When I began thinking about trying oil paints, I heard about the fairly new water miscible oil paints. These paints are real oil paints but the oil is refined so that they clean up with soap and water. No solvents are required. I talked with several people and got somewhat mixed reviews. But I thought that if I started with the water miscible oils I wouldn’t know what, if anything, I was missing with traditional oils.
I’ve been using the water miscible or water soluble oils for awhile now and I absolutely love them. I don’t use any thinner, mineral spirits or turpentine so there are no harmful fumes in my studio. The paints have a slight odor just like regular oil paints. My brushes clean up easily with soap and water. In fact I think it’s almost easier clean up than with acrylic because you don’t have to worry about the oil paint drying as quickly as acrylic paint does. I have tried both the Winsor Newton Artisan and the Holbein Duo Aqua. I like the Duo a bit better as it seems creamier but I can’t seem to find them in larger tubes so I mostly use the WN in the 200 ml tubes.
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8 Comments
Thank you for posting your thoughts on water miscible oil paints. I’ve read mixed reviews too, but liked the idea of oil paints with no fumes and solvents. The worry was in how well they worked. By looking at your paintings, I can see they put no halt creativity! These are lovely.
Thanks again,
Nanina
Thanks Nanina, yes it’s nice not to have to worry about solvents.
Vinita- I wanted to see the create 38 bloomfire and maybe look at the previous classes you taught. My email and password don’t work for that. Is it different than the workshop password and email- can you help me with this (in your spare time haha). Loved the workshop. My friend and I talked it up at our painting group today. I was told my pears from Exercise 3 didn’t look so good- oh well. Thanks Patsy
Hi Patsy,
Sorry, the Create38 Bloomfire class is no longer available. Thanks so much for recommending me to your painting group. The pears weren’t meant to look good – they are only for practice, so don’t let their comments bother you!
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I was happy to see your comments on water miscible oils. I was very enthused by the thought of painting in oils and not having the solvents. I purchased a huge number of th WN large tubes(200 size) but when I tried them, they seemed so dry and hard to use. Now that I have seen this site, I will take them out and try again.
I was suggested this blog by my cousin. I’m not sure whether this post is written by him as nobody else know such detailed about my problem. You’re wonderful!
Thanks!
As a commercial illustrator, I use acrylics for the time factor — but for traditional fine art, there seems to be an imaginary judgement that it’s not “real” unless it’s “oil”… So I’ve been researching the water soluble oil paint brands for a solution that fits in both worlds.
My style is hyper-realistic, so I need to be able to do fine details and lots of contrast.
I’m pleased that you’ve tried both Windsor Newton and Holbein — have you tried Reeves? I was thinking of getting one of those silly “starter kits” so that I could have a variety colors at a modest price (in case I decide that oils are just too far a difference from my native acrylics), and Amazon has some of Reeves’ kits for very reasonable prices. I have seen reviews that say there is a LOT of variation between brands, so I thought I would ask an experienced artist for an informed opinion.
Thanks!
Rebecca