When furniture upcycling has to take a break: back to the canvas with Michael Harding 🎨

Hello my dears,

Do you know that?
Sometimes life forces you to take a break. Not voluntarily. Not planned. But simply – due to circumstances that leave no room for maneuver.

Last year was exactly that for me: loss, renovation, upheaval, a building site. And not just on the outside, but also on the inside. Dust everywhere. Rooms that were unusable. Tools packed away. Furniture that had to wait. Big projects? Hardly possible. There was a lack of space, of peace and quiet, of the naturalness that usually accompanies creative work.

So I had to pause. And as is so often the case, it’s precisely during such phases that new paths emerge—or old ones resurface. So I went back to the canvas.

In the past, I’ve mainly worked with charcoal, watercolors, and acrylics—media that react quickly, that are familiar, and that require little preparation. And yet, oil paints have always been with me—at least in my mind. That depth. That sense of calm while working. That incomparable brilliance of color. Oil paints don’t seem superficial. They have weight, presence, and incredible depth.

And yet I avoided it for years.

Not out of fear of the technique. Not out of respect for its complexity. But because of the traditional solvents that are often used in oil painting for thinning paint or cleaning tools. Turpentine and similar products have always been a reason for me personally to hold back from oil painting. I knew that if I were to paint with oils, I wanted to find an approach that better suited my own way of working.

And then came the moment that changed everything.

I have discovered the Michael Harding Miracle Medium.

A medium that has opened up a whole new approach to oil painting for me. Michael Harding’s Miracle Medium can be used as a painting medium and for cleaning brushes, and it allows me to work without traditional solvents like turpentine or white spirit. For me, that was the missing piece of the puzzle. Suddenly, there was no longer any inner resistance, only genuine curiosity. And very quickly, conviction.

At this point, I began to take a closer look at Michael Harding himself.

Michael Harding is not just a paint manufacturer. He is an artist, color maker and researcher by conviction. His path did not begin in a marketing department, but in his own artistic practice. In the 1980s, he worked as a painter while restoring old master paintings. It was precisely there that he became deeply involved with pigments, binding agents and the question of why many modern paints no longer achieve what historical oil paints could.

Instead of settling for the status quo, he began making his own paints—initially to create oil paints he could use in his own work. In doing so, he focused on the properties of the individual pigments and how they were processed. To this day, Michael Harding’s approach is characterized by his commitment to showcasing the individual pigments as purely as possible and avoiding unnecessary fillers.

This attitude still characterizes Michael Harding Oil Paints today.

The paints are manufactured in England with great care. The formulations are tailored to the properties of the respective pigments and blended with suitable oils—for example, linseed oil, safflower oil, or poppy seed oil, depending on the shade. As a result, the individual paints intentionally differ in properties such as transparency, opacity, consistency, oil content, and drying behavior. For me, it is precisely this individuality of the pigments that accounts for a large part of the special character of Michael Harding Oil Paints.

What particularly impressed me: Michael Harding does not think in terms of “series” in the classic sense, but in terms of pigment logic. Each color is allowed to be what it is. Some are transparent, others opaque. Some need more oil, others less. Nothing is standardized just so that it fits better on the shelf.

Oil paints have time.
Time to mix.
Time to process.
Time to think.

They don’t force you to hurry. They allow for corrections, overlapping, pauses. They leave decisions open. For me, this was exactly the right medium at this stage. No pressure. No “having to finish”. But a process.

Another aspect I find interesting when selecting products is the transparency regarding the materials used. That’s why, for each Michael Harding paint and medium, you’ll find information about their respective properties and—if specified by the manufacturer—whether the product is vegan. The composition and properties may vary from product to product.

For me, Miracle Medium fits perfectly into this workflow. It can be used as a medium when painting with oil paints and also for cleaning brushes. This allows me to avoid using traditional solvents like turpentine or white spirit in my work. For me, this wasn’t just a minor discovery—it was a real turning point.

The colors themselves have an incredible intensity, are wonderfully creamy and are wonderfully smooth to work with.

That’s why you can now find Michael Harding Oil Paints and media in my store. Michael Harding and his products have convinced me!

As an artist.
As a person.
And as someone who only includes products in her range that she works with herself – and that she can stand behind.

For small projects.
For big thoughts.
For quiet moments on the screen.

I look forward to getting creative with you.

Do you have any questions or suggestions? Write to me in the comments or send me a message – I look forward to a creative exchange with you!

SEE YOU NEXT TIME!

YOUR MASTER OF DISASTER,

ANGELA

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🖌🎨🛒 All materials can be found here / Find all materials here:
https://elfen-und-helden.de

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🎥 Mehr kreative DIY-Projekte / More creative DIY projects:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rNhnMRma-I&list=PLAlchv6aMw1HOIOn5Y66UQ3

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