varnish is something of an anomaly.  Groves expects his varnishes to be used as ingredients in mediums, but he expects users to treat Cole’s as a standalone medium.  He warns users not to mix it with other ingredents except thinners. Used this way, it’s a good medium; slightly more covering than my normal medium.  Of course, I also had to use it as an ingredient. Like a fool, I substituted Cole’s for my usual varnish.  When I did, the studio wall blew out and fire scorched my hair.  Just kidding.  As an ingredient, it has a slight jelling tendency in the medium cup but otherwise handles OK. I still prefer 19th Century Copal Varnish.  But I do like its covering capacity so I will keep a bottle of it in my kit for one of those corner cases.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio—10\/28\/12<\/span><\/a><\/div>

As with his other products, Groves provides a wealth of demonstrations (no videos), which is excellent marketing for his products and his paintings.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My painting medium consists of oil, essential oil (turpentine), copal varnish, and driers.  I like my medium, and it’s suitable for everything painting-wise except a few corner cases.  For the corner cases, I add a small amount of this or that, depending on the case.  I like my medium, and I’m happy with it, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":7670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208,46,1],"tags":[153,309],"class_list":["post-7662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-materials","category-reviews","category-uncategorized","tag-copal","tag-painting-mediums"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/gorves-coles.png?fit=800%2C569&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7671,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2018\/02\/turpentine-diaries-2-11-18\/","url_meta":{"origin":7662,"position":0},"title":"Turpentine diaries 2\/11\/18","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"February 11, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This unfinished painting, Lunch Alone is 32\" x 46,\" is part of the Playhouse Square series.\u00a0 I like my medium a lot but I'm always willing to try new things, especially when they come from James Groves.\u00a0 I've written before about how much I like his products, copal varnish, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "materials"","block_context":{"text":"materials","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/materials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/studio-2018-2-11.png?fit=761%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/studio-2018-2-11.png?fit=761%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/studio-2018-2-11.png?fit=761%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/studio-2018-2-11.png?fit=761%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5917,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2016\/03\/james-groves-art-supply-manufacturer-and-artist\/","url_meta":{"origin":7662,"position":1},"title":"James Groves, art supply manufacturer and artist","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"March 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I use several\u00a0products manufactured by James Groves. \u00a0Jim specializes in historical painting mediums and ingredients. \u00a0I've tried almost all of his products and they are unfailingly excellent--world class. \u00a0I use his 19th Century Copal Oil varnish and Siccatif Courtrai every day. \u00a0Both ingredients are staples in my practice. \u00a0By itself,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/groves-stuff.jpg?fit=600%2C430&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/groves-stuff.jpg?fit=600%2C430&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/groves-stuff.jpg?fit=600%2C430&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4983,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2015\/04\/in-the-studio-41215\/","url_meta":{"origin":7662,"position":2},"title":"In the studio 4\/12\/15","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"April 12, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I had another painting session with Graduation Day this morning, primarily on the pig-tailed girl. I spent a lot of time on her hands and the key chain she's holding. I'm starting to like the pig tail. Most of the background is done in this painting--the sky, cars, buildings, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "materials"","block_context":{"text":"materials","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/materials\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/studio-2015-4-12.jpg?fit=512%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13620,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2024\/08\/delicious-copal-jelly\/","url_meta":{"origin":7662,"position":3},"title":"Delicious copal jelly","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"August 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't been a fan of gelling paint mediums since my early interest in maroger, a gelling medium made from mastic. But I like to experiment with mediums, sometimes to my harm. 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No one can try all possible combinations. \u00a0Recently,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bio"","block_context":{"text":"Bio","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/bio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/ngg_featured\/nude.jpg?fit=800%2C595&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/ngg_featured\/nude.jpg?fit=800%2C595&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/ngg_featured\/nude.jpg?fit=800%2C595&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/ngg_featured\/nude.jpg?fit=800%2C595&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2332,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/07\/painting-mediums\/","url_meta":{"origin":7662,"position":5},"title":"Painting Mediums","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"July 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Painting mediums are a never-ending topic for discussion and debate among artists. Mediums profoundly affect how oil paint handles, and many preparations are complicated or dangerous, filled with ancient lore and alchemical processes. Oil by its nature is flowing and slow drying, qualities that during the early Renaissance led to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Shop Talk"","block_context":{"text":"Shop Talk","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/shop_talk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Gw6F-1ZA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}