Enjoy the 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 that don’t give off fumes.

Oil paint is the painting medium of the masters, the majority of paintings you see in museums and galleries were painted in oil. This workshop and 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; the use of value and color and the importance of edges; creating textures to suggest foliage, tree trunks, grasses, water and other surfaces; adjusting the thickness of oil paint as you paint; brush handling; and mixing a wide range of colors from a simple, limited palette.

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

Materials list

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. Two lines 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
Water jar for cleaning brushes
Wet panel carrier, cardboard box or plastic bin for carrying wet 
panels, canvas or oil paper
Paints
I recommend Royal Talens Cobra, or Holbein Duo Aqua paints 
(preferably not W&N Artisan), order online.
Colors
We will be using a limited palette of five colors. You can bring other 
colors if you like.
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 
(* 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
Burnt Sienna
Titanium White
(* Cadmium Yellow is now $30, if that feels too expensive, you can 
substitute Imidazolone Yellow Light