Oil Paint

Oil paints are created from suspending pigment in a drying oil such as linseed oil. Known for its slow drying time and viscous consistency, oil paints allow the artist to mix mediums, solvents and varnish into paints to change the properties, such as reducing drying time or increasing transparency.

From a world lit by fire to a world of LED Screens and electric lights, Old Holland uses only the finest pigment and cold pressed linseed oil coupled with three centuries of traditional techniques, standards, and experience to produce the finest oil paint in the world. All color making is done by hand and all processes controlled by artist.  Pigments are ground in stone rather than metal rollers and packaged in lead tubes rather than the modern aluminum alloy tubes, which may eventually oxidize and decay.  Their 168 colors use only the best pigment and pure cold pressed linseed oil to produce an incredibly concentrated and light fast paint, achieving a higher color strength, hiding power, and intensity.  Using only the finest cold-pressed linseed oil for their binder optimizes oxidation (drying) of the paint, encourages permanence and brush stroke spread.  As an added bonus each tube has a color strip above the label, painted with the color from the tube in question.  No one makes a finer paint.

At Williamsburg Oil Paint the quality is not only in their exceptional pigment but in the grinding.  All pigments are not treated equal, each one is ground to enhance the beauty and luminosity specific to that particular pigment.  As they say, “Some colors will feel slightly gritty; others extremely smooth. Their Cerulean Blue will have beautiful velvet, light-absorbing surface with an extremely strong covering power; Siennas will often be chunky or gritty to allow light to travel through the vehicle, exposing rich golden or mahogany undertones instead of just heavy, dull browns.”

Pigments are ground in pure, premium, alkali-refined and PH-balanced linseed oil and made in batches no larger than five gallons at a time. This gives them total control over the product, much like the late nineteenth-century French color makers. All the materials are hand measured, and every ounce of paint is scrutinized. The paint is packed in 37 ml and 150 ml non-reactive aluminum tubes. Larger quantities of paint are packed in aluminum cans using only the purest materials.

Williamsburg Handmade Oil Colors are used by the world's finest artists whose work can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MOMA in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, and the Beaubourg in Paris.

Gamblin Artists Colors has handcrafted luscious oil colors and contemporary mediums true to the working properties of traditional materials. Gamblin believes that every painting deserves to stand the test of time and provides artists with safer, more permanent oil painting materials.
Their ongoing commitment to painters and studio safety has made them an industry leader. In collaboration with the National Gallery, they developed Gamvar, a revolutionary varnish that goes on water-clear, stays water-clear, and can be easily and safely removed at any time. Gamblin was also the first to develop Flake White Replacement, a color true to the properties of traditional Flake White – and completely free of lead. More recently, they introduced Neo Megilp, a contemporary version of a medium that was one of the Old Masters’ best kept secrets.

Gamblin’s dedication to today’s oil painters extends beyond offering the finest possible materials. They believe in sharing their knowledge and this is very apparent by their website, gamblincolors.com.  Here you will find a plethora of information designed and about oil painting.  If you have some tough questions they are more than happy to help.  Robert Gamblin, America’s premier colorman, has helped a generation of artists discover, select, and ultimately master the materials best suited to their artistic intent.

Every Winsor & Newton Artists' Oil Color is individually formulated to enhance each pigment's natural characteristics and ensure stability of color. By exercising maximum quality control throughout all stages of manufacturing and selecting the most suitable drying oils and method of pigment dispersion, the unique individual properties of each color are preserved. Combined with over 170 years of manufacturing and quality control expertise, the formulation of Artist's Oil Color ensures the best raw materials are made into the World's Finest Colors.

Pebeo Super Fine Art Oil Paints provides a range of intense colors and are remarkably stable in the long term. Their rich creamy consistency is suitable for all techniques and enables users to express their creativity in 60 intensely deep pigments and 3 series.

Rembrandt Oil Colors are a good quality choice for the professional artist.  Their colors have unique characteristics such as maximum fineness, lightfastness and durability. Rembrandt Oil colors have a buttery smooth quality and an optimal color strength due to a high concentration of pure pigment coupled with very fine grinding.

Winton is a traditional range of oil colors, made from moderately priced pigments, formulated for student and amateur artists or more accomplished painters requiring large volumes of color within moderate cost limits.

The application of traditional skills and modern color chemistry techniques has resulted in a range of 49 carefully selected Winton Oil Colors including genuine cadmiums and cobalt, which are of excellent quality.