What is oil paint and what is latex paint?

This is just a question of which binder and reducer you use. Originally oil paint was made with linseed oil as a binder. (Hence "oil" paint, duh!) You reduce it with mineral spirits. (Paint thinners, turpentine, etc.) Latex paint is a Canadian invention. (Swell with patriotic pride!) CIL invented it in the 1940's. It uses a resin from the rubber tree called "latex" as the binder. The advantage is latex paint can be reduced with water and doesn't smell bad. In summary: Oil paint - made with oil. Reduces with paint thinner. Smellier. Latex paint - made with... latex! Reduces with water. Less smell. ... more

This is just a question of which binder and reducer you use. Originally oil paint was made with linseed oil as a binder. (Hence "oil" paint, duh!) You reduce it with mineral spirits. (Paint thinners, turpentine, etc.) Latex paint is a Canadian invention. (Swell with patriotic pride!) CIL invented it in the 1940's. It uses a resin from the rubber tree called "latex" as the binder. The advantage is latex paint can be reduced with water and doesn't smell bad. In summary: Oil paint - made with oil. Reduces with paint thinner. Smellier. Latex paint - made with... latex! Reduces with water. Less smell. 3. I see paint labels that say "Alkyd" and "Acrylic" What's with that? As in law and medicine, paint terminology is designed to keep mere mortals in line. ALKYD: technically means a synthetic (man-made) resin. Alkyd is OIL PAINT using a man made oil. That's all it is. ALKYD = OIL PAINT. ACRYLIC: you guessed it. Synthetic latex. ACRYLIC = LATEX PAINT. to be fair to the manufacturers, even thoug ... more