Wonderful, beautiful (waterbased) oil paints

Bongo's Beach Day

16x20 inch

oil on canvas

It's been 20 years since I painted with oils... seriously. I took some classes in school and that's it. I always loved them: the flow, the color, the SMELL! (I'm talking the paint, not the turps)... Oh how I missed them. I don't have a studio, hell, I don't even have a separate room in my condo where I create. I work in a corner in the kitchen. So for the longest time oils were just NOT an option. Then T bought me a "starter set" of waterbased oils for Christmas. And Tina Morgan (from CAG) was getting rid of canvas so I had her ship it to me. And Lo! I am a happy artist again!!! Well, always been happy but now I'm elated!!!

I love them. I've read some mixed reviews on line regarding them. Some say they're not for the serious painter, just the hobbyist... I call BS on that! Maybe it's because it's been so long since I did use oil paints that I don't notice a difference between normal oils and waterbased but....

Some also said that if you do use them, then Windsor Newton is the brand to get. My set is WN (I use their watercolors and watercolor cold press paper too) and maybe that's the difference? But because this is a starter set there was no umber or sienna, so I ended up mixing all my browns and using a lot of paint to get there (Color Theory 101 in the Allston Skybox this Sunday!). So I went to my retailer and he didn't have the WN brand, but a brand called Cobra (?) never heard of them. He gave me a sample to try, but ended up ordering the 2 browns in WN anyway. They should be in next week! I'm almost ready to chuck the watercolors out the window I love these so much!

But I won't :)

So have you used water based oils? What's your take on them? I would love to hear from you!