Water Miscible Oils
Have you given these a try yet? I’m curious about the longevity and stability of these paints. Here’s what I know - if you have experience please comment.
Brands - I’ve used the Winsor Newton Artisan brand, which by definition are student paints. That alone concerns me - why isn’t there a professional grade of WM oils? Anyhow, grambacher, duo, reeves and holbein also make a line.
Mixibility - Though they are a lot like regular oil paints, they do not mix like oil + turp or mineral spirits etc. It is slightly different, more like adding lemon juice to mayo - it takes a little mixing to even out the consistency. I use water in a spray bottle to mist the panel, and then paint into that - analogous to what I do with regular oils. You can add water by drops into the painting piles.
Drying - on the palette, the oils dry at a regular rate as you would expect for the pigment, perhaps a little faster. On the canvas, there is an intermediate stage of drying where they seem to tack up pretty fast, say 2-3 hours. It’s not like regular oils where you could wet it with turp to lift out a section. In my experience, they’re very staining, and when used for an underpainting further applications (mist) of water did not remove the paint back to the panel.
Overpainting - I used these for a one-color underpainting (black and raw umber) and after drying for a couple of days, used regular oils for the over painting. Couldn’t tell the difference. If you’ve ever painted over an acrylic underpainting, you know that the acrylic surface is very abrasive. These feel more or less like an oil underpainting.
Binding - If you add too much water to acrylics, the binding seems to break down and won’t stick very well - subsequent layers might lift an overthinned acrylic layer. This didn’t appear to be a problem for the WM oils, which could be thinned way down.
Color - looks good to me, looks like oil. Sheen when dry looks like oil. But again, I wish there was a professional grade.
Odor - the Winsor Newton ones sorta smell like paint, and sorta smell like white glue. Using water in a spray bottle instead of spirits is pretty awesome.
Longevity - Don’t know, do you? Are the colors fugitive? How is long term adhesion to overlayers?
So I guess I remain unconvinced. I’m not sure this is a product I could use for a painting I could sell, but it does seem to be a good way to introduce children to oil techniques. Some brands eschew heavy metals, futher reducing toxicity too. And in a classroom setting, as I posted before, the lack of solvents was a relief.
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Lisa, I use them for underpainting. I am like a bubble girl, everything under the sun negatively affects my health, so even just for underpainting I use them and convince myself I am a wee tad better off in doing so.
Hi Lisa,
First of all I’m not an expert but I have used these paints for several paintings.
I have quite a small studio so not having to use dangerous solvents is really an advantage for me.
Talens also makes a water mixable oilpaint H2oil but lately I’m using W&N Artisan more and more since they have the most
complete line of water mixable mediums, thinners and even varnishes.
I use the watermixable thinner instead of water to thin the paint and use the painting medium for later layers.
All Artisan paints are permanence AA or A and they dry through oxidation like regular oils.
A few excerpts from their brochure (I have no W&N shares
)
“All results confirm Artisan has similar film
hardness and levels of resistance to both water and solvent as traditional
oil colours.”
“Extensive tests by Winsor & Newton R&D
chemists have concluded that both the flexibility and adhesion are very
similar to that of other Winsor & Newton oil colours.”
More info here:
http://winsornewton.com/assets/Leaflets/artisan_a4_eng.PDF
Looking forward to other opinions.
Jeffrey W. Phillips also has some interesting info on his blog about these paints:
http://jeffreywphillips.blogspot.com/
Addendum: I wasn’t clear in my response earlier but I build upon my initial use with regular oils. Thus-far results have been very satisfactory.
For many years I painted with acrylics and I got quite proficient at using them. Then a few years ago I decided I wanted to start painting with oils. However all the different mediums (linseed, stand, liquin, etc) intimidated me and so I started using the WM oils. It was the perfect transition tool for me. It allowed me to first learn how to mix and blend the colors without worrying about mediums, thinner, or spirits. I now use standard oils and mediums. I’ve found the consistency of the paint is smoother in standard oils than in the WM oils. I agree that they have their place and for those transitioning from a water-based medium to oils this makes the learning curve easier.
My view on this is like lite beer. If you want to drink beer drink real beer.
If you want to paint in oils use oils. Oil and water do not mix, whatever they do this paint is not good in my view. If it was me I would use watercolor, gouache or casein. As far as the transition idea, that to me makes no sense, people should just dive in, buy 6 to 9 artist grade colors and start painting.
