Painting With Water Soluble Oils

Rating:
Summary: Useless
Review: About half this book discusses unique properties of water soluble oil paints, but I learned more from reading the paint manufacturers' brochures as I did from this book. The rest of the book discusses and demonstrates various techniques, but it doesn't cover anything different than what you'd find in standard oil painting text, and there are many better ones of those. Don't bother buying this book.

Rating:
Summary: Incomplete information and disappointing artwork
Review: The book begins with an introduction to water-soluble oils and a section on methods and materials. Four brands of paint are compared and a list of available colors given. This section unfortunately gives short shrift to the original water-soluble oil brand, Grumbacher's Max, the only brand for which the pigments in each color are not listed . The section on "Supports, Grounds, and Mediums" is just half a page long, and never discusses mediums at all (although there is a photograph of some bottles). One more useful section compares the behavior of traditional and water-soluble oils applied in various ways (thin washes, undiluted, mixed with alkyd medium).

The remainder of the book consists of pictures painted by many artists (including the author) using water-soluble oils and comparing them with similar paintings using traditional oils, followed by a number of step-by-step demonstrations. For the most part, I did not like the author's painting style (which I found embarrasingly amateurish) or his choice of artwork, although there were a few things I did find attractive. There are a few useful bits of information in the comments of the contributing artists, but they are repeated over and over.

I would suggest you read the chapter on water-soluble oils in Bill Creevy's excellent book "The Oil Painting Book" instead of buying this.

Rating:
Summary: Incomplete information and disappointing artwork
Review: The book begins with an introduction to water-soluble oils and a section on methods and materials. Four brands of paint are compared and a list of available colors given. This section unfortunately gives short shrift to the original water-soluble oil brand, Grumbacher's Max, the only brand for which the pigments in each color are not listed . The section on "Supports, Grounds, and Mediums" is just half a page long, and never discusses mediums at all (although there is a photograph of some bottles). One more useful section compares the behavior of traditional and water-soluble oils applied in various ways (thin washes, undiluted, mixed with alkyd medium).

The remainder of the book consists of pictures painted by many artists (including the author) using water-soluble oils and comparing them with similar paintings using traditional oils, followed by a number of step-by-step demonstrations. For the most part, I did not like the author's painting style (which I found embarrasingly amateurish) or his choice of artwork, although there were a few things I did find attractive. There are a few useful bits of information in the comments of the contributing artists, but they are repeated over and over.

I would suggest you read the chapter on water-soluble oils in Bill Creevy's excellent book "The Oil Painting Book" instead of buying this.

Rating:
Summary: A Definite Yes
Review: The book had all the information needed on the 4 types of water soluble oils..and anything you needed to know about them...brushes, mediums, whatever you need. Really good to get started and what equipment you will need and how it works...
Very happy I bought it.

Rating:
Summary: A new kid on the block.
Review: This book is a rather comprehensive exploration of water-soluble oil paint, which supposedly retains the characteristics of traditional oil paint but using water as medium. Consisting of demos from 15 professional artists, the book provides a handful of beautiful paintings, as well as valuable tricks and tips of handling and using this new medium. Artists at any levels can make good use of these tips on brushes and brushwork at different stages of the painting process, such as underpainting, blending, etc. Traditional oil paint has earned an undisputable reputation in art history. However, the use of hazardous solvents as paint thinner has become a major drawback. For artists who are interested in an alternative medium for easier clean-up (with only soap and water), less toxic, yet rendering comparable effects as those of traditional paints, water-soluble oil seems worth a try. Targeting this group of readers (or perhaps any group of other 'non-believers'), the author also presents discussions on differences in pigments, light-fastness, opacity, texture, and application.