Today I’ll be sharing the 5 main reasons why I think oil paint is a much more friendly and forgiving medium then watercolors.

After you’ve read this post you’ll know the 5 main differences between the two mediums and you’ll be aware of the specific challenges with watercolors compared to oils.

Hopefully, this will convince you that oil paint is an awesome medium that will provide you with a bunch of flexibility and possibilities in your paintings!

So you might ask, what's the big deal, are oils that much better than watercolors?

I would argue 100 % yes any day of the week because in my experience the possibilities you have with oils are limitless compared to watercolors...

Now, this might sound like I’m exaggerating, but let me explain.

When you’re working with oils you have a completely different type of control over your painting.

Not just when it comes to textures and layering, but also when it comes to correcting your mistakes and changing your mind.

These types of possibilities provide you with a sense of control that’s priceless when your painting!

Now, you might have some healthy skepticism if you’ve never tried oil before, or you’ve painted with watercolors your whole life and think it’s super to paint with.

Don’t get me wrong, watercolor for sure has possibilities that are unique compared to oils, but just because you try oils, doesn’t mean you have to stop painting with watercolors.

Reading this post, however, will make you aware of your possibilities and options and I’m pretty sure that the 5 reasons I’m sharing with you today will pique your interest and realize just how great oil paint is if you didn’t already know!

The 5 reasons I think oils beat watercolors are;

1. It's less temperamental

2. It's easier to correct your mistakes

3. It's more flexible

4. It's easier to preserve it

5. You can work from dark to light

1. It's less temperamental

The very first point on my list why I prefer oils over watercolors is that it’s less temperamental.

So what does this mean?

Well, simply put it means that controlling watercolors is a lot harder than controlling oils.

That’s because the texture of the medium that you’re working with is a lot runnier and it’s harder to predict how it will move and react on your painting surface.

2.It's easier to correct your mistakes

The second reason why I prefer oil is that it’s a lot easier to correct your mistakes!

And believe me, when I say it’s a lot easier, I mean, SO much easier!

With oils you can scrape away the paint, you can correct your painting by repainting any area your unhappy with after the paint is dry, you can ever sand down areas of your painting if you have too much texture to recover a smooth painting surface.

Watercolors, on the other hand, is far from that easy!

If you make a mistake you have to be super careful if you try to remove it so you don’t ruin the paper.

Plus just the fact that you know fixing a mistake with oils is so much easier will give you a completely different sense of control of your process, and make you more relaxed when your painting.

Whenever I’m working with watercolors, I always feel so much tenser and on edge, and that’s because I know that if I make one big mistake, it can mean the death of my painting.

3. It's more flexible

The third thing that makes oil paint the clear winner, in my opinion, is that it’s so much more flexible!

You can layer it, thin it out and make it runnier, you can put it on your canvas thickly, you can glaze it or you can scumble it to create different textures and effects in your painting.

Textures in watercolors work in a very different way. With watercolors, the amount of water and the way you use your brush will create different effects and textures, but these ways of explaining textures are a lot more temperamental and require a lot more practice and patience than creating textures in oils.

Also, when you work with oils, you can create texture with the actual paint, making your painting seem a lot more 3-dimensional.

4. It's easier to preserve it

Reason number 4 why I prefer oil paintings is because it’s a lot easier to preserve them.

There is a reason why the majority of the artworks hanging in museums today are painted with oils, it’s because they stand the test of time a lot better than watercolors.

Now, this might not be something everybody cares too much about, but I like to know that after I’ve spent let’s say 100 hours on a painting and I’ve poured my soul into it that it has a good chance of surviving for at least a few hundred years. Plus, that’s kind of awesome, right?

The thought of a little piece of you being able to survive through the ages!

Watercolor is a different story. First of all, they lose their colors and values a lot faster if they’re exposed to too much sunlight, they can get completely ruined if they are exposed to water-damage and they need to be framed and protected by the glass to last.

5. You can work from dark to light

The fifth and final reason why I prefer oils is that compared to watercolors, you can work your way from dark to light!

This means that you can start your painting with any color or value that you would like and work your way from there. This is not possible with watercolors.

With watercolors, you have to build your painting from lighter colors and values towards the darker colors and values.

That’s because watercolors are transparent and the lighter colors won't cover the darker ones.

To develop a painting in this way is counter-intuitive for many people, including myself, which is why I prefer to paint with oils!

Ok, so that brings me to the end of this post, 5 reasons why oil paint is better than watercolors.