Painting with Water Mixable Oil

Painting with Water Mixable Oil

Fall Class | Registration opens Wednesday, August 6, 2025 12:00 AM EDT

414 Plush Mill Road Wallingford, PA 19086 United States
3rd Floor Middle
All Levels
9/10/2025-11/26/2025
1:00 PM-4:00 PM EDT on Wed
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$455.00
Member Discount Available

Painting with Water Mixable Oil

Fall Class | Registration opens Wednesday, August 6, 2025 12:00 AM EDT

Enjoy to luxury of painting in oil with the convenience of painting solvent-free.  Water mixable oils are real oil paint. but they clean up with water and use non-toxic thinners and mediums which don't give off fumes.

Oil paint is the painting medium of the masters.  This class will introduce you to this flexible, sensual and versatile medium without the drawbacks of the traditional use of solvent-based thinners and mediums.

We will work indoors from photographs and outdoors if weather permits. Topics will include: working with water mixable oil, thinners and mediums; choosing a subject and arranging a composition for landscape; transferring a composition from a photograph to a canvas or panel; starting a painting; developing a painting in stages; value, color and the importance of edges; creating textures; adjusting the thickness of oil paint as you paint; brush handling; and color mixing.

The class will include demonstrations by the instructor and individual instruction at each student's level of experience.

    • Surface Canvas panels, gessoed hardboard panels (for example: “Gessobord”), stretched canvas, or “oil paper” (for example: “Arches Oil Paper”) 2 at either 8x10 or 9x12 (larger if you like, but use larger brushes)
    • Brushes I recommend stiff, long handled synthetic brushes for water mixable oil. There are many good brands; two I happen to like are the Princeton 6300 or 6500 lines of synthetic oil painting brushes. Sizes #4 (1/2”) flat (ideally 2 of these) #2 (1/4”) flat #2 (1/4”) filbert #2 round
    • Palette Melamine, wood or tempered glass palette, or a pad of disposable palette paper.
    • Painting/palette knife Recommended: round tip elongated diamond shape, roughly 1 1/2” long
    • Containers Thinner & medium cups, one for each, or a dual cup Water jar for cleaning brushes
    • Wet panel carrier, cardboard box or plastic bin for carrying wet panels, canvas or oil paper
    • Shop or studio apron (optional), or smock or suitable clothing
    • Table Easel (optional) Portable easel, tabletop easel, bamboo book rack or similar for working at a table.
    • Paints, thinners & mediums I don’t recommend W&N Artisan paints because they are student grade. You can certainly use them if you have them, but I think the investment in artist grade paints is worth it. Here are two good brands that I can recommend, but they have to be ordered online.
    • Colors We will be using a limited palette of five colors. You can bring other colors if you like, but I will be teaching color mixing in these colors (the two brands are slightly different): If using Royal Talens Cobra water mixable oil (Note: not labeled “Study”, which is their student grade version) Ultramarine Blue Cadmium Yellow Medium* Rose Madder Transparent Oxide Red (or Burnt Sienna) Titanium White Plus: Royal Talens Cobra or W&N Artisan Water Mixable Solvent-Free Paint Thinner (* Cadmium Yellow is now $30, if that feels too expensive, you can substitute Permanent Yellow Light) If using Holbein Duo Aqua water mixable oil Ultramarine Blue Cadmium Yellow* Rose Madder, Imidazolone Brown (or Burnt Sienna) Titanium White Plus: Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Paint Thinner (* Cadmium Yellow is now $30, if that feels too expensive, you can substitute Imidazolone Yellow Light)

    My assessment: Royal Talens Cobra is less expensive, and has a nice flowing consistency out of the tube. Holbein Duo Aqua is stiffer in consistency but highly pigmented. Both are good artist quality paints. W&N Artisan tends to be a bit gummy and is less pigmented.

    Charley Parker

    Charley Parker studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. For the past several years he has been teaching at the Delaware Art Museum, the Delaware College of Art and Design and Jester Artspace. Charley works in and teaches workshops and classes in gouache, water mixable oil and ink and watercolor.  Charley is the author of the popular arts blog, Lines and Colors: http://linesandcolors.com

     

    Website: http://www.charleyparker.com