The key difference  between Artisan and conventional oils is its ability to thin and clean up with water.   Hazardous solvents are not necessary for Artisan and artists can enjoy asafer painting environment, making it ideal for artists who share a work space, schools or painting  at home.  
The Artisan range  consists of 40 colours and has a dedicated range of 11 Artisan  solvents, oils, mediums and varnishes, allowing you to achieve all oil painting  techniques. 

Sizes available 

The Artisan range offers a balanced spectrum of 40 colours  across two Series; Series 1 and Series 2. 
Both series are available in  37ml tubes, and 31 Series 1 colours are available in 200ml. 

Sizes available for  Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour

 No Hazardous Solvents Required

Artists using conventional oil colour will require the use of solvents  such as turpentine or white spirit (mineral spirits) for use when  painting and for cleaning up their materials. 
Artisanon the other hand can be thinned with water for  painting and all brushes and equipment can be cleaned up with soap and  water only. 
 This means that the use of hazardous solvents is not necessary with  Artisan and as a result, artists can enjoy a safer painting  environment.  With this in mind, Artisan is ideal for:-

Pigments

A wide variety of pigments are used in Artisan to provide all the  characteristics expected from a Winsor & Newton oil colour:

High pigment strength & covering power
 This provides good covering power, which is the ability of a pigment to either go a long way or cover previous layers.

Variable Opacity
Winsor & Newtonselect the most suitable  oil and method of pigment dispersion to bring out the individuality of  each pigment in the Artisan range.

 Opaque colours provide covering power and flat areas of colour whilst  transparent colours give depth to the painting. 

Widest spectrum

 One of the greatest strengths of Winsor & Newton is the colour  spectrum provided.
 The Artisan colour range has been chosen according to mass tone (colour  from the tube), undertone (bias of colour when in a thin film), strength and relative opacity. Each colour has been specially selected looking  at individual pigment characteristics. The resultant colour spectrum of  40 colours is spread around the colour wheel to ensure that as many  colour positions and mixtures are possible.

Colour Series

The series indicates the price of colour - mostly determined by the cost of obtaining and refining the pigment, e.g. Series 2 colours are more  expensive as they contain genuine Cadmiums and Cobalts.

Viscosity/ Consistency

Artisan has the short buttery consistency expected from a Winsor &  Newton oil colour, a consistency that is a careful balance between the  pigment and the oils used in the formulation (modified linseed and  safflower). This is the traditional consistency of oil colours, and as  such allows the artist a broader variety of techniques, the colour can  be thinned as required.

Short buttery  consistency

 Surface Sheen

The reflective quality of the Artisan film is affected by a wide variety of factors. Because each pigment requires differing volumes of oil in  formulation, the surface sheen may differ slightly from colour to  colour. The addition of water as a solvent, as well as the use of  additive mediums will alter surface sheen as well. 

Permanence

Most artists want to be sure that their colours are permanent.  Recent  pigment developments have led to continued improvements in the  lightfastness of artists' colours.  These improvements have been  utilised in Artisan.  All Artisancolours are rated AA  or A and are recommended as permanent for artists' use. 

 Drying time

When Artisan is thinned with water, the water evaporates from the paint  film fairly rapidly, leaving behind a conventional film of oil that  dries by means of oxidation. The different drying rates of Artisan  colours are due to the different reaction of each pigment when mixed  with oil. Winsor & Newton formulate each colour individually to  optimise its drying rate, helping artists to avoid the problems of slow  drying underlayers. However, the following list is a guide to the likely variations:

Further Information

This section gives you some additional information and useful facts about Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour. 

Oil Painting Rules with Artisan

Oil painting with Artisan requires attention to the same oil painting rules as conventional oil colour:

    * Fat over lean (flexible over less flexible). When oil painting in layers, each successive layer must be more flexible than the one underneath. This rule is maintained by adding more medium to each successive layer.
    * Thick over thin. Thick layers of oil colour are best applied over thin under layers. Thin layers on impasto paintings are likely to crack.
    * Slow drying colours should not form continuous under layers as any faster drying layers on top may crack.

Using water as a solvent

As with any oil colour, the addition of too much solvent can result in an underbound paint film. The same is true when using water with the Artisan range. For this reason we strongly recommend that the working characteristics of the colour be adjusted through the use of the appropriate medium in addition to water. When adding water, do so gradually, a little bit at a time, while mixing continuously with a brush or palette knife. Doing so will allow the water and oil emulsion to form evenly.

The use of water will also alter the refractive quality of the colour - resulting in a slight shift to a lighter tint as the water is added. As water evaporates from the mix, there is a subsequent reversion back to the original colour. Alternatively, you can use Artisan Thinner instead and the colour shift will be avoided.

Which Whites to Use

White is the most popular colour.  Adding white to any other colour produces ‘tints'.  The two whites in the Artisan range offer different working characteristics.  Titanium White is the most popular modern white.  It is the whitest, most opaque white and gives excellent covering power.  Zinc White (Mixing White) is the most transparent white, making it ideal for stronger tints and glazing.  Artisan whites are ground in modified safflower oil to produce the whitest whites.

The use of Artisan over oil

This is possible as long as the painting is completely dry.  It is then possible to use Artisan colour straight from the tube or if thinning is required a minimum amount of Artisan Thinners can be used.  It is not recommended that water be used as this may de-wet or cause cissing on the original oil colour and poor adhesion. The Artisan mediums may also be used to thin Artisan colours over dried oil colour.

Artisan Durability

Artisan Water Mixable Oil colour is a relatively new medium in terms of art materials, however, colours containing oil and water are not new and have in fact existed since prehistoric times. For example, egg tempera is an oil in water emulsion, which has been used by artists for over 600 years.

During the development process, Artisan colours were tested for many properties that would be indicative of its durability such as adhesion, flexibility, drying, film hardness, and water resistance, as well as application properties such as mixability with water, flow, texture retention and wetting. In addition, the full range of colours were painted out on canvas directly from the tube and with mediums and/or water at different thicknesses and have been observed and tested at regular intervals since.

All results from this development stage have confirmed that Artisan does indeed act in the same way as a conventional oil colour.

To ensure the long term durability of Artisan, Winsor & Newton have and will continue to study Artisan under various conditions using paint films that have been allowed to dry naturally for longer periods of time (test samples that have been aged artificially) and also by use of specialised equipment. The key areas to consider when assessing long term durability are:-

    * The evaporation of water from the paint film
    * Film hardness and future resistance to water & solvent
    * Adhesion and flexibility

In combination with the work carried out to date and the ongoing studies, there is further analysis taking place in various conservation departments across the world.

Modern Paints Uncovered

In May 2006, Winsor & Newton were invited to present a white paper at the Modern Paints Uncovered Symposium co-organized by the Tate and the Getty Conservation Institute, held at Tate Modern, London. Alun Foster, Chief Chemist at Winsor & Newton presented "The Performance and Properties of Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colour  compared  to other oil-based paints by Winsor & Newton" .
The Getty will publish all the symposium papers later this year.