Water-miscible oil paint

Recently, I was asked for advice on painting materials by a
contemporary Vietnamese artist. He has decided to switch from using
acrylic paint back to using oil paint, and was able to source LUKAS
Berlin water mixable oil paints. Since my main focus of conservation
work at present is Vietnamese art, I have good working relationships
with contemporary Vietnamese artists, and am keen to ensure that
they use high quality painting materials as much as possible.

The artist in question wants to avoid the use of solvents, hence is
very keen to use these water-miscible paints instead of traditional
oil paint. According to the manufacturer, these paints contain
sunflower oil, linseed oil, beeswax, an emulsifying agent, and
traces of organic cobalt and zirconium salts as siccatives. However,
I have so far been unable to find out much else.

In order to provide him with advice on the relative merits and
long-term stability of these paints, I was wondering if anyone has
undertaken research into this subject, or is able to provide me with
suitable information. Perhaps this may also act as stimulus for an
interesting topic of discussion or research.

Bettina Ebert
Fine Art Conservation
Asiarta Foundation
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Mobile: +60 173 889 620


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 23:2
                  Distributed: Thursday, May 28, 2009
                        Message Id: cdl-23-2-025
                                  ***