Cost of oils/WSOs versus acrylics

I have seen many people refer to the cost of Holbein Duo Aquas as really expensive, and I suppose compared to Lukas Berlin WSOs I can understand that. But compared to what I pay for a tube of acrylic paint, which runs anywhere from $8-12/tube whether it's Liquitex or Golden, even the Holbeins aren't out of line. Is it that traditional oil paints are cheaper than this making those coming from traditional oils to WSOs feel like they are more expensive?

Well, Holbeins run $6.67 - $27.14 for a 40 oz tube. I suppose that Cobras pricing is similar to Holbeins, but when I painted with regular oils, I used Rembrandts that are also made by Royal Talens. The Cobras are supposed to have the same pigment load of Rembrandts, minus 10%. The Cobras are the easiest ones for me to use, since the Rembrandts were my favorites for years. I was so excited when the Cobras came out. The other thing I like about Cobras are the fact that you can get large tubes at a discount, which you can't with Holbeins. Of course, I really can't tell that much difference between Cobra and Lukas. In fact, I have a friend that sometimes paints with me and we use my WMOs together. She says that she can't tell which ones are Cobras and with ones are Lukas Berlin, but she sure notices it when I put down some Artisan.

Buy the way, most professional quality traditional oils are more expensive than WMOs. I'm on a fixed budget, so price makes a difference with me.
Hope this helps,
Dayle

Whoa, when I first read your post, I was thinking "40 oz tubes? Wow, that's a lot!" Now that I am re-reading it, I realize that you probably meant 40 ml tubes.

I guess I was just surprised that people said Holbeins were expensive when that's what I was paying for my acrylics already. Maybe if I weren't using artist-quality acrylics, I would have thought that they were expensive, too, but as it was, I was prepared to pay the price of Holbeins for WSOs since they seemed comparable to Golden Acrylics. However, I am glad I decided to try the Lukas Berlins (based on this forum) instead because I was able to get a lot more colors to start with (8 instead of 4).

Ooops! Yeah, I meant 40ml tubes. Wouldn't 40 oz be great.
So, have you gotten your Holbeins, and are they a big improvement over the Lukas WMOs?

Dayle

So far, the only one I have of Holbein is the Ceramic White, which I used with the Lukas Berlins. The biggest difference I see is that the Holbein is a bit thicker/stiffer coming out of the tube than the Lukas WMOs - so much so that if I don't have some oil on my brush, I can't even push the paint around with it!

Since I have the Lukas WMOs now, I am holding off buying any Holbeins for now. I want to get used to one WMO brand before branching out and comparing others.

Hi!

Sorry to maybe sound mis-informed, I am new to oils all together, water mixable or not!
(I have always painted with acrylics) these "cobras" you're talking about sound great! Can you please give me more information about them?

Hi, new to oils!
The cobra wmos are made by Royal-Talens, and are available at Dickblick.com and other on-line artist supplies. They are considered to be an artist grade brand. If you are just starting out with wmos and don't plan to sell anything right away, you might like the Lukas Berlin wmos. They are a student grade, but a lot cheaper. Both Cobras and Lukas Berlins are a fairly fluid oil. You won't be able pile up big layers of paint in one sitting. Then again, if you like a fairly flat surface, they work good for that. The Lukas Berlins are available through Jerry's Artarama.
Happy Painting,
Dayle

Hi Dayle,

Thank you!!! Well, 99% of my work is very thick, so these won't work as I'm not a great fan of many layers, I'm a load-a-knife-and-pile-on-once type of girl!

Now I know that these won't be great. What I did with acrylics, (well it happened by happy accident really) was have the same colours I use most often, in both thin, and thick tube consistencies, and the ones I use only a little or on rare occasions in only one consistency, (usually the thick one)

That way, I've never had to use a medium. I'm thinking of doing something like that with w/s oils. Well, it really wasn't just me deciding this...
I was lucky to get to have this by having loving family and friends that know I'm an artist, so they gave me money for paint, or they got me brush sets, and paints. So I ended up with a lot of multiples, but I figured since I already got them, "hey, an artist can never have too many things to get creative with" and I've used up almost every drop of the paint I got, and the brushes extensively.

Nowadays my taste has gotten so picky and specific they'd rather leave it up to me...

And I found having multiple brushes superb as I don't need to clean brushes during the session. If I really need a particular brush, and it it used up, chances are, I have at least one more exactly the same, clean and ready to go. I use tons of multiples, they are really convenient!