Water-Mixable Oils

A Beginner’s Guide to Painting in This Vibrant Medium

Sarah Wimperis author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Search Press Ltd

Published:24th May '23

Should be back in stock very soon

Water-Mixable Oils cover

Water-mixable oil paints offer all the qualities of traditional oils – rich pigments, buttery consistency, long drying times – but with one remarkable difference, there is no need for solvents!

This book will encourage and inspire beginners and provide them with all the skills and knowledge they need to produce successful oil paintings. It starts with an introduction to the medium, and explains what water-mixable oils are. This introduction is followed by several sections on materials, preparation (how to care for your brushes, storing your paints, and so on), colour (selecting your basic, or capsule, palette), mixing the paints and preparing your surfaces. The first project explains how to explore colour in order to paint in the style of Vincent van Gogh.

There are then five longer projects that touch upon the themes of abstraction, still life, landscapes, buildings, and working from a photograph, all of which capitalize on the rich qualities of the paints. 

Each project is accompanied by a clear list of materials needed as well as top tips and skills practised; Sarah also interjects with useful anecdotes and words of wisdom garnered from her experience working in this vibrant and exciting medium.

At the end of the book, the reader discovers how best to store and transport finished paintings, especially if the paint is still tacky to the touch, and how to frame a painting for impact.

Aimed specifically at beginner's, Sarah Wimperis's new book will encourage and inspire those new to the medium to explore the world of water-mixable oil paints, which off all the qualities of traditional oils, but without the need for solvents.

A thorough introduction to the medium and how to us it is followed by six projects. The first looks at how to explore colour to paint in the style of Van Gogh. Other projects include still life, landscapes, abstraction, buildings, and working from a photograph. Each of the projects is clearly explained with step-by-step processes and plenty of top tips from an expert tutor.

* Leisure Painter, August 2023 *

The medium’s main advantage is being odour-free, making it user-friendly in an environment shared with non-painters. It’s also quicker to dry and requires less messy cleaning up so, basically, a virtuous circle.

All of this makes using the water-mixable (they’re not actually soluble) variant of oils ideal for the beginner or someone who wants to experiment with the medium.... Sarah recognises the elementary appeal by choosing relatively simple subjects and including lots of hints, tips, exercises and demonstrations. In fact, she’s produced a pretty effective introduction to painting in general – if that’s you, or someone’s asked you for advice, you could do a lot worse than start here.

...it’s user-friendly and Sarah covers the subject completely without going into more detail than she need or should.

-- Henry Malt * artbookreview.n

ISBN: 9781782218579

Dimensions: 280mm x 216mm x 9mm

Weight: 548g

128 pages