Artists' Oilbar - Oil Colour at your Fingertips

Artists' Oilbar is an artists' oil colour in stick form, an exciting and versatile way of painting and drawing in oils. It is a special blend of pigments, oils and wax, formed into a stick, to create pure colour at your fingertips. 

Find out more about the Artists' Oilbar product range>

When was it invented?

In the early 1900s, Winsor & Newton's association with solid oil colour begun with Raffaelli Solid Oil Colours, a range of pastel size oil colours in stick form.

The supply of these was short lived and it was only in the early 1990s, that Winsor & Newton launched the first generation of Artists' Oilbar.  

Now this Oilbar is being reintroduced with the range extended from 35 to 50 colours and the formulation improved to deliver an even softer, creamier application, while retaining all the vibrancy and richness of traditional oil colour.

Raffaelli Solid Oil Colours

How does it work?

The use of specially selected wax allows the oil colour to be formed into a stick. A thin dry film, which can vary in appearance, covers the surface of the Oilbar; this can be easily wiped away with a rag, revealing the soft, wet colour underneath. The label is perforated so it can be torn away as you work down the stick. When work is finished, Oilbars can be left to dry in the studio and the protective film will reform to keep the stick usable inside for next time - magic!

Winsor & Newton Artists' Oilbars and Oil Colours

Artists' Oilbar characteristics

Oilbar has a lovely soft, creamy nature and is a unique format of wet oil colour. Although it is so obviously a drawing tool when you first use it, it's as far away in performance from an oil pastel as it is from a pencil!

• The colours are artists' pigments so you are able to recognise and use your usual palette.
• As Oilbar sticks are artists' colours they vary in opacity, colours marked  or  are opaque or semi-opaque and will cover well, whilst those marked  or  are transparent or semi-transparent and will mix optically when used in layers.
• Oilbar colours are as strong as possible, giving brilliance, colour depth and excellent mixing and blending properties. 
• Oilbar is a permanent artists' material; your work can be hung and sold without fear of smudging or fading.
• Oilbar is the only product which provides the experience of drawing directly with wet paint, a whole new world awaits!
• Oilbar surface dries quicker than tube oils, 2-7 days according to the colour, due to the wax content but conversely in the long term the through drying is limited due to the wax component.

Colour range

There are 50 colours in the new Oilbar range providing a wide and balanced spectrum for all artists.

Artists' Oilbar Colour Range

There are 8 ‘genuines' for those who want the opacity or transparency and moderate tinting strength of true cadmiums, cobalts and viridian. There are also 12 alternative cadmiums, cobalts and viridian ‘hues', providing lower cost alternatives in these colour areas, with no loss of permanence.

Some particular colours to look out for are;

• Permanent Alizarin Crimson; a permanent alternative to the 19^th century Alizarin Crimson. A deep, luscious blue shade crimson.
• Dioxazine Purple; a vibrant, strong single pigment violet. Excellent for mixing other violets and deep darks with complementaries such as Cadmium Orange Hue.
• Cerulean Blue; the only genuine single pigment semi-opaque pale blue, no chalkiness here from the use of white! An extremely popular colour.
• Winsor Blue (Red Shade); this colour was introduced by Winsor & Newton in 1938 and has now become a mainstay in artists' palettes. It is highly transparent and strong, an excellent mixing colour.
• Viridian; the transparency of this colour is like a piece of green chiffon, wafting over a painting. Its moderate tinting strength makes the balance of colour on the painting surface easier to control than some of the modern synthetic pigments.
• Terre Verte; this natural earth colour is a must for landscape palettes, on its own and in the many mixtures it makes possible. It is also an essential portrait colour.
• Soft Mixing White; this lower tinting strength colour behaves as Zinc White does in tube colour. It is less opaque than Titanium, good for water highlights for example where Titanium would jump out. Mixtures using Soft Mixing White will also be less chalky.

The primary colours in Oilbar are Lemon Yellow Hue, Winsor Blue (Red Shade) and Permanent Rose. If you want six primary colours to produce a wider range of mixtures, the recommended colours are Lemon Yellow Hue, Cadmium Yellow Light, French Ultramarine, Winsor Blue(Red Shade), Permanent Rose and Cadmium Red Medium.

The range is divided into 4 series for price. Approximately three quarters of the range are in either series 1 or 2, helping you to keep your costs down.

All 50 colours are recommended as ‘Permanent for artists' use', each being rated either AA or A.

Using Oilbar

Oilbar can be intermixed with other oil colour ranges and mediums (see rules below).

The Colourless Oilbar can be used as your stick ‘medium'. Diluting colours on the canvas by blending with the stick will increase their transparency as well as meld hues together.

For finer work, Oilbars can be trimmed to a point with a craft knife and pressed lightly to reduce the flow of the colour. A small brush can also be used to take colour directly from the bar. For fine flowing lines, colour can be diluted with Refined Linseed Oil and applied with a soft brush. Refined Linseed Oil is not too slow at drying and relatively flexible (see rules below). Use the end of your brush for s'graffito work in either impasto or part diluted colour.

Due to the wax content the best method of protecting finished Oilbar pictures is by framing behind glass, ensuring there is space left between the work surface and picture glass.

• Conventional oil painting rules apply to Oilbar and it is worth noting their implications.
• To maintain the fat over lean rule avoid thin films of tube colour over the top of thick Oilbar layers. The waxy Oilbar film will be ‘fatter' than the tube colour and cracking of the tube colour may occur.
• Thin layers of Liquin diluted colours should be avoided over thicker Oilbar paintings because of the faster drying.
• Avoid applying fast drying colours like Cobalts on top of slower drying colours. This is usually only an issue if you have an extensive underpainting in white, as the safflower oil is a slower drier or if you try using pure Griffin Alkyd colours over Oilbar paintings.
• Do not leave Oilbar pictures to dry in the dark as the oils will show yellowing. If you have, then leave the picture in daylight and the oils will eventually return to neutral.
• If you use rags when working, always collect them at the end of the painting session to avoid spontaneous combustion. Place them in a plastic bag and run a water tap into the bag to soak the rags. Whilst excluding the air, tie the bag and place outside in a fireproof bin.

What to use now

If you are a current user, here is a list of replacement colours and colour mixtures which will help you to continue to make the most out of Artists' Oilbar.