Artisan is real oil paint that thins and cleans with water. Same finish, same slow drying and same techniques as traditional oil, but no turpentine, no solvents and no smell. The range runs to 40 colours in 37 ml tubes, 28 of them in 200 ml as well, with its own mediums, oils and varnishes.
Artisan Filling Medium W&N, 60 ml.
Artisan Cartamo Oil W&N, 75 ml.
Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade) n. 521 (37 ml) S.1
Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Permanent Alizarin Crimson n. 468 (37 ml) S.1
Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Phthalo Green (Blue Shade) n. 522 (37 ml) S.1
Winsor & Newton Artisan Water Mixable Oil Zinc White (Mixing White) n. 748 (37 ml) S.1
Artisan Drawing Medium W&N, 250 ml.
Artisan Drawing Medium W&N, 75 ml.
Artisan is not an imitation of oil paint, nor a water-based paint that looks like one. It is oil: pigment and oil, with the same gloss, the same depth and the same slow drying that lets you work wet-in-wet for days. The difference is in the oil itself, modified to accept water. That lets you thin with water instead of turpentine and wash your brushes under the tap.
For anyone painting at home, in a room without ventilation or in a shared space. For anyone with children or animals around. For anyone who has had to give up oil painting because of the smell or the headaches. For studios and classrooms where storing and disposing of solvents is a problem. And for anyone travelling or painting outdoors who would rather not carry bottles of solvent.
It is not a range for someone already painting comfortably in traditional oil with no trouble from solvents.
Mediums, oils and varnishes for traditional oil will not work with Artisan: adding them breaks the water-mixable property. The range has its own auxiliaries and they are all in this category: painting medium, fast-drying medium, impasto medium, linseed oil, slow-drying linseed oil, safflower oil, and matt, satin and gloss varnishes.
Nor should you mix Artisan with traditional oil in the same painting if you want to keep cleaning with water. They are two different systems.
The range is 40 colours in 37 ml tubes across two series according to pigment, with 28 of them also in 200 ml. The auxiliaries come in 75 ml and 250 ml.
Artisan is Winsor & Newton's water mixable oil. If you want to compare before deciding, we also stock Cobra Study, the water mixable oil from Talens. And if what you want is traditional oil from Winsor & Newton, the ranges are Winton and Artists.
Yes. It contains pigment and oil just like traditional oil colour. What changes is that the oil is modified to accept water, so it thins and cleans with water instead of solvents. It is not acrylic and it is not gouache.
The paint itself has very little odour, and without turpentine or white spirit the source of strong smell and fumes disappears. That is the main reason people move to this range.
Yes, it dries slowly like any oil, between 2 and 12 days depending on the colour, which lets you work wet-in-wet. It does not behave like acrylic.
No. Traditional auxiliaries break the water-mixable property. Artisan has its own line of mediums, oils and varnishes, in this same category.
Technically it tolerates a small proportion, but as soon as you add traditional oil you lose the ability to clean with water. If you choose Artisan, the consistent approach is to work only with Artisan.
Yes, the same oil brushes, hog or synthetic. The advantage is that they wash out with soap and water, no solvent needed.
