ART MATERIAL REVIEW: Artisan Water Mixable Oil Paint

I have had many people over the years ask me about water soluble oil paint. It seems like a great option if you have an allergy to solvents or are just generally concerned about solvent. I hope that this video provides some insight as to whether or not these can be a good substitute. There's also a tip for using them and making them feel more like regular oil paint.

These are the Winsor and Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour line of paints.

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[TheDivoguy]

I've been using W&N Artisan paints for nearly 4 years now. I'd never painted in oils before, and quickly discovered that water is best used for the first layer of imprimatura and drawing stages. The Artisan range comes with a set of water-soluble mediums, oils and a thinner, as well as varnishes. These paints are designed to be a solvent free oil paint for use where solvents could be harmful (confined space); banned (such as in schools in the UK) and for those who have problems with solvents or don't want solvents in their home (allergies, irritation etc; or because of not being able to rent a seperate studio space). They do not contain any water, but most contain a modified linseed oil which CAN be mixed/cleaned with water. (The two whites contain modified safflower oil.) When you squeezed out the paint onto your palette this was merely excess oil that had separated. Just wipe the oil off with a shop towel or rag. Use thinners and either Artisan Linseed, Safflower or Stand oil to make your own mediums or use the two paint mediums in the range to preserve the water-soluble clean up. They can even be mixed and used with traditional oil paints, but once you do that you have to use solvents to clean up. Follow the same rules about fat over lean and flexible over stiff etc as with normal oils. More information is available on W&N website about this range and the pigments available.

[PHeMoX]

Actually, they're not premixed with water. Still (plenty of) oil in there, hence oil paint in the name. They are water soluble, as long as they haven't fully set, but they are not intended to be 'mixed with water' to dilute. They are not acrylic or watercolour paint. You truly risk filling up your brushes with waaaay too much water when mixing with water, resulting in a paint that is just completely uncontrollable and messy. It's much better to use it in more the traditional oil paint. You can also use regular linseed oils or solvents you would have used with regular oil paints. I'd advise using water soluable oil paint _without_ any water whatsoever. It'll handle much better. Also, it does dry a little bit faster. But depends on how much oil paint you use. The reason it felt better the second day is _absolutely_ because it didn't have water in it as much / added. :)

[markgiaimo]

Hey Scott, the trick to using these is to use W&N Artisan Water Soluble Thinner in the underpainting. It works like turpentine/OMS. Do NOT use water to thin your paint and avoid using water to clean your brushes until the end of the session: it gummies up the paint. They also have mediums for successive layers but I rarely use them. Their Thinner is the key. I hated water mixable paints until I discovered this a few months ago and it has been a game changer for me (I don’t have very good ventilation in my studio). And they do clean up incredibly easy with soap and water. If you need better colors try Holbein Duo Aqua to supplement your palette. The thinner works with their paint as well. Hope this helps and a big thanks for posting these videos.

[stephenspiteri_zunkus]

I use both Golden Open Acrylics and W&N Artisan water soluble oils. the Golden are great for blocking in and the first stages in my case. They dry up much quicker. The W&N Artisan are better in that they dry slower, much slower than the Golden Open and so let me blend more. They also dry at the same tone that I put them in. The acrylics dry darker. I do not have the runny experience that was experienced in this video. I did buy them in larger tubes and not in a box set. Is there a difference? I do not have good experience with diluting them with water but use their dedicated solvents and oils. I used to work in traditional oils for decades and can say that I almost get the same results with the Artisan oils. The major difference from the traditional oils is that the water soluble dry more consistently across the colour range, the traditional oils vary in shine or glossiness, The traditional oils are more buttery and can achieve impasto better, I sometimes create impasto highlights in the underpainting using a blend of acrylic and impasto paste to achieve a similar effect, not the same though. Overall the W&N Artisans are great. They solved my problem that I had with the odours that traditional oils left in the house. The traditional oils also started to make me feel sick, these do smell a bit but very little comparatively. Hope this helps.

[phillipstroll]

These paints are misunderstood. The water is for cleaning brushes only. You will need your mediums.

[stevieguk]

This video is good for showing you how not to use water soluble oils. Best to read the comments made by those who use them.

[georgedemings]

I have used the linseed oil that is designed to work with this type of oil paint, try that and you will like it.

[MegaCityPatrol]

I really like water mixable oils. But the most important thing is .... *don't mix them with water* lol Always use the thinner that Windsor and Newton make (although there are probably other brands) Trying to mix with water will result in globules and separation especially, from my experience, with white more so than other colours. The absolute best thing is how easy it is to clean up, just some artist's soap and water and no need to have a special sink in the house dedicated to cleaning brushes because you'd get a rocket for wrecking a bathroom sink or even the kitchen with oil residue ha ha

[anitasmith]

I’m only 30 seconds into your actual review (from the second u picked up the box) & I already feel you’ve made up your mind.

