Deconstructing Oil Mediums

I'm working through the book "Formulas For Painters" by Robert Massey. I'm going to start posting some of the most popular recipes in the hopes that we can discuss why they were created in the first place and if they can be updated to be made more contemporary and safe.

Oil Medium No. 1
Purpose: Resins, with their clarity and hardness, combine well with the tough qualities of oils and add brilliance to the handling of glaze coats.

4 Parts Oil (Walnut, poppy or linseed)
2 Parts Damar Lumps
1 Part Mastic Tears
4 Parts Turpentine

Directions: Turpenine only partially dissolves mastic resin at room temperature; benzene, over a period of two to three days, will completely dissolve it. If you use turpentine, heat all the ingredients together over an electric unit until they dissolve. Decant the solution into a clean bottle. If you prefer to use Benzene, bottle all the ingredients and leave them at room temperature until the resins dissolve.

Directions for Use: This solution can be mixed with tube oil colors as a medium; thinned for use as a glaze; or applied thinly over finished and thoroughly dry oil paintings as a varnish. Medium No. 1 dries in 1 1/2 or 2 days.

[From: "Formulas For Painters", Robert Massey 1967.]

Oh crap who did I delete?
Mike Valcourt?
Anyone else, I didn't mean to. Sorry.

lady - night & day (josco approved)

Canoe Seat, Nopiming Park: WIP

I now have a French box easel permanently cached at my sister-in-law's cabin in Nopiming Provincial Park near the Ontario border. It seems to be one of the places where I can be totally alone to do whatever I want (within reason). It's also one of the first places I painted when picked up a brush for the first time last year. Last week I knocked off a quick sketch of a canvas canoe seat that hangs in the boat house down by the lake front -- despite a cold breeze blowing off the lake and the snow slowing my fingers. I'll keep painting everytime I'm out there unless a mysterious canoe accident comes my way.

Colours: Cadmium Red (med.), Sap Green, Naples Yellow, Indian Red, Titanium White, Payne's Grey. Turp wash to sketch in mixing my colour lines with Liquin Impasto.
8x10" Oil on canvas board.

Stages of Completion