For those who are allergic to solvents use walnut oil to clean your brushes.
then wash them in linseed oil soap or olive oil soap.
Oil paint is not toxic unless you eat it the toxic colors such as Cadmium or Lead.
To quote Scrooge; Water Miscible Oils… bah humbug…
Toxicity and allergies are two separate animals. One might tolerate substances that are highly caustic/toxic but turn around and be hospitalized die from contact with walnut or poppyseed oil.
If you have a nut allergy, which is what your alluding to then I suppose common sense is in order. Don’t use nut oils. We can peel this onion in a million ways.
Water Miscible Oils are in my view a gimmick for the hobby artist market.
I would think that one could do a lot with just watercolor with the right amount of study, as Anders Zorn did.
http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=7358
http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=7356
http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=10109
http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=7357
http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=7386
this is a beauty:
http://www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/image.asp?id=7367
Stunning painting. Watercolor in the hands of a master can have such depth and sophistication.
Lisa -
I’ve used both regular and WM oils - they both have their pros and cons, but if you go with the WM option, the ones I’ve had the best success with are the Holbein Duo paints. YMMV, but that’s been good for me.
I also found that in his book Brushwork Essentials, Mark Christopher Weber also suggests Holbein Duo paints. FWIW, that book is pretty exclusively wrapped around the use of WM oils. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1581801688
I find the WM oils to be a little more tacky than regular oils, but I get very nice results if I use a couple of the WM mediums with the oils. I rarely used turp in my regular oil paintings other than for blocking in, so it was just for cleaning. Likewise, I rarely use water when painting, so it’s mostly mixing paint and medium just like when I painted in regular oils.
Also, FWIW, I’m also prone to freeze my brushes at the end of the evening if I’m going to continue painting the next day. Mark Weber suggested that this is still possible with the WB oils. I wasn’t sure if I could still do that since there might be ice expanding in the ferrule, but it still works like a champ, and saves clean-up time as well as extending brush life. Plus it makes for good conversation when friends are looking for ice cubes.
Jeff - thanks for the Zorn links - those are gorgeous.
My fellow on Orkut shared this link and I’m not dissapointed at all that I came to your blog.
The “hobby” argument is silly to me. We’re not talking about Crayolas. If I wasn’t happy with what I could do with these paints, I wouldn’t use them. Regular oil paints are not without their problems either. Come on, fess up, you know that’s true.
The reason I continue to use water-miscible oils is not about convenience. “Yeah, I like to paint so I can wash out my brushes easily.” How dumb does that sound? I rarely use any kind of solvent when I paint except for cleaning. Even some of these paints don’t always clean up that easily. I do, however, like to use water and oil emulsions, such as egg or casein, when I paint. I find these oils are more compatible in that regards than regular oils.
Winsor & Newton by their own admission have said that their Artisans paints have a lower pigment load than their Artist line, but HIGHER than their Winton line, so the quality of that brand is somewhere in between. However, they’re not the only company that makes them. In terms of pigment load alone, check the pricing on all these brands for genuine cerulean blue (PB35.) You’ll be able to see which ones have a higher pigment load just in terms of price.
If you’re going to do a comparison, you’ve got to test all of them or else there’s no point to it. There are professional grade water-miscible oils. Grumbacher Max, Holbein Aqua-Duos, and Lukas Berlin all rate these equal to their pro level paints. Granted, those brands are not the best professional paints on the market, but that’s why I have a mixed shelf of paints, including regular oils of various brands.
The best of these paints have been the Holbein Duos, in my opinion. Very consistent all the way through their color line. My only complaint had been that the color choice was limited, but they’ve recently added more (labeled as “Elite.”) Lukas Berlin were almost as good, but sometimes too oily. The problem I’ve had with the others is a lack of consistency in handling; sometimes fine, other times too stiff or oily, or took forever to dry.
I have only used one tube of water-miscible oils, and that is an H2Oil by Royal Talens. I bought it because I wanted a single pigment PY154, and it was available in the H2Oil. I use it as a regular oil paint with all my other oils.
However, I have some observations based on my limited use.
First, I like it. The H2Oil has a pleasing sheen when dry (better than my W&N Artist Series) and I really like the feel and colour. It behaves like an oil, and mixes perfectly with regular oils.
I am so impressed with it that I am considering gradually shifting over to water-miscible as I use up my regular oils.
This would eliminate solvents.
Anyone considering these, rest assured that they are “real” oil paints. They have just been modified so they can be mixed with water. Great idea.