On water mixable oil paints

Did this in January 2015.... Post it because i was asked about why i dislike the watersoluble oils.....

When i started out i had the stupid idea that painting with real oil paint stinks. Therefore I bought myself water mixable paints (brand: Artisan, Windsor&Newton). In the first few month I was quite happy. Up to a point when I reached the first brushwork assignments of the Virtual Art Academy (absolutely outstanding learning program for painters by Barry J. Raybould). I just couldn't get the same brush stroke quality onto the canvas as some of my friends there. I tried everything, like buying the Artisan brushes made for this paint, other brushes, different painting grounds and solvents. Nothing worked. This paint kept tending to stick to the brush. I tried it with the other watermixable brands, Lukas and Cobra. Well, guess how i think about those...
Finally, in March 2013 a friend (thanks Christine!) pointed me to the material section of Carol Marine's blog (thanks). There it was, the simple recepy for a painting medium without terpentine (2 parts lindseed oil, 1 part stand oil, 1 part mineral spirit like Liquin). When i used conventional professional oil paints the first time it felt like switching from sneakers to running shoes. The find the actual brand of running shoes didn't matter that much (I now mostly use Schmincke's Norma and Mussini brands) compared to those sneakers.

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Comment by Candi Hogan on May 16, 2015 at 1:01: Thomas, I'm sorry i started this discussion on WS Oils on your painting page; but we are getting some interesting observations. I'm also encouraged to see that Jessica and Jim use them, as they both do fabulous work. Think I'm going to pose the question, and get Richards opinion, on our Workshop page. Like Jessica, the advantage for me, and why I tried them out to begin with, was all about clean up.

Comment by Jessica Futerman on May 15, 2015 at 23:52: Very interesting discussion - I have used WSO's for some years now - having begun with water colours, then acrylics. I know some artists achieve wonderful results with WSO's, but I wonder if getting beautiful brush strokes would be easier with traditional oils. I find it takes a few strokes sometimes just to cover the canvas & then I lose all the spontaneity. However, it could be that I don't use a good enough surface, or enough medium, or need to do more underpainting. When I tried an acrylic underpainting a few times, the brushstrokes did flow more easily. Big advantage with WSO's is that cleaning brushes & palette is easy with soap of some kind & water... inexpensive too! I plan to give traditional oils a try sometime & see what difference it makes.

Comment by Jim Beatty on May 12, 2015 at 22:01: Hi Thomas, I think the water mixables arose in avoidance of terps. I've never used standard oil or the Holbein Duo Aqua paint, so is just from what little I know.

Comment by Thomas Ruckstuhl on May 12, 2015 at 20:03: Thanks for your comments, Lori, Craig, Ruby and Jim!

Comment by Thomas Ruckstuhl on May 12, 2015 at 20:01: Hi Jim, i did find a couple of sources saying Hohlbein are clearly the best. But that time no quick and easy source to get them. No doubt that beautiful art is made with the watersolubles. Little doubt either that a few okay paintings out there were done with "standard" oil paints ;)
I wonder what is the problems of normal oil paint is or the advantage of the watersolubles is .... Not aware of any. Are you?

Comment by Jim Beatty on May 12, 2015 at 13:24: HI, I've only worked in water soluble oil so have no point of comparison. There is a painter by the name of Mark Weber who is using the Holbein Duo Aqua water soluble oil. He's written a book on brushwork and is creating impressive work with this brand. Might be something to consider.

Comment by Ruby on May 12, 2015 at 8:00: love it !!

Comment by Craig Seaborn on May 12, 2015 at 6:10: Great info thx

Craig

Comment by Lori Ippolito on May 11, 2015 at 6:29: Your brushwork is always so nice and juicy!! I'm thinking I need to mix more paint too!! So much to learn!! I'm on matching colors in the first group of lessons in VAA- I feel like a snail!!!

Comment by Lori Ippolito on May 11, 2015 at 6:27: I had the same experience-- though I find the cobra mixed with walnut oil is much better. I do like my regular oils-- not a fan of stand oil though-/ I find it stays sticky-- or could be I'm doing something wrong!! I paint in my basement-- might be a factor as well. At any rate, your artisan water mixsbles made s great subject for this little study!!