What's your favorite brand of oil paint?

[Artyczar]

For me, it depends on the color, but for the most part, I like Gamblin. For raw umbers, I like Daler-Rowney and for yellow ochre, I like Winsor Newton.

 

[snoball]

I like Gamblin too but for me it is whatever brand has the color I want.

 

[Artyczar]

You're not as picky. I'm pretty picky with that stuff. If I can't find what I want in the store, I'll go to another place or buy it on line.

 

[snoball]

I buy a lot of mine online too if I can't find what I want with a trip to Hobby Lobby.

 

[Artyczar]

I wonder if there's one of those around here somewhere. I haven't really lived here all that long and have been buying my stuff online.

 

[snoball]

I don't know, you could google a store locator for Hobby Lobby and see. Michael's stores also have supplies, or used to.

 

[Artyczar]

Oh yeah... Google! That's what it's for.

 

[snoball]

lol!! Google is my friend! I'm an expert Googler.

 

[KreativeK]

Winsor Newton watersoluble oils, Winton, I think is how it is marketed.

 

[Artyczar]

Hi Kay. I didn't know the Winton line made water-solubale oils. Good to know if I ever wanted to try them out.

Do you use those because of the toxicity in regular oils?

 

[snoball]

Winsor Newton watersoluble oils, Winton, I think is how it is marketed.

I think the name is Artisan, Kay.

 

[musket]

For the most part, Robert Doak.

 

[Geoff]

I must have 20 brands of paint lying around, and I still don't have a single favorite. I like different brands for different things. For a first lay-in, I use Cobra water-miscible Transparent Red Oxide or Ultramarine, thinned with water. For cadmium colors, I use the new Utrecht cadmium-free reds and yellows and oranges. For white, I like relatively moist paint, like M. Graham or Rembrandt, though I just tried a tube of Old Holland titanium white and loved it. For other moist (oilier?) paints, I look to M. Graham, Gamblin, Jack Richeson, and Geneva. But I also have older tubes of W&N and Michael Harding I enjoy. So I guess I don't have a single favorite.

 

[musket]

Old Holland is excellent stuff but very expensive.

 

[Artyczar]

Old Holland is excellent stuff but very expensive.

You are right. I had no idea they were more than three times the price of Gamblin. I thought I was paying a lot at $60 a tube for Cadmium red light, when Old Holland is $166 for 25 ml. less! And that's just a slightly more expensive color. Never mind certain greens and purples.

EDIT: That makes me want to switch brands. That means I'm not using the best. I want to use the best.

 

[Geoff]

You may not find Old Holland is the best for you, though, Artyczar. Many of its offerings are on the stiff side. The upside of this is that there's a very high ratio of pigment to other stuff. The downside is that you may end up using medium to dilute it anyway. But I will admit that my tubes of Old Holland last longer than my other tubes, and it's nice to know that when I squeeze the tube, I get a coherent blob of paint, not a mess of oil. Anyway, maybe try a small tube of a cheaper pigment and see what you think.

 

[Artyczar]

I may do that Geoff. Thanks.

 

[musket]

I have still a tube of OH Manganese blue (the real thing) that weighs a ton. Geoff is right about the stiffness.

Doak's colors are just as good at fraction of the cost, but very oily by comparison and slow to dry, since he uses (last I looked) fifty-fifty walnut and linseed.

Last time I looked, lowest prices on OH were from the Italian Art Store. A 40ml tube of Cad Red Light is around sixty bucks there.

If you like blues, Doak cannot be beat. The main problem with Robert is, you gotta talk to him, and he will talk your ear off.

 

[Geoff]

I see Doak has an online store. Are you sure you have to talk to him? It looks like you can order paints and put them in an online cart. The paints sure look interesting.

 

[musket]

Well, you can just order if you like, but unlike his old handwritten catalogs (he stubbornly resisted going computer for ages), which had a lot of info about the colors, especially the historical ones and Robert's own creations, the site seems to have nothing but the swatches and the same spiel about how suitable they are for your next masterpiece.

So if you want to know more, unless he's got an assistant to do the explaining, it'll be Robert, who will likely grill you on what type of art you do and demand to know why you want to use that color and what for. Robert is one of the last of a dying breed, a genuine New York City character. Which means he's a bit gruff until he knows you.

The colors are all superb, but as mentioned they are slow driers. He also sells a wide variety of mediums which aren't listed on the site, canvas and a bunch of other stuff. His store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is a dangerous place to be-- you'll end up buying more stuff than you thought you would when you came in.

The guy who runs this place apprenticed to Robert, but I never tried any of his paints. He doesn't have the wide range of colors Robert has, nor of course any of Robert's proprietary colors like Egyptian Blue and Egyptian Violet, both of which are totally gorgeous, but I expect the paints are of comparable quality.

Blue Ridge Oil Paints