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Water Soluble Oils....
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Message
Posted
Dare I say this in this thread? The purists are shuddering....
But....listen to me. I have children (youngest is 6) and this is the only reason I keep away from oils...and the solvents used with them. Hence my use in acrylics...safer to use.
Yet I started in oils many years ago...at least 20. And I want to get into then again.
So I have been looking at Water Soluble Oils on YouTube and Ken Bromleys...they seem to act like oils but are they worth investing in?
Posted
I haven't tried the Ken Bromley water miscibles, but here's the snags - they're not truly soluble in water at all; they can be mixed with water, but that's not the same thing. The brands I have used have been student grade paints, without exception - ie, more fillers, less pigment. Now - many, many artists use student grade oil paints (even if they don't all admit it), because of course they're so much cheaper. But they're cheaper for a reason, and the same applies to water miscible paints.
Even so, you might get on with them - plenty do.
On the solvent front, though - you'll be talking about things like Turpentine and White Spirit. I wouldn't have those anywhere children could reach - but I also wouldn't leave ANY medium or paint within reach of children, or expose them to the fumes for any prolonged period at least. But just because a solvent doesn't smell doesn't mean it's safe to inhale - low odour thinners, or the thinners (other than water) you get with water miscible paints aren't inherently safer. But if you just use water to thin the paint, you won't have that problem. You'll still need to have something with which to clean your palette, unless you use the tear-off variety. But you could use Zest-it for that; or even baby oil.
Let me however lift this burden (I'm kind like that) from your shoulders. You don't need to use ANY solvent with oil paint. It's not necessary. Most of us use or have used it, but all you really need is Linseed Oil - or Walnut Oil, if you like. You don't have to use Liquin (which isn't a solvent, but it does have a pong) or White Spirit, or Turps, or Turpenoid, or Sansodor, or Low Odour Thinners, or mixed painting medium. And the Linseed oil you'll use with regular oils is no more toxic than the stuff you'll use with water miscibles. Just use paint fresh from the tube and scrub it on in the early stages, with or without a bit of oil - see how you get on without - fat over lean presents a problem if you paint in many layers, but not if you paint directly (which most of us do). The one advantage water miscible paint has is that it enables you to clean your brushes and palette with water. And that's it.
Long-term, there are questions to be asked about the permanence of water-miscible oils, but that's really only because they've not yet been around for a few hundred years and so any problems have yet to manifest themselves. To be on the safe side, or as near to it as you can get, I'd ensure you only paint with water-miscible oils on rigid surfaces, which is a good idea for oil paintings anyway.
So - I would not personally turn to water-miscible oil paints, children or no children, provided I avoided the solvents - but then, as I'm getting older and have had a couple of go's of bronchitis, I'm increasingly avoiding solvents anyway: and still painting happily with traditional oils.
Posted
AG, I am also returning to oils but these will be the traditional ones as I have tried water-mixable ones and couldn't get on with them. I have recently taken Robert's advice on solvents and have bought some "Zest It" to clean my brushes instead of the Low-Odour Spirit I used to use. So I am now all systems go and really looking forward to it. If you wish to try some water-mixable oils I would only get a few colours first.
In this instance it is not a case of "Purism" but some of us can feel the difference when handling traditional and water-mixable oils.
Posted
Zest-it should be good for cleaning brushes and the palette; you CAN use it instead of other solvents with the oil paint itself when applying it..... how satisfactory it is... well that's another of those questions to which we don't really have an immediate answer. I would try to do without it when applying the paint; just use a tiny drop of oil instead, if you need to - and you might not even need to.
I haven't tried Cobra water-miscibles - if they have more pigment than the Artisan or other ranges, they might be worth a go. Incidentally, the same thing is true of all additional media including water: don't add a drop more to the paint than you really have to.
Posted
The water-mixable oils I used were Holbein Duo which means you can use them as traditional oils with their mediums or as water-mixable oils. Now I am not too sure if this was the problem in that they were not solely water-mixable ones so perhaps they were not as efficient as Artisan or Cobra. Perhaps, had I used either of these I might have got on better with them.
Posted
Can't speak for Cobra, but I doubt that you'd have found much difference between Artisan and Holbein in terms of handling, because you can use any water-miscible oil as a conventional oil paint; they mix OK, and actually that's how I usually employ them - there were one or two tints that I found useful in water mixable paints (and they were a lot cheaper than the alternative at the time - Cadmium Orange was the main colour, and Cad Yellow Medium) and you can use them with your normal oils.
When used with water I found the consistency unpleasant, and it didn't give the 'feel' of traditional oils; but of course - other people love 'em..... Or some do, anyway. The one range I found less underwhelming than some of the others was from Grumbacher, a US company whose products are now extremely hard to find in the UK: they seemed to hold their form better, ie not to get too wet, sticky and sloppy. In conventional arty terms, they had more body.
Posted
Adele, does the fact that you've been painting again mean that your arm is improving? I do hope so. Also fingers crossed that you'll continue to be ok with your oils and Zest-it. I much prefer oils but with the very cold weather we've had I have had to switch back to acrylics until it warms up again. The oils just weren't drying and the paint seemed to have stiffened up. Hopefully when spring comes.
Posted
My painting arm wasn't affected Sandra but I am having so many different antibiotics that they were making me feel very unwell. Dr. was worried it was Cellulitis and she would have to send me for hospital treatment but she thinks it is Phlebitis - infection in the veins and I have a special cream for that which is actually helping. Things don't get me down for long thank goodness. So yes I did my underpainting and even doing that has brought back my love of oils. They just go on so nicely.
Out of interest Sandra, how does very cold weather affect oils?
Posted
The oils seem to take even longer than usual to dry in cold weather. The paint also felt stiffer (unless I was imagining that). It was my tutor who recommended that I should paint in acrylics during the winter. I recently bought Soraya French's latest book on contemporary landscapes in mixed media and am experimenting.
I am glad that it wasn't your painting arm that was affected. I hope that the cream you mentioned continues to work so that you can come off the antibiotics. Glad you are enjoying your oils.
Posted
I don't think we'd have colder winters here than you do in North Yorkshire! Thinking about it, the temperature of the room that I paint in could have an effect on drying time. I don't have central heating and don't heat that room when I am not in it, so the paintings are trying to dry in a pretty cold temperature, especially when there isn't any sun.
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