Range Introduction

Artists' Oilbar is an artists' quality oil colour in stick form, enabling you to paint and draw freely and directly onto your surface. It is a unique medium because it provides the artist with the buttery consistency and richness of oil colour together with the freedom and directness of pastels or charcoal.

Oilbar is fundamentally different from oil pastels or oil crayons due to its unique formulation.  Each of the 35 colours in the range are produced by combining artists' quality pigments with linseed oil, into which are blended specially selected waxes.  To provide further flexibility, Oilbar sticks are available in three different sizes.

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.

Sizes available 

The full range of 35 colours is available in both slim (17ml) and original (50ml) sizes. 4 colours are available in stump (165ml). 

Sizes available for Oilbar

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Formulation

The Oilbar range is formulated with pigment, linseed oil, or safflower oil with a blend of specially selected waxes. 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. Therefore we have grouped colours together in '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 semiopaque 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.

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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. Thorough drying prior to any varnishing is essential, and should be a minimum of six months in thin films of colour. Longer periods are necessary for thicker films.

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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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Monoprinting

There are a wide variety of applications for which Oilbar is well suited, and it has proven particularly popular with printmakers for monoprinting.

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