Oil bars - an evaluation (oilbar, oil stick review)

MatsW · 12:42 AM

"Oil bars - an evaluation" (oilbar, oil stick review)

I bought a couple of oil bars and made an oil painting exclusively with them. Oil bars are made of regular oil paint mixed with wax. The reason why they don't dry up is because the wax emerges and covers the surface after a while. This is why you have to wipe away this layer of wax before using them. The adverts say that oil bars give you a fine control, but it's not true. They are clumsy tools. In most cases you'll have to use knife or brush anyway to work the colour. In this way certain fine aspects of the wax-oil blend can show to advantage. It can give rise to surface effects. Certain pigments, such as mauve, create fine glazing effects together with a marked texture. However, the same wax-oil effect can be achieved by adding wax to regular oil colours, which is a well-known technique.

I had expected oil bars to dry much faster than regular oils, but it doesn't seem like the effect is marked. It takes several days for certain pigments to dry. So in this respect they don't make life easier for the oil painter. It seems like the marketing idea behind oil bars is an illusion: "Children paint with crayons. Hence it's now child's play to paint with oils as we have now created oil crayons." But the truth in the matter is that oil pastels, for instance, are much more difficult to use than tube oils and brushes. The latter are more versatile and easier to control. Just because children use crayons doesn't mean that crayons are easy to get an artistic result from. However, professional oil pastels are probably easier to use than oil bars as pastels are better designed to be mixed by adding layers and smearing them.

A drawback of oil bars is that you cannot handle poisonous colours, such as the deadly cadmium pigments (yellow, orange, red, scarlet, etc.), in a responsible way. You will inevitably get cadmium on your hands. When you peel off the plastic and the paper that cover the bar, scraps of colour will fall to the floor, etc. Certain bars have a weak consistency and will tend to crumble, similar to crayons. Typically, the cat could get cadmium on his fur, lick on it, and die of kidney disease. The bars are a lure to little children, as they look like candy bars, so they should be locked away. I am strongly against that they manufacture crayons from poisonous pigments. Inevitably, these bars will lie around in a drawer, children will find them, or parents might hand them to their children in the belief that they are regular crayons.

In conclusion, I cannot recommend oil bars as they bring no advantage at all over tube oils. They are clumsy and messy. However, as they contain fine pigments, one should take the chance and buy them at sellouts. One can use them as regular oil colours by smearing them on a palette, adding a little turpentine, and paint with them in the regular way.

Mats Winther
http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73784/creativity.htm

January 21st, 2012, 10:28 PM

They may not be for everyone but...
Oilbars are one of my favourite mediums.
I can throw a couple cigar boxes of oilbars in my bag,
some paper towel, travel anywhere and kill it.
All of my giant flowers on canvas are oilbar>>>
http://tobinism.com/
It's finger painting at it's finest.
Flows a lot better than pastels esp. with a colorless blender stick.
The dopest thing is that you get the richness of oil because... it is oil!
And nothing beats oil.
Also, comes in handy for finishing moves on mixed media pieces>>>
http://www.youtube.com/user/Tobinism?feature=mhee
Happy Painting!
Peace, Tobin

August 26th, 2011, 08:20 AM	#1
MatsW Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 3	Oil bars - an evaluation (oilbar, oil stick review) "Oil bars - an evaluation" (oilbar, oil stick review) I bought a couple of oil bars and made an oil painting exclusively with them. Oil bars are made of regular oil paint mixed with wax. The reason why they don't dry up is because the wax emerges and covers the surface after a while. This is why you have to wipe away this layer of wax before using them. The adverts say that oil bars give you a fine control, but it's not true. They are clumsy tools. In most cases you'll have to use knife or brush anyway to work the colour. In this way certain fine aspects of the wax-oil blend can show to advantage. It can give rise to surface effects. Certain pigments, such as mauve, create fine glazing effects together with a marked texture. However, the same wax-oil effect can be achieved by adding wax to regular oil colours, which is a well-known technique. I had expected oil bars to dry much faster than regular oils, but it doesn't seem like the effect is marked. It takes several days for certain pigments to dry. So in this respect they don't make life easier for the oil painter. It seems like the marketing idea behind oil bars is an illusion: "Children paint with crayons. Hence it's now child's play to paint with oils as we have now created oil crayons." But the truth in the matter is that oil pastels, for instance, are much more difficult to use than tube oils and brushes. The latter are more versatile and easier to control. Just because children use crayons doesn't mean that crayons are easy to get an artistic result from. However, professional oil pastels are probably easier to use than oil bars as pastels are better designed to be mixed by adding layers and smearing them. A drawback of oil bars is that you cannot handle poisonous colours, such as the deadly cadmium pigments (yellow, orange, red, scarlet, etc.), in a responsible way. You will inevitably get cadmium on your hands. When you peel off the plastic and the paper that cover the bar, scraps of colour will fall to the floor, etc. Certain bars have a weak consistency and will tend to crumble, similar to crayons. Typically, the cat could get cadmium on his fur, lick on it, and die of kidney disease. The bars are a lure to little children, as they look like candy bars, so they should be locked away. I am strongly against that they manufacture crayons from poisonous pigments. Inevitably, these bars will lie around in a drawer, children will find them, or parents might hand them to their children in the belief that they are regular crayons. In conclusion, I cannot recommend oil bars as they bring no advantage at all over tube oils. They are clumsy and messy. However, as they contain fine pigments, one should take the chance and buy them at sellouts. One can use them as regular oil colours by smearing them on a palette, adding a little turpentine, and paint with them in the regular way. Mats Winther http://home7.swipnet.se/~w-73784/creativity.htm Last edited by MatsW : August 28th, 2011 at 12:42 AM.

January 21st, 2012, 10:28 PM	#2
Tobin Posts: n/a	Oilbars They may not be for everyone but... Oilbars are one of my favourite mediums. I can throw a couple cigar boxes of oilbars in my bag, some paper towel, travel anywhere and kill it. All of my giant flowers on canvas are oilbar>>> http://tobinism.com/ It's finger painting at it's finest. Flows a lot better than pastels esp. with a colorless blender stick. The dopest thing is that you get the richness of oil because... it is oil! And nothing beats oil. Also, comes in handy for finishing moves on mixed media pieces>>> http://www.youtube.com/user/Tobinism?feature=mhee Happy Painting! Peace, Tobin

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