Tour of My Painting Studio & more – Ep.18 Oil Painting Q&A with Mark Carder

If you have a question for me, post it in the comments below. I'll answer as many as I can in the next episode. Here are links to each question answered in this video:
00:15 — a tour of my studio setup and a talk about brush holders
06:16 — Why do you usually light your still-life setups from above rather than from the side? And do you ever use gallery wrap? What are your framing preferences?
08:18 — Should an oil painting be displayed before it has been varnished?
09:50 — Do you clean the surface of your painting between sessions? Also, do you have any tips for avoiding dusts getting stuck into your painting?
12:50 — I am sensitive to smells so I love the sound of the solve-free paint. Are Geneva paints non-toxic?
16:28 — When using a photo as a painting source, is it better to have a color photograph or a black-and-white photograph?
19:35 — How important is it to use the quick-dry white? Would a regular titanium or zinc white work for staining?
21:05 — How do you go about varnishing a painting if you send a portrait to a customer? Have them varnish it? Ship it back to you when it's ready to be varnished?
22:56 — What are your thoughts on different palette types?
24:37 — Do you use paint thinner at any point in your paintings? In the underpainting for example?
26:14 — You refer to the color checker and proportional divider as learning tools first and foremost, but I saw in your "Maintaining the Abstraction" video that you still premix plenty of paint to work with. I used to think I understood color enough that I didn't need to premix, but after watching your videos, I started premixing more and it saves time in the end. Do you normally premix even when painting for yourself and not demoing?