Watercolor, Oil or Acrylic

Wow LL, I haven't painted in ages ... when I did, years ago, it was the old fashioned oils or acrylics. I never had the patience for watercolor.

I too never had patience for watercolors... we argued and the watercolors usually won!

I always preferred Acrylics myself. Oils took too long to start drying.

Now my husband, he loves working with Oils. He's good too! I'm always impressed with his talent. He's also very good with Charcoal.

I love working with oils myself LL and have painted several in oil.
Much to my surprise they all looked {almost} professional!! My
daughter is going to post a few of them for me soon.

I've painted in all media, although it's been 20 years since I've used watercolor. About 7 years ago, I returned to oils, after a long stint doing large acrylic paintings. You can check them out at warrenkeating.gather.

I like the Windsor and Newton "Winton" line, economical, but great oil paint in large tubes. I like Dick Blick as a supplier of paint and canvas.

Why oils? I paint with a lot of gesture, action and movement. The oils tend to absorb some of the agitation and calm my mark-making down just right.

Thanks for asking the question. It's a fascinating one to me, one I could go on for volumes.

Oil is my medium. I like the ability to work thick and juicy for an extended period of time. Acrylic is a difficult medium for me because they dry way too fast for my taste. Watercolor is something else entirely and when I paint watercolor it is a totally different expression, sort of like saying the same thing in another language.

I use mostly Acrylics. I can play with them more so and I like the faster drying time. Watercolors and I always have a difference of opinion on how much water to use. Oils just take to darn long to dry, but I use them when I really need extra texture.

Acrylics here. When I'm in the mood to paint, I want to go from start to finish, not wait for oils to dry before adding to it.

The problem with water-soluble oils is that some colours (especially the blues) are of strong staining capacity, and it's impossible to clean your brushes without the use of turps or spirit - which kind of defeats the object. Better to stick with solvent based paint - it saves a lot of bother in the long run.

Well, this is fun and fascinating reading! I have used all, but in the past few years, only watercolor because I love it's luminosity. I hadn't painted in quite some time, so the learning curve wasn't as noticeable to me as it would be to others, but it definitely can be like rollerskating on sand, depending on the surface one is painting. My favorite one Rogue Wave (in my images,) because it was so much fun to do and I didn't have to worry about the challenge of controlling the paint.

In Ontario art schools have to have special ventilation in order to teach oils. My sun a recent grad had to learn with water soluable oils. Since he didn't know the difference - he liked them.

Speed is a factor in my work so I use Acrylics.

I enjoy water color but I've never done it enough to call myself good at it.

I prefer to work with oils. However, I love the look of watercolor and I am determined to learn how to do them.

Water soluable oils? I am so out of touch, I didn't even know there was such a thing.

Linda,
Thanks for devoting thought, time and questions for artists. The following post that I placed on WetCanvas and ArtConcepts has been viewed more than 4,000 times, brought pages and pages of comments and questions and more than 2,000 podcast downloads from artists in eight countries.
I invite Gather artists to listen and learn ways to turn their art into dollars:

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I'm a recently retired, full-time, art rep and artist with more than twenty years experience selling art work to galleries, interior designers and architects. The art marketplace supported my family for all those years and the artists and customers I worked with were some of the finest, most talented folks one could meet. I'd like to "give back" some of what I learned to other artists. To do so, I've recorded a series of podcasts (talkcasts) FREE to anyone with an iPod, MP3 player or computer. Please listen and, perhaps, learn some tips to better market your art. Here's how:
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I am not a painter at all and I like all mediums of art. If I had to pick over the three, I would say watercolors.

Marilyn,

Fumes from oils are a problem. I have a neuyrological disease and am supposed to avoid chemicals, in general, as much as possible. I have water-soluble oils, but I haven't used them yet, I need to research them more, not that watercolors don't have chemicals, the pigments certainly do. :S

I wonder how long the water-based oils take to dry. ?

I love watercolors the best, especially when in combination with ink. I tried acrylics once but they dry too quickly (or did when I tried them years ago). I've never used oils but have dreamed of learning to use them ... and make pottery. I love sculpting. Water based oils sound like a contradiction don't they. But it would help with the odor. I never did care for the odor of oil paints.

Thank you, Vanda. I know that oils have to always be the top layer, but I never considered an acrylic underpainting. I thought I'd read about oils which dried quickly when dried with a hairdryer, but that seemed kind of...inefficient to me. I'm wondering what the benefit of the water soluble oils is, other than odor. I'll have to look into it.

