Water Soluble Oil Paints
Dave Furstenau
They call it their MAX Series of oil paints. The kicker is that
they've been modified to thin/clean up with ordinary water. You can
still use all your favorite mediums and such (within certain
parameters) and the paints themselves seem to be a middle ground
between full-blown artist-grade traditional oils and cheap student
grade stuff. If anything, it's closer to the former.
I'd never really considered these for the longest time, since I
don't have any particular aversion to the solvents some people wish to
avoid, nor do I find cleaning up all that difficult -- in short, I
happy quite content with traditional tools. Now, however, I do see an
advantage, specific to my own type of work, and might go into it a bit
more deeply. Again, my rationale applies to my needs -- your mileage
may vary.
Question: Does anyone have any experience with these?
Dave Furstenau d...@unlinfo.unl.edu
Eugene Ming-Ee Gan
by Dave Furstenau@unlinfo.u
>
it's convenience while travelling. It seems that these paints are too
thick and dry and I don't mean nice buttery thick. The colors also seem
muted somewhat and not as vibrant as traditional oils. I'm one for new
inovations, but this is one product who's qualities don't match the
traditional oils. Get them for the convenience of not having to carry
solvents with you.
-Eugene,
Artist and Engineer
ellie roberts
>From: Eugene Ming-Ee Gan <eg...@andrew.cmu.edu>
>Subject: Re: Water Soluble Oil Paints
>Date: Tue, 20 Sep 1994 22:21:38 -0400
>-Eugene,
>Artist and Engineer
I agree with the above remarks about the "thick and dry" qualities of these
paints, but I haven't noticed that the colors were muted. Maybe it depends on
what colors you tend to use most. ALso, the thickness wasn't a problem in
some paintings, but tended to be a problem when doing large paintings, where
I'd want to cover large areas. With traditional oils, I'd use medium to thin
the paint, but this doesn't work with the Max paints. (If you use more than
30% medium, you have to use traditional thinners: turpentine, etc.) In all, I
do like these paints, because I have developed a strong allergy to turpentine
and other thinners. I tend to use acrylics a lot now, but sometimes I want
paint that's more like "real oils", and I use these paints. THe other
drawback is that they are hard on your brushes. Seems odd, but I find that
the water does more damage to the brushes bristles than the strong solvents
do.
-ellie
ellie roberts
>From: al...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Larry Boswell)
>Subject: Re: Water Soluble Oil Paints
>In a previous article, cle...@ccs.tiac.net (ellie roberts) says:
>>do like these paints, because I have developed a strong allergy to turpentine
>>and other thinners. I tend to use acrylics a lot now, but sometimes I want
>>paint that's more like "real oils", and I use these paints. THe other
>>drawback is that they are hard on your brushes. Seems odd, but I find that
>>the water does more damage to the brushes bristles than the strong solvents
>>do.
>>
> tell me about it. I use to buy 'real' brushes, not the cheap ones but
>I go through them so fast it's amazing (and depressing). I don't throw
>the damaged ones out, they tend to get sorted into a 'best-of-the-worst'
>collection for when I'm left with nothing else.
>Ellie, you're using acrylics and you still long for 'real oils'--ha! that's
>it, you're thrown out of the Order of Acrylic Artists, sorry!
>Larry
Oh Larry --
Say it isn't so!! Sometimes I want to paint things that require "real
acrylics" too. Can I still be allowed as a member?? 8^)
-ellie
James Brown
Please don't make me join.
JB
ellie roberts
>From: James Brown <jbr...@gate.net>
>Subject: Re: Water Soluble Oil Paints
> snip snip snip snip
> > tell me about it. I use to buy 'real' brushes, not the cheap ones but
>> >I go through them so fast it's amazing (and depressing). I don't throw
>> >the damaged ones out, they tend to get sorted into a 'best-of-the-worst'
>> >collection for when I'm left with nothing else.
>>
>> >Ellie, you're using acrylics and you still long for 'real oils'--ha! that's
>> >it, you're thrown out of the Order of Acrylic Artists, sorry!
