Oil Paint Water-mixable - Van Gogh & Cobra (Talens)

Last Wednesday, the teacher of the painting group had an idea for the craft fair on 27 June. She showed me what she’d made and planned to sell for a few pence. The proceeds will go to the Drop-in Centre, so that more money is available to buy supplies.

I thought it was absolutely hideous and told her so. According to her, everyone liked it... but when I asked the rest of the group, nobody wanted to make something like that (smearing a canvas board with a filling knife and then sticking wooden flowers on it). Sorry, but those aren’t the sort of things I do. I refuse to make something I hate and wouldn’t buy myself. I did get to work with the putty knife, but in my own way.

Today I touched it up a bit and next week I’m going to see if I can straighten out the warped canvas. According to the teacher, I should have used a normal canvas instead of the canvas board. She’s clearly forgotten that she’d forced it on me and said it had to be done that way.

Incidentally, last Monday I started painting lessons at her home. ‘Lesson’ is a bit of a stretch, as I’m painting with her Van Gogh water-mixable oil paint (which is why I’m taking lessons with her, as I knew she had that paint and wasn’t using it anymore) to see how it works. The oil paint is quite pricey, but if I’m to believe the manufacturer, it will retain its colour for at least 100 years. Not that they’ve been able to test that, as this type of paint isn’t that old yet.

It had been decided to get started without a ground layer or sketch. According to her, it takes far too long, even though this oil paint dries quicker than the non-water-mixable kind. Above you can see the result after one lesson.
As you can see, I haven’t started yet. I painted the sky and the trees with the canvas upside down. That way, I didn’t have to reach so far. It was quite funny, actually, because the teacher stood there looking astonished and wondering why my grass was blue.

Incidentally, this is a test, because I saw in a YouTube video that this oil paint can be used mixed with standard oil paint. I used this as well, because the Van Gogh and the single tube of Cobra contain mainly blue and brown, as well as a shade of green. Ochre and white (see canvas) are the standard oil paints, so I have to apply these last.

The Van Gogh paint is easy to spread with a damp brush. A positive point is that this paint doesn’t smell, and the brushes are easy to rinse out with water, and your hands are clean in no time. It is true that this paint is a bit more expensive, but a small tube will certainly last a long time.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take the photo until much later, after tea, and by then the sun was shining directly onto the canvas, so the colours didn’t come across properly due to the glare.

Incidentally, I put my brushes in salad oil, as I’d also been using standard oil paint. We had no idea whether cleaning them with water alone would be enough. Who knows, maybe we’ll be able to paint outdoors next Monday, though I’m not really a fan of that.