Water-based Oil Paints

Conventional oil paints are generally made up of oil-based pigments and binders. For this reason, it is essential to use products such as turpentine and other strong-smelling thinners, which are also flammable and extremely toxic.
By opting for water-based oil paints, you can avoid using solvents. The colours are much easier to handle and, above all, more environmentally friendly. What's more, any allergic reactions are considerably reduced.
It's a fragrance-free, chemical-free paint, ideal for painters who have to deal with odour problems or poorly ventilated rooms.

Although the composition differs, water-based oil paint is made in the same way as traditional oil paint and uses the same tools, with the difference that it can be cleaned with water and artist's soap.

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Characteristics of water-based oil paints.

Traditional oil painting is considered to be one of the most commonly used methods since Antiquity, which makes it difficult to create new variants. In addition, there is a prejudice that suggests that a product whose name contains the word "oil" cannot be equated with water, as they are two opposite elements.
After numerous experiments and studies, it is possible to conclude that water-based oil is just as good quality as traditional oil, with results that are just as comparable.
The idea is to find a less harmful alternative that retains the same characteristics:
Lightfastness and stability are excellent, drying time is also comparable, as are fluidity, humidity and texture. Their colour does not change once dry.
For all these reasons, the application method remains the same.
Another of the many benefits of using water-based oils is that all your tools will be in better condition for longer. Brush hairs undergo gradual damage caused by solvents, resulting in a loss of shape and absorption capacity.

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Oil painting is one of the techniques preferred by most artists because of the many possibilities it offers. Although it is water-based, it also contains a small proportion of oil in its ingredients, which allows the pigments to remain protected from humidity, the brushstrokes to have an even flow and to maintain good adhesion.
The excellent quality of the colours is one of its many advantages. Because it retains its vividness and power, the rendering will be much more precise.
The range of colours is infinite, making it easy to mix colours, create gradients and superimpose layers of glaze. You can also control the thickness of the layers and the correction time. In addition, you can mix them with specific water-based oil mediums to enhance these effects, such as quick-drying mediums or glazing mediums.
hese are ideal for continuing with a range of healthier products, although it is still possible to use them with traditional thinners, but bearing in mind that due to their composition and for the paint to remain water-miscible, no more than 30% of these materials should be applied.
There are also ecological mediums based on vegetable oils.
Diluted with water, they can be used to create glazes as if they were watercolours, but they dry more quickly than usual.
We recommend that you use materials specific to each range of paint, both mediums and varnishes, so as to alter their characteristics as little as possible, as well as specific oil brushes.

Let's take a look at some of the best brands of water-based oils:

• Royal Talens' Cobra Artist range is made from the highest quality pigments and oils. It retains the same properties as a classic oil paint. There is also the Study range, recommended for beginners and more affordable. It offers a wide range of products and accessories for this technique.
• The Winsor & Newton Artisan range, equivalent to the Winton oils. They are made from modified linseed oil and modified safflower oil.
• Daler-Rowney's Georgian range of paints have a smooth, creamy consistency and are perfectly miscible with water. They are ideal for indoor use, as they are virtually odourless.

Many advances and improvements are being made to Beaux-Arts products to offer you materials that are increasingly respectful of the environment, do not use ingredients of animal origin and are in line with current trends.
Continue your artistic creation using the same materials while adopting a more ecological conscience.