Water-based oils are a relatively recent development. In the past oils were made with and cleaned with turpentine and regular oils. Some artists had difficulty with the fumes from the solvents and thus the innovation of water-based oils was welcomed. Caroline mentioned that there were three water-based oil brands that she uses, although this is not an extensive list. The Lucas Berlin was a suitable one, the Aqua Duo is expensive but very good, Cobra is suitable as well but she stated that the Artisans were inexpensive and lacked a lot of pigment so she did not recommend them.
She went on to say that the big difference between the oils and acrylics other than the fact that they are made with oils verses plastics, is that the oils stay wet for much longer. Acrylics dry quickly and it’s difficult to get the same texture that you get with the oils. The oil pigments cover your canvas much quicker with one to two layers whereas acrylics often take five or six layers in order to get the same effect. Acrylics have a much larger range of colour choice than the water-based oils but you need a wet pallet to keep the paint from drying out. With oils she uses a pallet to mix the colours on the side prior and makes them into large colour blobs matching the piece she is working on. The first thin layer should dry within 30 minutes. She paints a bottom paint layer to her canvas to cover the white.
She recommended if people wanted to try out the water-based oils, the basic colours she recommends would be the black and white along with ultramarine blue, Vermillion red, and yellow ochre. You could add the water based Linseed Oil (by Lucas) which can be used with these paints. If you wished to, you could add the cool or warm colours later.
To clean the brushes you just need soap and water but she recommends a cleanse with low odour spirit at the end of the day to clean them throughly. Once the painting is completed, she waits for a month or so before she vanishes it. You cannot ‘oil in’ the painting as you do with regular oils and thus the reason for the need to varnish.
Hopefully you can get a chance to try out this medium which is a favourite to many of us.