[THEOTIVITY]

Hey Scott! Thanks for the video… love your work and your vids are so helpful. I’ve actually been using the Windsor & Newton Artisan water soluble oil paints for about two years now and I’ve discovered that if you use water-soluble medium - like the Windsor & Newton Artisan water mixable painting medium - it usually behaves more like you’d expect. I’ve found that using water in the paints is not the best… I more so use water for cleaning the brushes instead of thinner (which was the main reason for using water-mixable oils). But for actual painting, if you get the water-mixable mediums and thinner, you’ll find that the paint behaves a bit closer to traditional oils. Also, I don’t buy those sets - I buy the individual tubes of Windsor & Newton Artisan oils. Perhaps the ones in the set aren’t as high quality? Hence the goop on the top? Anyways - thanks again for your videos! :)

[larrymarshall]

You would do well, if only for your reputation, to read just a wee bit about products you're going to try in public. Note, these are NOT water-soluble (means they dissolve in water), but rather they are water-MIXABLE oil paints. They are, in fact, tubes of pigment mixed in linseed oil just like all oil paints. The difference is that a surfactant is added to let you clean up (and dilute if you're careful) the paint. There is NO water in these paints. All the dripping down your palette is because you've added too much water to them. The same thing would happen if you used any oil paint and added too much solvent to the palette. Like them or not but at least evaluate the product properly.

[ShelleyHannaArt]

"paint for 10 minutes, break for 6 hours" - love that 😂

[achromat]

I'm just jumping into oils and don't have the space for doing work with the traditional version that requires the ventilation from the solvents, turpentine, etc., and I'm coming from a background of doing a lot of work in watercolor, pastel, and most recently acrylic, which I'm still struggling through. I've just purchased the very same set in the video and I've watched videos with different takes on this type of painting, and many warn against watering down the paints themselves when painting and sticking to the water soluble mediums.

This is a fancy way of saying I can expect to go through a lot of trial and error. The comments have also helped a great deal, so thanks for keeping the forum informative and friendly.

[maxrenderer]

Try Holbein and Cobra water mixable if you get a chance. It's much more buttery. And I believe there are no fillers like in the W&N.

[missmarymack]

I have purchased a Windsor and Newton water color set in the box from Walmart a couple years ago and the white and a green were chunky and unusable, probably because they had sat too long in the tube. Or in my case got a tiny pin hole in the tube. They probably sat on the shelf for too long and separated.
But the barrier to entry on this medium is lower and I might try it. My Hang-up for oil paint is the cleanup, and from reading other comments that’s what the water is for! ☺️

[drawstraw]

That was a really fun to watch. I've been curiously wondering about different flexible mediums that on my budget can't really just go out and get to find out what a mistake.. As I was wanting and watching coupled with a comment here, I think they could be pretty fun to try out☺️ thank you for that.

[sageways]

I had read that WN WMO paints are somewhat of challenge to work with and not surprised by your experience. IMO, the best are Lukas Berlin, or Holbein Duo Aqua, or Daniel Smith WMO from Jerry's Artarama. Lukas Berlin paints are very buttery soft, vibrant colors, and texture is a professional grade even in their sample set. Their pricing won't break the bank, either. I absolutely love Lukas Berlin paints! The Holbein and Daniel Smith paints are equal in texture and professional grade. Holbein and Daniel have more colors and more expensive, but worth a specialty color that can't be found in Lukas' line. I never had issues with oozing from tubes or too dry with either brands. I also tried Cobra samples and I didn't like them, at all on the canvas, but liked their colors. Their tubes oozed oil. I didn't like to paint with them and not as smooth or buttery as the other brands. I read somewhere that Cobra uses student grade for their samples. I didn't want to spend extra money for professional grade to see if that was true. I hope you'll try Lukas Berlin when it goes on sale. I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised, as I was. One thing that I like about WMOs is that regular oil paints and mediums can be added at 25% to the mixture. WMO are oil based paints and using over 25% changes the structure.

Replacing turpentine for a non-toxic experience, I use Spike Lavender Oil (not Chelsea brand) or Oil of Rosemary. Look into The Art Treehouse that has a good selection and their brand smells pure (no headaches). If I don't like something that I have painted on a linen oil primed canvas, after a week or month, I have had success removing a section with Spike Lavender Oil or Rosemary Oil. Needless to say, WMO paints are very forgiving.

Another note about WMO paints and my experience. They can act like regular oils when drying. It depends on the environment and sometimes mediums used. When I lived in Colorado, which is a dry climate, for the most part paints dried within 24-48 hours. When I moved to the southeast (more humidity) my paints would take 1-2 weeks to dry. It was a shocker and I was challenged to paint. I remedied the slow dry timing problem with getting a dehumidifier. I am able to paint within 24-48 hours again without mediums.

[stephenfularz]

I use water and walnut oil with artisan water oil paints.

[pm]

Thanks for showing us what to expect with water-soluble oils. I've had a set of these for over two years but just never got brave enough to try them.

[someartist]

please make some reviews for other oil brands :D