Range Introduction

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An artists' quality oil colour in stick form, Winsor & Newton Artists' Oilbar enables painting and drawing freely and directly onto surfaces. 

The new Artists' Oilbar is a unique medium because it provides artists with greater buttery consistency and richness of oil colour together with the freedom and directness of pastels or charcoal.

Artists' Oilbar is fundamentally different from oil pastels or oil crayons due to its unique formulation.  The new range has a spectrum of 50 colours each of which is produced by combining artists' quality pigments with linseed or safflower oil, blended with specially selected wax. It offers an exciting and versatile way of painting and drawing – from sketching, to sgraffito effects, whether used on its own or with tube oil colour.

Click on the headings below to discover more about the unique qualities of Artists' Oilbar.

You can view all of the colours in this range by going to our colour chart.

Size available 

Artists’ Oilbar is available in a 50ml stick and in a 6 colour set and a 12 colour set

Sizes available for Oilbar

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Formulation

The Oilbar range is formulated with pigment, linseed oil, or safflower oil with specially selected wax. As with all Winsor & Newton colour products, every colour in the Oilbar range is individually formulated to take advantage of the natural characteristics of each pigment and to ensure the stability of the colour.

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Single Pigments

Winsor & Newton use single pigments wherever possible to create individual colours. Combined with strength of colour, single pigments provide a wide colour range in themselves and offer cleaner, brighter mixtures with infinite hues. This is particularly important for violets, greens and oranges. Single pigment 'secondaries' considerably broaden the artists' available spectrum.

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Colour Series

As the cost of the pigments used varies, so does the price charged for the colour.  Colours are grouped into 4 'series', the higher the series number, the higher the price. You can find the series number both on the colour chart and on the bar.

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Transparency/opacity 

Pigments vary in their transparency by nature. On the Winsor & Newton Oilbar Colour chart and individual colour pages of this site, the transparent colours are marked with  or T, the semi-transparent colours are marked  or ST. The relatively semi-opaque colours are marked with  or SO and the opaque colours are marked with  or O.

Viscosity/consistency

Artists' Oilbar has a consistency all of its own, making for truly unique, dynamic applications. When an oil medium is added, Oilbar handles comparably to tube colour consistency. When softened and blended, it moves freely and mixes well with other colours, whether Oilbar or tube oil colour.

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Surface Sheen

As each pigment requires different volumes of oil in formulation, the surface sheen of Oilbar may differ slightly from colour to colour. The addition of solvent, as well as the use of additive mediums will alter surface sheen as well.

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Permanence 

Artists' Oilbar has the same ratings as other Winsor & Newton artists' quality ranges. AA and A rated colours are recommended as permanent for artists' use. Please refer to the permanence ratings provided on the printed colour chart and the product labels.

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Drying time 

Once on the canvas, the colours will become touch dry in 2 to 7 days.


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Colourless Oilbar 

This is the equivalent of linseed oil in traditional oil colour, and is mostly used for blending and glazing colours directly on the canvas. It serves as a medium in solid form.

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Using with traditional oil colour 

Oilbar can be used with both traditional oil colour and Griffin Alkyd Fast Drying Oil Colour. Due to the wax content, thick Oilbar films are not recommended underneath thin oil films. Doing so would contravene the 'fat over lean' rule. Oilbar is also compatible with all Winsor & Newton oil mediums.

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