What paint does Edd Enders paint with? His canvases are exclusively painted with oils rather than water-based acrylics. That’s because oil paint’s binder, linseed oil, is translucent. He says, “When you see a lot of acrylic paintings they look flat because their binder is plastic and it absorbs light but when light goes through the oil paint on a canvas; it bounces off the primer and is luminous. Dutch masters Rembrandt and Vermeer’s paintings are good examples of that luminosity.” Oils also lasts and lasts.

Did you know that oil paints in tubes last for decades when not exposed to oxygen? Most of the paints Edd uses were given to him by people who had collections of oil paints and didn’t end up using them. For instance, a few years ago Edd got a letter from a fellow he knew in high school who had boxes of oil paints from the 1960’s and he gave the collection to Edd. When painting with these 50+ year old oils, Edd says, “I have to be very careful squeezing the tubes because the metal is so oxidized that my fingers can go right through the tubes. But the paint is perfectly fine and the colors unaffected.”

When you buy an oil painting from Edd, it should last for generations.