Description
This safflower oil is expeller-pressed from safflower oilseeds (Carthamus tinctorius) cultivated in North America and lightly refined. It is a clear, pale yellow oil that is odourless. As it yellows less than linseed oil, it is good for making pale oil colours. Safflower oil dries faster than poppy seed oil and gives oil colour paste better texture.
The primary fatty acid in this safflower oil is linoleic acid (C18:2). The linoleic acid content of high-linoleic safflower oil is typically over 70%. After extracting the oil from the seed, the oil is refined resulting in a clear straw-coloured oil with a bland odor.
Most artists' color manufacturers today substitute poppy seed oil or safflower oil for linseed oil in preparing certain pale oil colours and whites. Poppy seed, sunflower, and safflower oil can be safely used to make oil colors, such as light or pale colours, but they are not recommended for use as a painting media and should not be expected to replace linseed oil.
These drying oils have little or no linolenic acid, a binder that gives a yellow tint to oil paint. The only binder in these oils is linoleic acid, which is not only less yellow but also yellows less over time. However, some consider that linoleic acid by itself is a weaker binder and should not be used as a replacement for linseed oil in all cases.
Safflower oil was introduced into painting in the mid-twentieth century and was unknown to earlier artists.
Very good for storing brushes overnight to avoid having to clean them with solvents.