>>
>>
>>
> Please don't make me join.
> JB
I used to feel this way too. What, me, MOI, use acrylics?? Yuk!!!
But, since I started using them, I find that I now tend to use them more
frequently than my oils. Sort of saying to myself, "well, I'm really an oil
painter, but I'm just doing THIS painting in acrylics." And then I notice
that I've done the last 8 paintings in acrylics.....
They were hard to get used to at first. But, hey, it's just another medium,
right? I mean, what's the point of loyalty to one medium?
-ellie
Dave Furstenau
: I used to feel this way too. What, me, MOI, use acrylics?? Yuk!!!
[ ... ]
: They were hard to get used to at first. But, hey, it's just another
: medium, right? I mean, what's the point of loyalty to one medium?
: -ellie
Ellie ...
What sort of painting do you do? I have a hefty investment in
tube acrylics, but wanted to switch over to oils out of sheer
exasperation due the the rapid drying time of acrylics. Granted, I've
been able to achieve some very nice effects, I'm happy with the
colors, consistency, ease of clean up, but I'm thwarted whenever I
attempt any sort of smooth gradations. Since my major interest in in
portrait/figure work, I've persuaded myself that oils would offer a
better avenue for this. Am I wrong? Are there some clever strategies
which elude me here?
I still make use of acrylics, but now mainly confine myself to
shooting them through an airbrush, either from the very start or to
soften a hand brushed underpainting. (40% distilled water + 40% gloss
medium + 20% flow improver mixed with the tube paints and strained
through nylons).
I'm also attracted to building up weakly tinted glazes, and find
this very difficult to do with acrylics. By the time I get it to the
consistency I want, I discover I've screwed up its ability to bond
properly.
I've seen some fantastic things done with acrylics, so obviously
the fault lies with my technique. Nonetheless, I've never figured out
how to rectify it.
Dave Furstenau d...@unlinfo.unl.edu
ellie roberts
>From: d...@unlinfo.unl.edu (Dave Furstenau)
>Subject: Re: Water Soluble Oil Paints
>ellie roberts (cle...@ccs.tiac.net) wrote:
>: I used to feel this way too. What, me, MOI, use acrylics?? Yuk!!!
> [ ... ]
>: They were hard to get used to at first. But, hey, it's just another
>: medium, right? I mean, what's the point of loyalty to one medium?
>: -ellie
>Ellie ...
> What sort of painting do you do? I have a hefty investment in
>tube acrylics, but wanted to switch over to oils out of sheer
>exasperation due the the rapid drying time of acrylics.
Hi Dave --
I do sort of abstract landscapes, and I find that I tend to do a lot of
dry-brush sort of blending to get soft edges when I want them. I just get a
tiny bit of paint on the brush, and then brush most of it off on a cloth
before actually touching the painting. But I'm guessing you need more control
in a portrait than I do in a landscape. (If a tree is suddenly 1/8" wider who
cares, but if a nose is suddenly 1/16" wider everyone cares...)
One of the thing I both like and dislike about acrylics is that they dry so
fast. I tend to rethink things as I'm painting -- change outlines, change
colors, whatever. And when I use oils this often ends up just as a mess
unless I let things dry for a day or two between reworkings. But, on the
other hand, you are right, sometimes I'll want to blend something and I'll
find that it already dried.
I use glazes a lot too -- I think they are one of the really strong points of
acrylic paints. When I use really thin glazes I mix with medium instead of
water, and I haven't had the problems you mention. Maybe the glazes I use
aren't as thin as those you are trying.
But glazing again, is a good and bad point of acrylics. Somtimes I just want
to put one color over anopther and have it be opaque. With oils this is
easier. With acrylics I find I have to use white first to cover a dark area
and then go back in with the color I want.
But I'm sure there are plenty of folks in here who can give you much better
hints than I can. (Larry -- are you there?) I'm really a beginner at this
medium when all is said and done.
-ellie