The versatility of water-mixable oils - step-by-step

I was sent an Artists’ set of Van Gogh H2Oils to test. The set contained:

• 10 x 12ml tubes of colours: yellow ochre, azo yellow lemon, azo yellow deep, madder lake, naphthol red light, burnt sienna, ultramarine, cerulean blue phthalo, permanent green medium and
ivory black

• 40ml tube titanium white

• H2Oil painting medium

• Gloss varnish

• Double dipper

• Two small synthetic brushes

I tested the colours by producing the following painting. I used a shop-bought canvas board, primed with acrylic gesso, to which an amount of raw umber pigment had been added, giving a greyish mid tone.

Stage 1

I drew the subject carefully with a small round brush using dilute burnt sienna. When water is first added to the colour it becomes paler, but as the water and paint mix thoroughly the diluted colour
returns to its former depth of tone. You can just see where drawing errors have been wiped out with water and corrections made.

Stage 2

I established the vegetation with ultramarine mixed with yellow ochre or azo yellow deep. As the hill becomes more distant on the left I blended in purple mixed from ultramarine and alizarin crimson and reduced it with white. Throughout the remainder of the painting I used only as much water as needed to reduce the paint to a workable consistency.
Then I put in the lights and darks, judging from these how dark or light to make the intermediate tones. I mixed the extreme darks from burnt sienna and ultramarine. The greys were based on a similar mix but with white. The launching ramp was a mix of burnt sienna, yellow ochre and white. With the basic tones largely in place I added touches of colour to modify the greys, particularly in the foreground sand.

Stage 3

My first task was to work on the background. As I wanted to keep a reasonably loose freshness to the work I suggested, rather than detailed, the cars and building elements, and worked on the boats. I particularly enjoyed painting the red fenders on the fishing boat. The naphthol red light was just the right colour, vivid and strong. The strip of vivid cerulean blue phthalo adds the third primary colour to the boat.

Stage 4

The wet sand reflected the sky and was mixed from ultramarine with a little burnt sienna and a lot of white. I applied this in dense strokes with a hog brush, which gave good brushmarks. Adding figures, mooring lines and detail to the boats and foreground sand completed the painting.

Final thoughts

I found Talens Van Gogh H2Oil a first-class oil paint. The thinner areas of colour mixing on the palette dried out, but were easily reactivated with the addition of a little water. As the painting dried, the colour became matt. This could be countered, if desired, by using a little of the painting medium.