Why I love Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oils
Posted on December 25, 2009
Winsor & Newton Water Mixable Oils
Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by, nor affiliated with, Winsor & Newton, so this article is what I genuinely think of their water mixable oil paints – having used them exclusively in oil painting now for several years.
Oil paints have been used in art for many many years and the formula for them has remained largely unchanged for just as many years.
The one down-side with traditional oils is that, in my opinion, you need to use some sort of turpentine or white spirit with them and, as you can imagine, using such hazardous materials is not only dangerous but can leave an awful adour in your home/studio. Yes, you can get odour-less equivalents but it is only really odourless to humans, the same can’t be said if you have pets in your house/studio.
One of the great things about the Artisan oils is that you can wash your brushes (and your hands!) using nothing more than just soap and water.
The old adage that oil and water do not mix does not apply here!
The paints themselves can be thinned down using water. In fact, in a recent issue of an art magazine, one artist used them to create a painting which looked as though it had been created using watercolour but was in fact done used watered down Artisan oils! You can also use special W&N linseed oil to thin your paint with too.
The paint itself looks and feels just like any other (non-water mixable) oil paint that I’ve used in the past, so there’s really no need to change your techniques or other equipment and the paints come in a rainbow of colours, all be it that I only use about seven or eight colours at most.
If you’ve always wanted to try oils but are maybe allergic to turps/spirits then give Artisan a try, you can buy them in starter kits with just a couple of tubes, through to larger sets with about ten tubes per box.
Good luck!
I can not agree more! I to have been using water soluble oils (Holbein Duo Aqu brand). I used traditional oils before that (mostly Rembrandt) and always had to use turps to thin the paint and clean my brushes. My studio always had to have air filtration also. Now I have no harmful chemicals in my studio, just paint and water! Since I have 5 young children running around this gives me much more peace of mind!
Do you use water to thin your paint? I have found the combo of W&N artisian fast drying medium and linseed oil to work better for me. The water seems to make the paint a little gummy where as the mediums seem to give me the creamy consistancy of the Rembrandt oils I use to use. Have you experienced this with the W&N paints?
I only ever thin my W&N Artisan with Linseed Oil, and even then… that’s only to make me a fake liquid white to give me a starting base to work from. In saying that though, I’ve seen some fantastic work, which looked like watercolour, but was done with W&N Artisan and lots of water.
I have used Windsor and Newton water mixable oils for at least 7 years after becoming allergic to turpentine. I never had any problems with it buy the last year I have been buying large tubes of paint and they get holes in them everywhere with the result that I am the messiest person in my art class as paint is spouting out of the tubes from the most unlikely places.
I have also had problems with the paint getting very hard in the tubes and almost impossible to squeeze out in particular Cadmium Yellow. I have contacted Winsor and Newton by email on 20 June but am still waiting for a response.
Has anyone else had similar problems. Someone in an art shop in Brisbane had heard that the paint is now made in China. This same person was holding a large tube and saw how easy it was to dent the metal of the tube.
I look forward to a response. Thanks.