Lukas Berlin WSOs

I got my Lukas Berlin WSOs on Monday and just started playing with them yesterday. I have the Lukas Berlin Fast-Drying Medium and the Charvin Walnut Oil as well. I was doing a sample sketch from an oil painting book and was having a hard time getting some of the colors right, especially the darker colors. The Berlin WSOs use all modern pigments, so the colors are a bit different than the traditional colors. The primaries are called Magenta, Cyan, and Yellow. The cyan is, I believe, a light phthalo blue, which is much lighter than either regular phthalo blue or ultramarine blue, so it was hard to get some of the dark colors I was looking for. So afterwards, I decided to do color charts of these. I have the 3 primaries, viridian, burnt sienna, burnt umber, and yellow ochre. My white is actually a Holbein Ceramic White.

After making the basic chart mixing primaries to get secondaries and mixing complementaries to get more neutrals, I was amazed at how bright and clear the colors were! Even compared to my OPEN acrylics, these colors are so pure and clean that they produce very bright secondaries. I am not used to this and will have to change some of my color mixing to get some of the grayer tones and darker colors. So I decided to do another chart showing the 3 earth tones mixed with each of the primaries to see what that would give me, and now I have a much better feel for how to mix these new colors.

Anyone else that uses Lukas Berlin WSOs notice how bright and clear the colors and their mixes are, or is it just me?

Well, it's not just you. I love the Cobra WMOs and they are considered a professional grade, but I also have some Lukas Berlin WMOs and it's hard for me to tell the difference when I'm painting. Except for the price of course! I use the magenta, yellow and cyan primaries also, although I have them in Cobras. The only thing I changed was to buy the regular Phthalo Blue instead of the Cyan. In Cobras the Cyan Blue is made up of Phthalo Blue and Zinc White. I intentionally bought the Phthalo Blue so that I could get darker colors, and if it needs to be lighter I can always add white or a medium to make a true Cyan Blue. With a oils you need to use a lot more white than any other color.

I would suggest that you might also want to have a Titanium White, which is cheaper but can also make your colors look a bit chalky. How do you like the Ceramic White? I plan to buy some with my next order.

Dayle

I guess I need to get the regular phthalo blue as well. And/or the ultramarine blue. I have had a hard time finding the pigment make-up of the Lukas Berlin colors to know what they really are. Seeing the cyan now, I believe it to also be a mix of phthalo blue and white (not sure what kind of white.)

I use Titanium White all of the time with my acrylics and never really knew to look for chalkiness. I have just used the Ceramic White for the first time today,and I don't have any titanium white WSO paint, so I don't really have anything to compare to. So far, the white I used in the sky of my painting today looks fine. Do you have to wait until the WSO is dry before seeing any "chalkiness"?

No all colors appear chalky, for example, blues and some greens. Reds always appear chalky to me and pinkish when I use titanium white. I tend to use zinc white more often because it is more transparent than titanium white and the colors don't get so chalky. This is probably true of the ceramic white also.

If you haven't, take a look at the demo on chalkiness:
https://watersolubleoils.forumotion.com/t649-chalkiness-of-colors-lightened-with-white

David commented on the demo by discussing some of technicalities and alternatives. You might want to try similar tests with your paints and white to see the difference. It was difficult showing the subtle differences in the photos in the demo.

Hmmm...some interesting things about the whites...

I have never really used anything other than Titanium...I thought this look was just how it's supposed to be...

Now that I know otherwise I'll be buying another white!! Unless I'll want the chalky look for a particular effect.

This is good timing for me to find out as all my acrylics ran out, (and white was first!!!) I'm replacing everything with oils, so good thing I found out before purchasing!! Thanks!!