I use acrylics - for easy clean-up and fast drying time mostly. I'm really not good at all, but I haven't given up. I love brushes and I have all kinds. I like to experiment with them. I also love gel mediums to give the effect of depth and thickness.

I have never heard of water-soluable oils. Have they been out long?

I am a total beginner at painting. Such a beginner that I don't even know what materials to start with first. Reading the comment thread gave me some idea of what types of paint to try and what people's experience has been with them. Thanks for posting this question LL!

Best of luck to you, Audrey, and feel free to post questions at Painters.

Tracey,

I'm not sure how long the ws oils have been out. I bought a box a while ago and haven't opened them, yet. Acrylics are definitely easier clean-up. Great thing is, you can keep painting over until you are happy with it. It's a lot trickier with watercolor. Anyway, don't give up, there is a learning curve to everything. Maybe you'd like the Steven Quiller videos on painting. I really like his style and he uses acrylics, as well as w/c.

Hello artists,
I'd be interested in knowing why you paint, draw or make prints. Are any of you who read this professional artists? Anyone here who has sold art, or would like to?
If so, here's the link to all of the FREE podcasts on art marketing:
ART REP SHARES SECRETS OF SELLING ART
Please let me know what you think.

LL,
I love oils and acrylics really haven,t gotten into the watercolors. It really depends on what I am painting as to which I prefer anything with a lot of blue has to be oils I love the way that hues comes out.

I love what blues come from watercolors, LaTrice! Translucent, like stained glass.

I love stain glass but my watercolors come out more like spilled Koolaid.

That can be fun, too, LaTrice! Have you ever done a "pour?"

Watercolors are so like me....spontaneous, quick to dry, portable and surprising! I think they take a bad rap as far as temperamental......actually if you use heavy paper, they are very forgiving and there are several techniques to correct things. They combine well with ink, irridescent paint and metallic pens. The deeper washes and glazes can give the depth you can get with oils and acryllics or the simple washes can give that other worldly feeling.......liked spilled Koolaid...giggle! Since I am an outdoor plein air person, watercolors are an excellent sketching medium. Nothing is better than being outdoors in the mountains by a stream and having a few watercolors in your pocket and a tablet in your backpack.

Joye,

Also...illustration board, Yupo and primed canvas give more flexibility if one insists on it. I have a teeny-tiny kit, too. They're fantastic.

LL I have not done a pour, You have me thinking maybe I need to experiment with this meduim more.

I love oils! I need to make as much detail as possible. I find it very challenging to paint in water colors. I need to be in the "right" frame of mind. LOL The closest I have come to details with water colors is water pencils. My thing now is scrapbooking!

Hate oils--they are great to work with but can't stand the smell and the turps
Love acrylics, especially the mor modern ones. I can work fast and then work over.
Love/Hate watercolors--can't seem to get the hang of them, but love they way they look.
Love soft pastel (hate oil pastel see above) for the brilliant colors and ease of drawing witht hem, smearing them and such. I've ben experimenting with pastel over acrylic with a lot of varnish over the pastel. Interesting texture.

I have painted with all three mediums, oil, acrylics and water, my favorite is oils, it gives me the opportunity to fix mistakes or make changes before it dries...but just recently, I bought some colored pencils that are pretty awesome for those of you who like watercolors paints...these pencils are so cool!! You basically draw your picture color it in and take a wet brush and paint...instant watercolor painting...and it is nice to get finer details on your water colors without using a brush. I don't know if these are new to any of you but they certainly are to me (since I don't normally paint with watercolors - and even more recently I have been painting on my computer - check out corel's paint program pretty awesome if you like to do portraits!)

I use mainly acrylics, they are easy to clean up and seem much less toxic than the oils that I use occasionally. Use only artist grade products they are much cheaper in the long run as you use less of them due to the higher pigment.Painting surfaces can include almost anything, I use mostly canvasses or masonite panels (bought in 4' x 8' sheets and cut to whatever size I require by my husband, which is much less expensive than buying them from art supply places) I have never tried the water soluable oils but they do sound intriguing.

My painting leans to the "craft" side of "ARTS & CRAFTS". I dabbled with oil many years ago (tole painting mostly). It's not a good medium for me...I want the instant gratification of a finished product. I lack the patience of drying time. The surfaces I use range from paper to roofing tiles to glass to fabrics. The simple craft acrylics are perfect for my needs.