Water Mixable Oil Paints

Water mixable oil paints are genuine oil paints that you thin with water, and you can wash your brushes with soap and water after painting instead of using turpentine. Here you'll find Daler Rowney Georgian Water Mixable in 35 colours in 37 ml tubes and three sets, Lukas Berlin Water Mixable in 30 colours in 200 ml tubes, and Cobra Study from Royal Talens in 40 ml tubes. They dry slowly like traditional oils, giving you time to mix colours directly on the canvas. They are suitable for painting at home or in a classroom where you don't want to work with turpentine. You'll find traditional paints thinned with turpentine among all our oil paints.

How do water mixable oil paints differ from traditional oils?

The binder is a modified oil that mixes with water. Lukas Berlin specifies modified linseed and sunflower oils with a little beeswax. The paint remains an oil paint and dries like oil, rather than through water evaporation as acrylics do. You use water only for thinning and for washing your brushes, palette and hands.

You can mix them with traditional oil paint, but the more traditional oil paint you add, the harder it becomes to thin the mixture with water. The manufacturer of each range specifies the exact ratio. For thinning and adjusting consistency, the Georgian range has its own water mixable linseed oil, stand oil, fast drying medium and medium for oil paints.

Which range and pack size should you choose?

A Georgian Water Mixable set with 6 tubes of 20 ml, 10 tubes of 20 ml or 10 tubes of 37 ml is a useful starting point. When you run out of a colour, you can buy it separately in a 37 ml tube. Lukas Berlin in 200 ml tubes is a practical choice for large areas, underpainting and white, which you'll use the most. Here, the Cobra Study range from Royal Talens includes titanium white and yellow ochre in 40 ml tubes. Choose brushes for oil paint and stretched canvases to go with your paints.